The student perspective in research done in online and STEM education is largely absent but is important for understanding how both of these areas can come together to best serve students. This study uses teacher ratings, school data and student interviews to investigate the perceptions students in online STEM courses have of their past and current educational experiences. Also, using an adaptation of Moore's Framework of Interactions (Moore, 1989), the academic and extracurricular behaviors of these students are examined in relation to their interactions with course content and humans, specifically instructors, parents and peers. The results when looking at interactions with content showed that the areas important to success in online STEM courses were self-efficacy, self-regulation, rigor, and research opportunities. It was also found that the interactions that students have with their instructors, parents and peers are different in this setting as compared to a traditional learning environment. Teachers in online schools serve the role of a facilitator that students felt was important to their success, but was not their only source of instruction. Parents took on many roles in this setting, including monitoring, motivating, instructing and organizing. Learner-learner interaction looked the most different from traditional schools because these participants generally had little interaction with peers due to time and distance constraints. Implications of these findings for students, schools, education and research are given. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]