Publication Spotlight: Student Career Goals and Science Attitudes

Who has dreams of a STEM career? And who gets a chance to make those dreams become reality?  Kristyn VanderWaal Mills and Travis Mills (STEM Department, Saint Paul College) took an in-depth look at the equity gap in the STEM workforce, and what could help close that gap. Their paper, Student Career Goals and Science Attitudes at an Urban Community College, was published in Volume 3, Issue 1 of the Journal of Advanced Technological Education (J ATE). 

The authors noted that much of the research on STEM workforce equity gap, and methods to shrink it, comes from studies done at 4-year colleges. Using these studies as background, they employed three High Impact Practices (HIPs) and examined their effects on students' science attitudes and identity with a particular interest in the differences between students with science or engineering career goals vs those with healthcare career goals. The three HIPs were: (1) faculty mentoring, (2) science-related campus events and career-building workshops, and (3) undergraduate research projects.

A "Science Attitudes and Career Goals" survey was created and used to examine student motivators that may influence a student's choice of career path. One particularly interesting finding was that no correlation was found between career choice and scores for "science attitude factors"--self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, science identity, or commitment to a career in science. Regardless, the authors expected that students who participated in HIPs would be more likely to choose science/engineering careers because the practices focus on coaching and career choice awareness. Their research supported this expectation--although the HIPs effects must be though some other mechanism than influencing science attitudes. The authors hypothesize that encouraging students to talk about career goals and exposing them to a broader range of career possibilities supports a science/engineering career choice. 

This research helps to understand what interventions might motivate students to consider career options outside of those most commonly chosen. In particular, it highlights the need for additional career guidance and additional opportunities for students to learn about careers along with course content.