Undergraduate Mathematics and Science Students' Decision Making and Motivations in Choosing a Major and Career

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Division K Section 3 Poster 1

Abstract

This qualitative study explored the decision-making of 20 undergraduate students who chose to enroll in a dual degree program in Secondary Education and a Mathematics or Science discipline. Transcendental phenomenological methods were used to analyze interview data and understand the meaning of participants’ experiences. The major themes to emerge include a wide variety of reasons for choosing to try out teaching, participants’ enjoyment of and previous success with their content major as reasons for choosing their area of study, and participants’ expressed desire for a future in teaching despite the fact that they did not plan on teaching when entering college.

Authors

• Megan Beckam, University of Nevada - Reno

• Mandi Collins, University of Nevada - Reno

• Elizabeth Xeng de los Santos, University of Nevada - Reno

• Robert John Quinn, University of Nevada - Reno

• Glenn H. Waddell, University of Nevada - Reno