Stability and Volatility of STEM Career Interest in High School by Gender: A 10-Year Comparison

• In Event: Career and Technical Education SIG Paper Session: Trends and Findings Related to Secondary-Level Career and Technical Education Coursework

Abstract

To keep abreast with recent developments in young persons’ STEM interest and to anticipate the gender representation in the future workforce, we need to periodically update cohort comparisons regarding the persistence of STEM interest among male and female youth. Using two national U.S. samples of first-year college students, collected a decade apart in 2007 and 2017, we found that both genders are more likely to transit into STEM from non-STEM career interests during the high school years in the 2017 cohort than the 2007 cohort; and females who were initially interested in a STEM career were more likely to persist in STEM career interest in the 2017 cohort than the 2007 cohort, whereas male’s persistence remained the same between cohorts.

Authors

• Chen Chen, University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author

• Jacqueline Doyle, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gerhard Sonnert, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Philip M. Sadler, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author