• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.13-31
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• 2024

In recent times, STEM graduates are confronting a decline in employment rates influenced by economic, social, cultural, and policy-related factors. Career decisions are closely linked to education, college experiences, and university settings. To comprehend the reasons behind the decline in STEM employment, it is essential to explore the relationships among these factors. This study aims to comprehensively examine differences in career motivation and career exploration behavior among 2,393 STEM undergraduates in Korea. Additionally, factors affecting career motivation and career exploration behavior were investigated. The findings indicate significant differences in perceived career motivation and career exploration behavior based on individual backgrounds and university characteristics. And analyzing the data, 37.8% of career motivation is explained by contextual supports, career barriers, individual backgrounds (grade, GPA), university characteristics (major fields, location), field to enter after graduation, and timing of job preparation. For career exploration behavior, 30.1% is explained by contextual supports, career barriers, individual backgrounds (gender, grade, GPA), university characteristics (major field, location), field to enter after graduation, and timing of job preparation. Practical implications underscore the need for tailored educational and policy support, considering individual backgrounds and university characteristics, to effectively address challenges faced by STEM graduates in the evolving employment landscape.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.75-86
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• 2016

The purpose of the present study is to develop and validate an instrument to assess STEM career motivation. We developed 32 items for 7 constructs (i.e. education experience, career value, academic self-efficacy, career self-efficacy, career interest, parents' support, and career motivation) on STEM career motivation based on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent et al.,1994). 767 first year high school students participated in this study. The items were validated by Messick's framework (1995). In this study, we examined the validity of items in four aspects (i.e. content, substantive, structural and generalizability of validity). Methodologically, we used Rasch analysis, Exploratory factor analysis, confirmative factor analysis based on structural equation modelling. We confirmed that our instrument with 32 items as valid and reliable for measuring the STEM career motivation. In addition, we tested the STEM career motivation model based on SCCT. Our model explained the data well, suggesting that external factors (education experience and parents' support) and cognitive factors (perception of value, self-efficacy and interest) were significantly related to STEM career motivation.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.36-59
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• 2017

The purpose of this study was to develop a theory appropriate to the context by identifying the career motivation formation process from the perspective of academic high school students using a grounded theory approach. In this study, participants were selected among non probability sampling was used for sampling by artificially reputational case selection methods. Forty two highschool students(21 male, 21 female) were participated in this study. Research data were collected mainly collected using in-depth interview data were analyzed by applying the grounded theory method of Strauss and Corbin (1998). According to the results, 319 concepts and 56 sub-categories, and 19 categories were derived n the open coding process. Academic high school students' formation of STEM career motivation were influenced by contextual conditions of "STEM-related career think that the instruments' causal conditions and 'STEM education experience in inside and outside of school' named 'STEM career understanding and self-understanding' using the strategy of being influenced in interventional conditions of social support and obstacle 'for the central phenomenon of "STEM efforts to achieve career goals, it appeared as a result of" satisfaction for STEM careers. And it had a 5-step process over time that the formation process of STEM career motivation. This is expected to provide homes, schools, communities, and contribute to have a new insight on the education of the country, given the direction of career education and counseling intervention and the basic data used to develop and apply STEM career education.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.835-849
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• 2016

The purpose of the present study is to analyze the trajectory of science core school students' STEM career motivation and to examine the relationship between the trajectory patterns and students' tracks. Longitudinal STEM career motivation data with seven constructs were collected from 256 students for five semesters and the data were analyzed by using group-based trajectory modelling analysis. In order to examine the relationship between trajectory pattern groups and the tracks, chi-square tests were conducted. Based on our findings, we found that students are likely to have similar trajectory patterns in STEM career education experience and in their perception towards STEM career value. In terms of parents' support, academic self-efficacy and STEM career motivation aspects are divided into two distinctive trajectory groups ('high' and 'low' group), while two other variables, STEM career self-efficacy and STEM career interest, are divided into three trajectory groups ('moderate declining', 'high declining', 'increasing' group). Most of the trajectory groups are shown the pattern that the level of each constructs increase until their second academic year, then after that, the patterns started going down. Moreover, there are significant relationship between track and each trajectory groups. Science track and science-core track students have similar trajectory patterns. In contrast, humanities track students have different trajectory groups in some constructs. Based on these findings, we suggest that STEM career education environment should consider various patterns of students' STEM career development.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.371-381
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• 2022

This study causally investigates whether high school student with high science learning motivation becomes to achieve more or vice versa, and also how those two factors affect STEM career motivation. Research participants were 1st year students in a high school at Seoul. We surveyed their science learning motivation three times in the same time interval in the fall semester of 2021, and once a STEM career motivation in the third period. We collected data from 171 students with their mid-term and final exam scores, with which, we constructed and fitted an autoregressive cross-lagged model. The research model shows high measurement stability and fit indices. All the autoregressive and cross-lagged paths were statistically significant. However, standardized regression coefficients were larger in path from motivation to achievement compared to the opposite. Only science learning motivation shows significant direct effect on STEM career motivation, rather than achievement. For indirect effects, the first science learning motivation affected the final exam score and STEM career motivation, and the final exam score affected STEM career motivation. However, the final exam score did not have a total effect toward STEM career motivation. The result of this study shows reciprocal and cyclic causality between science learning motivation and achievement - in comparison, the effect of motivation for the opposite is larger than that of achievement. Also the result of this study strongly reaffirms the importance of science learning motivation. Instructional implications for strengthening science learning motivation throughout a semester was discussed, and a study for the longitudinal effect of science learning motivation and achievement in high school student toward future STEM vocational life was suggested.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.317-324
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• 2016

This study aims to investigate the motivation for science learning of 3rd year high school students who choose different majors from their track. A total of 2,012 high school 3rd year students participated in this study. We used Science Motivation Questionnaire II (Glynn et al., 2011) to measure the students' science motivation and performed Rasch analysis, MANOVA and logistic regression analysis. First, results showed that 11.5% of students in the science track switched their pathway to a non-STEM major and 14.3% of students in the humanities track switched to a STEM major. In addition, there were gender differences in switching majors. Second, we found a significant difference in science motivation between two groups of students switching their major only in career motivation. Third, science motivation was the significant predictor of STEM major choice; in particular, career motivation was the most influential variable. Based on these results, we proposed that prediction of and paying close attention to students' career motivation are required before making decisions on which track to take.

• Journal of Science Education
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2019

This exploratory study is aimed at exploring the validity of the Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ) developed for university students, to measure the science motivation of middle school students and analyze the differences on gender and country factors of SMQ. A total of 371 students participated in this study: 171 middle school students from the USA and 200 secondary students from Korea. All participants were enrolled in the STEM program and activities in Utah, USA (for US students) and at a Korean university institute for gifted and talented students (for Korean students). In this study, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and latent mean analysis were used to analyze the gender and country differences. The results indicated that the 25 items of SMQ scale were theoretically meaningful and valid for middle school students. The latent mean difference by gender indicated that male students have higher intrinsic motivation, career motivation, grade motivation, and self-determination than female students. Moreover, a significant difference exists in these factors between the two countries. Further findings reveal that Korean students scored higher than US students in terms of the aforementioned factors. This study will provide significant insights in and contribution to science motivation issues in STEM education and the development of design-based engineering programs.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.532-540
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• 2012

This research investigated the motivation and interests of a sample of predominately-underrepresented populations to better understand whether informal STEM learning experiences offer support for developing STEM identities. A valid and reliable three-section self-reporting survey was administered to 169 secondary students as the primary data source. Identity was used as a theoretical lens along with descriptive statistics to reveal students' perceived benefits of the informal STEM learning experience, a Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program in the western U.S., for improving their understanding of science, mathematics, and engineering concepts, increasing their interest in science, mathematics, and engineering careers, and increasing their belief of the importance of these STEM disciplines. In summary, the findings emerging, considered alongside current identity research, suggest that informal STEM learning experiences offer students from underrepresented STEM populations the space needed for successful STEM identity bids, either for future career pursuits or participation in a STEM literate populace as a non-STEM professional societal member.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.68-75
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• 2020

In order to cultivate the talents acquired in the fourth industrial revolution, developed countries' government are actively engaged in the campaigns encouraging K-12 students to participate in the maker movement. Maker education is regarded as one possible solution based on high tech in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and it is spreading widely along with STEM education. In South Korea, STEAM education was actively conducted nationwide, and since 2017, STEAM and maker education have been linked showing mutual development. However, compared to STEAM education linked to the curriculum, comparison and activity-based research on maker education for teenagers is still insufficient. Therefore, this study aimed to suggest implications for STEAM education and maker education by analyzing the motivation of Korean youth to participate in maker activities. The subjects of this study are high school students who participated in maker education programs in student community for the first time in Korea. In this study, students were classified into engineering-related career group and non-engineering-related career groups based on their career intentions, and the motivation and understanding of participation in maker activities were compared. As a result of the study, male students participated more in maker education community activities than female students, and the engineering-related career group had a higher intention to participate in games, outdoor activities, IT equipment, digital production, and electrical/electronic production activities than the non-engineering-related career group. In addition, in the fields of handicraft/art, home baking, installing, and horticultural agriculture, there was no difference in the intention of participate in the engineering-related career group and the non-engineering-related career group. It was found that the engineering-related career group believed that there was a strong relationship between the maker education community activity, career exploration and future career choice, while the non-engineering-related career group believed that the relationship is less strong. It was also found that the engineering-related career group was participating more actively in the maker activity than the other group.

• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.195-216
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• 2015

Students' perceived values of career play a core role in formation of their career motivation. In particular, science gifted students should build sound values of career in science and technology so that our society can retain the human resources for future science and technology. This study compared and analyzed the structure of science gifted and general middle school students' preferred job and values of career using semantic network analysis. Methodologically, we first collected science gifted and general middle school students' preferred careers and the reasons of the career choice using survey method. Then, we structuralize semantic networks of students' perceived values of their preferred careers using semantic network analysis. We identified the characters of networks that two different student groups showed based on the structure matrix indices of semantic network analysis. Findings revealed that science gifted students considered the creativeness as the most important value of career. Second, science gifted students considered more diverse values of career than general students. Third, science gifted students considered the self-realization such as displaying capability as a core value of career in STEM and medical science whereas general students considered the community service as a core value of the careers. This study identified the significant differences between science gifted and general middle school students' values of careers. The structures of students perceived values of careers can be used for teachers to counsel their students about students' future careers.