Children's and Parents' Perceptions of pursuing a career in STEM fields

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is an emerging field for education. The significance of teaching these subjects with an integrated manner and developmentally appropriate approach is crucial... [ view full abstract ]

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education is an emerging field for education. The significance of teaching these subjects with an integrated manner and developmentally appropriate approach is crucial to help children to develop key skills for 21st century, such as curiosity, cooperation, coordination, innovativeness, versatile and critical thinking, creativity, and problem solving. In this study it is aimed to help improve STEM education, and two cross-sectional surveys commissioned by the researcher. One survey is conducted with early childhood children, and the other survey is administered to their parents. The aim of the surveys was to gain insight about what can better inspire students to pursue education in STEM fields. In these surveys, parents and early childhood students were asked about their perceptions of STEM education, shedding light on how to inspire more young people to become doctors, scientists and engineers. The parents are asked for the carrier that they most desire their child to pursue. The same question is asked to children, too. It is aimed to reveal the carrier plans of children regarding to their gender, their parents' jobs and education; in addition it is aimed to understand if there is a difference between the career choice of parents for their child regarding to the child's gender or the parent's gender. The survey is conducted with 38 children and 76 parents. Convenience sampling method is applied. Surveys are directly administered to parents and children. For children, the researcher asked the question and fill the form according to child's answer. There were one multiple choice question and one open ended question in the survey. The questionnaire is pilot tested with 5 students and 10 parents before the actual study.