The Development of the STEM Career Interest Survey (STEM-CIS)

• Published in: Research in science education (Australasian Science Education Research Association) Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 461 - 481
• Main Authors: Kier, Meredith W., Blanchard, Margaret R., Osborne, Jason W., Albert, Jennifer L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.06.2014; Springer
• Subjects: Career Choice; Education; Engineering; Grade 6; Grade 7; Grade 8; Mathematics; Middle School Students; Middle years; Occupational Aspiration; Poverty; Primary secondary education; Psychometrics; Rural Schools; Science careers; Science Education; Secondary School Science; STEM - Career Interest Survey; STEM Education; Student Interests; Student surveys; Technology; Test Construction; Test Reliability; United States (Southeast); Vocational interests; United States; STEM careers; Instrument; Confirmatory factor analysis; Survey; Social cognitive career theory; STEM interest
• ISSN: 0157-244X; 1573-1898
• DOI: 10.1007/s11165-013-9389-3

Internationally, efforts to increase student interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers have been on the rise. It is often the goal of such efforts that increased interest in STEM careers should stimulate economic growth and enhance innovation. Scientific and educational organisations recommend that efforts to interest students in STEM majors and careers begin at the middle school level, a time when students are developing their own interests and recognising their academic strengths. These factors have led scholars to call for instruments that effectively measure interest in STEM classes and careers, particularly for middle school students. In response, the authors leveraged the social cognitive career theory to develop a survey with subscales in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. This manuscript details the six stages of development of the STEM Career Interest Survey. To investigate the instrument's reliability and psychometric properties, this 44-item survey was administered to over 1,000 middle school students (grades 6-8) who primarily were in rural, high-poverty districts in the southeastern United States. Confirmatory factor analyses indicate that the STEM-CIS is a strong, single factor instrument and also has four strong, discipline-specific subscales, which allow for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subscales to be administered separately or in combination. This instrument should prove helpful in research, evaluation, and professional development to measure STEM career interest in secondary level students. [Author abstract, ed]