INVESTIGATION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ INTERESTS TOWARDS SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY-ENGINEERING-MATHEMATICS (STEM) FIELDS AND THEIR INTEREST IN MAKING A CAREER IN THESE FIELDS

The present study aims to examine secondary school students’ interests towards science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) fields and their interest in making a career in these fields in terms of various variables and to reveal the relationship between them. General survey model was used in the study. The study group was determined through convenience sampling method among non-probability (purposive) sampling methods. The study group consisted of 363 secondary school students attending different schools located in the city center of Ni？de in 2017-2018 academic year. “The STEM Semantics Survey” and “The Career Interest Questionnaire” developed by Tyler-Wood, Knezek, and Christensen (2010) were used to collect data. At the end of the research, it was concluded that students’ interest in STEM fields was above average and that their interest in making a career in these fields showed a tendency from “Undecided” to “Agree”. In the analysis of the independent variables, it was determined that the students’ STEM interests and career interests did not show significant differences according to their gender, having a personal computer and having internet connection, but according to their class levels. A significant and positive relationship was revealed between the students’ science achievement and their STEM and career interests