Why STEM Education?: Investigation of Middle School 5th Grade Students' Career Choices in STEM Fields

In this research, it was aimed to investigate of middle school 5th grade students' career choices in STEM fields and their causes. In this survey research, a total of 107 students, 56 girls and 51 boys who were studying in a middle school in Istanbul in the academic year of 2015-2016, were asked open-ended questions, and they were requested to answer them in writing. “In the future, would you like to have a career in science (technology, engineering, mathematics) field? Why?”, the answers that they gave to these questions were analyzed descriptively. Findings related to professions in the science and math fields showed that most of the girl and boy students want a career in these fields. Findings related to careers in the field of technology showed that most of the girl students do not want a career in the field of technology, while most of the boy students want. When it comes to the findings in the field of engineering, it has been seen that the majority of both girl and boy students do not want to have a career in engineering