All Times ET
Keywords: Teacher recruitment, STEM teaching, needs assessment, statistical methods, quantile regression
There are myriad career opportunities stemming from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In addition to careers in corporate settings, teaching is a viable career option for individuals pursuing degrees in STEM disciplines. With national shortages of secondary STEM teachers, efforts to recruit, train and retain quality STEM teachers is of great importance. Prior to exploring ways to attract potential STEM teacher candidates to pursue teacher training programs, it is important to understand the perceived value that potential recruits place on STEM careers, the disciplines and the teaching profession. The purpose of this study is to explore students perceived usefulness of STEM disciplines and their value in supporting students’ careers. A novel statistical method is utilized, combining exploratory factor analysis, analysis of simple models, multivariate analysis of variance, generalized estimating equation evaluations under the framework of generalized linear model, and quantile regression. Using the outputs from each statistical measure, student’s valuation of each STEM discipline and the interest in pursuing teaching as a career option are assessed. Our results indicate a high correlation of liking and usability of the STE disciplines relative to careers. Conversely, our results also display a low correlation of liking and usability of Mathematics relative to future careers. The significance of these diametrically related results suggests the need for promoting the interrelatedness of Mathematics and STEM.