Envisioning a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: some challenges and possibilities

Abstract

In How High School Students Envision Their STEM Career Pathways, Lin Zhang and Michael Barnett attempt to shed light on the problem of underrepresented students (e.g., Aboriginals, Hispanics, African Americans, urban, females) in STEM higher education and related careers by exploring, in general terms, five high school students’ career visions and the experiences that influenced their career visions. In this paper, I attempt to extend the authors’ discussions on the underrepresentation of minority students in STEM higher education by highlighting some of the factors that begin to influence youths’ career decisions long before they reach the high school level and are required to make specific career choices. I also draw on Glen Aikenhead’s Sci Edu, 27, 1–52 (1996) notion of border crossing and research by Victoria Costa Sci Edu, 79, 313–333 (1995) to reflect on the significance of the relationship between students’ cultural worlds and the cultural world of school science.