Work

Gender, STEM career interest, and computational thinking: a social cognitive career theory perspective from Turkish adolescents

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: = 16.05, SD = 1.20; 57.2% female) enrolled in public science high schools in Diyarbakır, Türkiye, using a descriptive correlational design. Participants completed the STEM Career Interest Scale and the Computational Thinking Skills Scale. Moderation analysis was conducted using PROCESS (Model 1) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. STEM career interest was positively associated with computational thinking. Gender showed no significant main effect, and the interaction between STEM career interest and gender was not significant, indicating that the strength of this association was similar for female and male students. These findings suggest that, within academically selective STEM-focused environments, motivational orientations toward STEM are linked to computational thinking in comparable ways across genders. The results highlight the importance of supporting students' motivational engagement, alongside instructional practices, in fostering computational thinking during secondary education.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-51331-2

Author: Mehmet Bars

Institution: Dicle University

Language: English

Topic: Teaching and Learning Programming

Subfield: Computer Science Applications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Gender equality

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,690