Starting with the concern for teachers’ differentiated attention to boys and girls in the classroom, continuing with the implications of the course taking patterns in middle- and high-school years for students interested in science, and culminating with the importance of guided teaching and learning for most students, it is important to understand the quest for a fair educational policy serving scientific and technological needs of tomorrow. This paper reports results of an exploratory study examining factors that might be associated with achievement in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering determining girls’ career choices. Female students’ attitude in ‘hard core’ sciences, teachers’ beliefs and schools’ institutionalized practices are accounted for in understanding STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) choices. Students’ beliefs, teachers’ recommendation and the system of tracking are all important factors in choosing an in-demand science career. The participation in advanced STEM discipline courses, students’ attitudes, as well as tracking are under scrutiny for the analysis of Mathematics and Natural Sciences undergraduate major choices of more than thirty students enrolled in a four- year college in Upstate New York.
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