Date of Award:

5-2026

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Committee Chair(s)

Tye Campbell (Major Professor) Katherine N. Vela (Major Professor)

Committee

Tye Campbell

Committee

Katherine N. Vela

Committee

Jessica Shumway

Committee

Sindura Kularajan

Committee

Ryan Knowles

Abstract

Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrichment programs aim to increase participation in STEM, the design features that meaningfully influence adolescents’ task values and career-related beliefs remain insufficiently specified. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether STEM PBL activities designed with an interest-focused theoretical lens of Subjective Task Value (STV) and Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) influence students’ perceptions of STEM courses, majors, and careers. Additionally, I sought to understand what elements of the STEM PBL experience were most impactful. I designed and taught STEM PBL activities for students from the Native American lands in southeastern Utah at a 6-week STEM summer camp in July and August 2025. I utilized a PBL-embedded curriculum intentionally designed through the theoretical lenses of SCCT and STV. I utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to answer the following research questions: (1) How did students’ levels of interest in STEM pathways and future STEM careers change after engaging in STEM lessons and activities during the STEM summer camp? (2) How does implementing STEM PBL activities, specifically influenced by STV and SCCT, with adolescents at a summer camp influence students’ levels of interest and values toward STEM pathways and future career interests in STEM fields? and (3) What qualities and values of STEM PBL activities do adolescents identify as influencing their propensity to pursue STEM majors or careers? I conducted quantitative analysis on pre- and post-survey results (n = 277 and n =25) and qualitative analysis on journal entries and semi-structured interview responses (n = 3). I analyzed this data with descriptive and inferential statistics and thematic analysis of the qualitative data. Results showed that incorporating qualities of value-centered STEM PBL instruction and learning resulted in greater change in the intervention group than the comparison group, with small to moderate effect sizes ranging from 0.18 to 0.39. Results from the interviews indicated that participants pointed toward certain properties of value-centered STEM PBL instruction as influential. They identified things such as the collaborative nature of projects, real-world data, autonomy in presentation choices, and others that contributed to increasing STEM self-efficacy and interest. The implications of these results are that attending to task values and career theory during design and implementation can positively contribute to students pursuing STEM pathways.

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