INCORPORATING CAREER DEVELOPMENT SKILLS INTO THE STEM CLASSROOM WITH FLIPPED METHODS

Career development is a lifelong process encompassing many factors and stages essential to achieving occupational aspirations. In flipped classrooms, students watch instructional videos as homework and engage in concept exploration and problem-solving activities in class. A surge in the utilization of the flipped classroom strategy has resulted in an increase in pedagogical research in which investigators employ mixed methods research designs to explore student attitudes and learning outcomes. While many empirical studies have been done to clarify the effects of flipped classrooms on student learning in various disciplines including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, very few studies have been conducted to evaluate the use of the flipped classroom model to enhance college students' career development skills. The purpose of this scalable pilot qualitative research study is to investigate STEM student perceptions of utilizing the flipped classroom approach to inculcate critical skills required to enter the workforce. Qualitative data analysis revealed that implementation of the flipped classroom format improved students' understanding and application of STEM job interview techniques. Results also demonstrate that over 90% of the respondents believe that flipped classroom methods would serve as an effective instructional strategy to enhance comprehension of additional career development skills.