The field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has been perceived as one of the significant fields for a nation’s progress. However, there is an evident decline in the interest of students in pursuing STEM careers. This study was conducted to explore the students' perception of the use of career- based scenarios and career-related activities in a Career-Oriented Classroom Instruction (COCI) and its effects on the students’ interest in pursuing STEM. A single intact group of grade 9 students was selected to undergo an intervention using the COCI. A standardized SERI questionnaire was employed to gather their perception of its use. While another validated questionnaire, the CIQ, was used as a pretest and posttest to test the effect of the intervention. The descriptive results of students’ perceptions revealed that they generally agreed that the scenarios used in the learning episodes were interesting, valuable, and meaningful to them. Further, the results of the t-test conducted uncovered a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test of the respondents with regard to their career interests. Lastly, it was found that there is a statistically significant low correlation between the perception of the students on COCI and their interest in pursuing STEM careers.

Keywords: STEM, career-based scenarios, career-related activities, career interest