How can a relevance intervention in math support students' career choices?

Abstract Career choice is an important challenge in adolescence. Relevance interventions may be an option for promoting career choices because students reflect on the usefulness of the learning content for their future careers. We investigated whether a relevance intervention focusing on the usefulness of math for students' lives and careers could promote several precursors of their career choices. Seventy-eight classrooms were randomly assigned to one of two intervention conditions or to a control condition (N = 1744). Multilevel regression analyses revealed that the intervention fostered students' perceptions of the importance of math and physics for their career aspirations. We found positive effects on investigative interest and negative effects on realistic and enterprising interests. No effects were found on students' career orientation or career aspirations in STEM. Findings point to the potential of relevance interventions for supporting students' career choices, although a comprehensive fostering of career choice may be difficult to achieve.