This research was designed to provide information on the career development of fifth-grade students and to explore the influence of an education program on children's interest in nursing as a career choice, especially related to gender. Interest in nursing is conceptualized as interest, competence perception, and desire to help other people. A sample of 70 fifth-grade students recruited from a public elementary school in a large metropolitan city in the Southeast completed the study. The students' interest in nursing as a career was measured before and after participation in a four-week career education program about nursing. The four-week career education curriculum was designed in accordance with the National Career Development Guidelines. Data were collected to determine the effect of the education program on the students' interest, competence perception, and desire to help other people based on John Holland's (1959) theory of career development, Albert Bandura's (1977) theory of self-efficacy, and Jean Watson's (1985) theory of human caring. In addition, data were collected from pre- and post-questionnaires asking the students if they would consider nursing as a career to evaluate the effects of the education program on school age children expressing their consideration for nursing as a future career choice. Results indicated the education program had a highly significant effect on students' expressed consideration of nursing as a career choice, achieving a 61% increase in the number of students indicating they would consider nursing after participating in the education program. This positive influence was discovered between male and female students, resulting in a 114% increase in the number of male students and a 43% increase in the number of female students indicating they would consider nursing after participating in the education program. Results provided a pre- and post-career assessment of the students' career types based on John Holland's theory of vocational personalities and work environments. The career assessments for these students were congruent with findings from previous studies, especially related to gender differences. Lastly, the desire to help other people manifested itself with female students scoring significantly higher and male students showing no significant change after participating in the career education program. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]