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1. Study of Imbedding Crochet into Girls’ STEM Learning

   Portia York, Shaoan Zhang (April 2023, 2023 AERA Annual Meeting)

   Recent STEM programs have made accomplishments in recruiting K-12 girl students to participate in STEM activities. Educational researchers have called for studies of how STEM programs engage girls. However, little research has embedded STEM education with girl education such as their emotional needs, identity and self-expression. This study examines how crochet that was embedded in a STEM summer camp impacts their sense of belonging, creativity, well-being, and STEM learning. For this qualitative study, surveys were conducted with 37 student participants and Discord was used as part of the data sources. Findings indicated that crocheting enhanced students’ sense of belonging, creativity, well-being, as well as STEM learning. This study contributes to research in girl education and STEM education practice. 

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2. Understanding Racially Minoritized Girls’ Perceptions of Their STEM Identities, Abilities, and Sense of Belonging in a Summer Camp

   https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13121183  

   Milton, Saki; Sager, Marc T; Walkington, Candace (December 2023, Education Sciences)

   Informal science education researchers have become increasingly interested in how out-of-school spaces that offer STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) programs inform learners’ STEM achievement, interests, and affective outcomes. Studies have found that these spaces can offer critical learning and developmental opportunities for underrepresented racially minoritized (URM) students (Black, Latinx, low socioeconomic status) in STEM subjects. Shifting away from the leaky STEM pipeline analogy, researchers have posited contemporary understandings to explain why the minoritization of URM girls persists. Informal learning environments such as STEM summer camps are being studied to assess how URM girls experience and interact with STEM in novel ways. These environments can inform the research field about how URM girls’ perceptions of their STEM identities, abilities, efficacy, and belonging in STEM develop as they engage in those spaces. This mixed-method study used a multiple-case-study approach to examine how aspects of URM middle school girls’ STEM identities positively changed after participating in a one-week, sleep-away, single-gender STEM summer camp held at a university in the Southwestern U.S. Drawing on intersectionality and STEM identity, we used ecological systems theory to design our research study, examining how URM middle school girls narrate their STEM identities in this informal learning environment. Using quantitative analyses and deductive coding methods, we explored how elements of girls’ STEM identities were shaped during and after their participation in the STEM summer camp. Findings from our study highlight (1) quantitative changes in girl participants’ STEM identities, sense of belonging in STEM, and perceived STEM ability belief, (2) qualitative results supporting our quantitative findings, and (3) how the intersectionality of participants’ race and gender played a role in their STEM identities. This study points to the potential of STEM informal learning camps as a way of developing and fostering URM girls’ STEM identities. 

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3. Creating a Constructivist Learning Environment to Enhance Secondary Female Students’ Engagement in STEM Activities

   Shaoan Zhang, Daniel Unger (April 2022, 2022 AERA ANNUAL MEETING)

   Female students participate in STEM activities at a low rate compared to males. Educational researchers have called for studies which examine the factors that influence STEM participation. The purpose of this study is to examine how a unique learning structure built on the principals of constructive learning environments might impact students’ sense of belonging and encourage them to participate in more STEM activities. For this qualitative study, interviews were conducted with 12 mentor and 17 student participants. Findings indicated that a constructive learning environment enhanced students’ sense of belonging. Programs which enhance female students’ sense of belonging impact their confidence to participate in more STEM activities. This study contributes to research in learning environment theory and STEM education practice. 

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4. Exploring Constructive Learning Environments for Secondary Girls' STEM Learning

   Zhang, S (September 2024, WERA 2024)

   The purpose of the study is to explore and theorize the constructivist learning environment for secondary female students’ STEM learning. The study was built on a funded program featured a tiered-team structure, hands-on experience, and interactive mentorship for engaging female students from Grades 6-11 in a five-week Summer Camp to learn Arduino programming & Robotics Design and integration of these tools to conduct projects in ubiquitous intelligent systems. In conducting this study, we used the case study method to provide a more multifaceted perspective on the camp, and how these perspectives inform an understanding of how the project’s features impacted the students. All 37 female students participated in the survey, and eight participated in the interviews. The findings indicate that students were able to heighten their self-confidence and motivation. The themes of the learning environment were identified: knowledge enhancement, STEAM experience, as well as support and encouragement. The program had significant impacts on students’ identity related to STEM identity, motivation and interest, and self-confidence. It also significantly impacts their sense of belonging, including peers' and mentors' sense of belonging. The study provided research evidence for designing STEM learning projects to enhance female STEM learning. 

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5. Finding a Place to Belong: Understanding the Role of Place in Developing Learner Identity Among Students Returning to In-person Learning

   Horn, Catherine; de la Rosa-Pohl, Diana G. (January 2022, ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings)

   This research paper describes the experiences of freshman STEM students arriving on a college campus for the first time after nearly a year and a half of online learning in high school. Fall 2021 marked the return of in-person learning in higher education, grown from a belief in and commitment to the value of interactions only achieved in such context (Sabella, 2021). First-year programs across the country welcomed first-time-in-college (FTIC) freshmen, many of whom experienced lower levels of social, emotional, and academic well-being due to extended periods of online learning in their final years of high school (Duckworth, et al., 2021). This reality, for some students, represented an unfamiliar learning environment to be negotiated in understanding their multiplying and evolving spaces as learners (e.g., Sequeira & Dacey, 2020). This qualitative study sought to understand the aspects and ways in which FTIC freshmen in a STEM student success program experienced a face-to-face first semester of college following an extended period of online learning, and how these experiences shaped a sense of belonging toward identity development, both as a college student in general and as a STEM major in particular. To explore these ideas, longitudinal qualitative data were collected through a series of focus groups in the fall of 2021. Participating students had substantial identified financial need and received scholarship support as part of the program. They also had the opportunity to participate as a cohort in intentionally designed curricular and co-curricular activities aimed at supporting their academic journey toward successful completion of a STEM degree. Findings suggest that physical space (e.g., the library and other specific locations on campus) played a disproportionate role in creating a sense of belonging for students. The results of this project add important nuance to the sense of belonging and identity development literature by expanding our understanding of the ways place, context, and prior experiences may uniquely intersect to ultimately influence belonging and identity in college. Keywords: STEM Identity, COVID, First-Year Experience, Sense of Belonging 

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