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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The role of recognition in disciplinary identity for girls
Computing fields are foundational to most STEM disciplines and the only STEM discipline to show a consistent decline in women's representation since 1990, making it an important field for STEM educators to study. The explanation for the underrepresentation of women and girls in computing is twofold: a sense that they do not fit within the stereotypes associated with computing and a lack of access to computer games and technologies beginning at an early age (Richard, 2016). Informal coding education programs are uniquely situated to counter these hurdles because they can offer additional resources and time for engagement in specially designed activities developed around best practices to improve girls coding identities (National Research Council [NRC], 2009). We draw upon research by Calabrese Barton et al. (2013) and Carlone and Johnson's (2007) research as a lens by which to examine girls' coding identity work in an informal coding education setting—a concept not currently defined in the science education research literature. In this paper, we describe the coding identity trajectories of three middle school girls who participated in a coding camp: Lilly, Victoria, and Beth. Our results provide a conceptual framework that will guide future research on coding identity that better encompasses the role of recognition by educators and peers on youth's coding identity development. This framework can be used to guide broader science education identity research, particularly as it applies to informal STEM education settings that work to engage students, especially girls, across the STEM spectrum.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10453529
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Research in Science Teaching
- Volume:
- 58
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 0022-4308
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 420-455
- Size(s):
- p. 420-455
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This study investigates a university-community partnership focused on broadening participation for girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Stakeholders across partner organizations (an informal learning community organization and a public research university) call the success and longevity of the collaboration "magic" because of the commitment required to maintain it despite partnership complexities and few formal incentives. Using qualitative inquiry and sensemaking/ sensegiving frameworks, this article elucidates the "magic" behind the partnership. Findings emphasize individual motivations and behaviors, program collaboration obstacles, and collective partnership identity impacting the program's sustainability (i.e., magic). This study can inform research and practice related to improving access into STEM pathways for underrepresented populations through education partnerships that often experience resource constraints alongside the organizational complexities of cross-sector engagement.more » « less
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