This study collected data from a five-week summer camp that provided programming workshops and engineering-based group activities to girls in grades 6-11. The camp was part of the actions designed to increase girls’, especially minorities’, participation in computer science and engineering. All activities were designed to ensure that learning took place in a constructivist environment. With the collection and analyses of survey data, the objective of this study is to examine whether and how a constructivist learning environment impacted adolescent girls’ STEM interests beyond their gains in STEM knowledge and self-efficacy.
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How Constructivist Learning Impacts Secondary Girls’ STEM Career Interests
This is a quantitative study that examines how constructivist learning in a summer camp impacted middle school and high school girls’ STEM knowledge, self-efficacy, and ultimately, their interests in future STEM learning and growth. An online survey was used to collect information from thirty-one girls at the end of a five-week summer camp. The results are mostly confirmative of past studies that used student-centered project-based authentic STEM learning with significant gains in students’ understanding of STEM, self-efficacy, and interests in STEM for future development. The unique contribution of the study, though, is the finding that, when given the opportunity to engage in active learning and problem-solving, girls’ interest in STEM subjects could be substantially boosted; the constructivist learning environment along with their gains in STEM knowledge can compensate any insufficiency in self-efficacy in this regard. This study provides insight about the importance of instructional approach in STEM education.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1949585
- PAR ID:
- 10497653
- Publisher / Repository:
- RedFame
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Education and Training Studies
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2324-805X
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 62; 74
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- STEM education education, girls in STEM STEM, constructivist learning learning, informal learning environment
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Tweet: Summer camp for minoritized middle-school girls increases scientific self-efficacy, a characteristic that may be important for removing barriers to participation in STEM.
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v12i2.6793
