Toward an Ecological Approach to Measuring STEM Identity Shifts Among Nondominant Girls

• In Event: Measuring Making: Methods, Tools, and Strategies for Capturing Learning, Participation, and Engagement in Maker Activities

Abstract

Objectives: Studies suggest that lack of opportunities, low STEM confidence, and isolating STEM environments are factors that highlight the racialized and gendered realities within STEM learning settings that make it difficult for many non-dominant girls to develop a positive STEM identity (e.g. Hall & Brown, 1976; Maltese & Tai, 2010; Margolis & Fisher, 2002; Johnson et al, 2011; Ko et al, 2014). In this poster, we describe our ecological approach to measuring shifts in interest and identity development amongst non-dominant middle school girls who participate in STEM project activities.

Perspectives: Our approach to investigating girls’ STEM identity development assumes that identity shifts happen over time, is influenced by social, cultural, and institutional factors, and can only be measured by taking an ecological view of learning and STEM engagement (Barron, 2004; 2006; Nacu et al., 2014; Nasir, 2011). Specifically, we use longitudinal qualitative and quantitative data measures to understand identity shifts.

Methods and Data Sources: We evaluate the outcomes of the Digital Youth Divas (DYD), a blended online and face-to-face out-of-school program created to engage middle school girls in design-based engineering and computer science activities (Pinkard et al., 2017). DYD, which consists of introductory circuitry and programming projects through fabrication and design, is purposefully designed to impact girls’ interest and identity, sense of community, and computational knowledge through five interconnected program components: (1) Self-paced, hands-on, project-based learning activities; (2) Narrative storylines with non-stereotypical characters; (3) An online social learning network where girls access instructions and resources, upload project work, and interact with others; (4) In-person and online mentorship from racially diverse, female mentors; and (5) Workshops with parents that create a supportive parent community. We describe our results based on case study analysis of four girls who participated for at least 20 weeks in a large cohort (N=98 girls). We analyzed attendance records, pre-post surveys that include standard questions to assess knowledge, interest, and identity development, multiple interviews of each participant, observation fieldnotes, artifacts of participation, online ethnographies that describe online interactions, and parent surveys.

Results: Qualitative results alone suggest that our narrative-centered, blended learning program increases non-dominant girls’ knowledge, confidence, and sense of fit in STEM activities (Erete et al., 2017). However, we were unable to determine changes in interest and identity development based on the traditional identity and interests survey measures alone. We argue that identity development must be measured in more subtle and nuanced ways. Thus, we present the process and results of measuring identity development using a sociopolitical framework (McKinney de Royston & Nasir, forthcoming) as an example of going beyond traditional quantitative measures, where we use both qualitative and quantitative data to explore the social, institutional, cultural, and individual factors that influence identity shifts.

Scholarly Significance: This provides an empirical example of how to operationalize a framework to understand shifts in identity that traditional survey measures may not be sensitive enough to discover. In addition, our results provide insight into how non-dominant girls in STEM demonstrate shifts in identity over time.

Authors

• Sheena Erete, DePaul University

• Nichole D. Pinkard, DePaul University

• Caitlin Kennedy Martin, DePaul University - Digital Youth Network

• Jessa Dickinson, Digital Youth Network