A Mentoring Framework for Engaging K–12 Females in the STEM Pipeline

• In Event: 47.086 - Fusing Mentoring Frameworks: A Critical Praxis to Affirm Women's Endeavours in a Post-Truth Era

Abstract

Objectives and Perspective
The barriers experienced by women in STEM fields have not diminished over the last several years (Rosser & Taylor, 2009). While half of the U.S. workforce is female, less than a quarter of STEM jobs are filled by women. Over the next decade, it is estimated the U.S. STEM workforce will be short one million workers, yet higher education struggles to recruit women into STEM majors. Although there is no single pathway into STEM fields, it is well documented that connecting students with mentors is critical to supporting their engagement in STEM, particularly for women. Here we describe a STEM mentoring framework that brought together K-12 students, college students, teachers, and community STEM professionals to engage in “real-world” STEM projects, with the particular objective of motivating female students to pursue STEM careers. The overarching purpose of the programs was to explore how STEM mentors can impact female students’ attitudes toward particular STEM topics and students’ desires to pursue postsecondary education in a STEM discipline.
Methods, Data, and Analysis
Grade-appropriate, problem-based projects, meant to connect students with STEM mentors, were offered in a series of out-of-/after-school workshops. Over the course of four workshops, female students were invited from over 40 primary and secondary schools. Mentors were recruited from local STEM-based businesses, a national laboratory, and a nearby schools of engineering and applied science. Though male mentors were invited, the majority of mentors were female. Since our focus was on female students, participation of female mentors was essential. In order to promote STEM-related careers for female students, it was vital for girls to interact with women who are active in their careers. Mentor-lead workshops included: 1) a K-3rd grade Lego engineering design challenge, 2) two separate 3rd-8th grade girls “coding party” events, and 3) several 11th-12th grade female-only workshops focused on real-world environmental science and water quality issues. Each workshop began with a presentation of opportunities women have who work in STEM fields, the importance of female representation in those fields, and how mentors can support students pursuing STEM fields. Program success was evaluated using pre/post program questionnaires and surveys.
Results and Significance
Preliminary results indicate mentor-lead workshops had the highest impact on 1st-2nd grade students participating in the engineering design workshop and 5-6th grade students who participated in the computer coding workshops. Additionally, the real-world STEM activities encouraged the 11th-12th grade females, that working in STEM fields are attainable and highly meaningful endeavors; girls are “good” at STEM-related skills; and STEM jobs allow for a sense of “giving back” to the community. Attitudes regarding whether girls thought they “could” be or would “want” to be an engineer, computer scientist, and/or environmental scientist most dramatically changed from negative to positive for these age groups after completing the workshops.
This study demonstrates the mechanism between student-professional mentoring relationships and the increased interest of female students to pursue STEM fields. This study also reveals the affordances and challenges of integrating problem-based projects in K-12 STEM mentor-lead workshops.

Authors

• Jillian Cadwell

• Anne L. Kern, University of Idaho