Development of STEM Identity in High-Achieving Rural Students Through After-School Programming

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Opportunity Gaps and Engagement in Rural Schools

Abstract

Academic acceleration through after-school programming is potentially an effective intervention to develop STEM identities in rural high-achieving students. This investigation focused on a place-based intervention situated in rural communities designed to create opportunities needed to successfully prepare high-achieving students for success in advanced STEM coursework. In this concurrent triangulation mixed methods study, we investigated students’ experiences in an after-school program and the program’s influence on rural students’ STEM identity. Through a priori thematic analysis of classroom observations and exploratory factor analysis with bivariate correlations of program evaluation data, we found that rural students’ experiences in the program promote positive STEM identities around the development of STEM communities of practice with a prevalent youth voice.

Authors

• Lori Marie Ihrig, The University of Iowa

• Duhita Mahatmya, The University of Iowa

• Susan G. Assouline, University of Iowa

• Stephanie Gugliemo Lynch, Johns Hopkins University