What Makes a STEM Role Model Motivating for Young Children?

• In Event: Girls in STEM: Exploring the Developmental Origins of the Gender Gap in Science

Abstract

The gender gap in motivation to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a longstanding educational problem. Resources for educators often recommend exposure to successful adult exemplars, or role models, as a means of raising students’ motivation, such as their confidence and interest, in pursuing STEM (Dean,2014; Levere, 2018). Previous research has found links between the use of role models and students’ confidence and interest in STEM fields (Cheryan et al., 2011; Stout et al., 2011). However, the specifics of the messages being sent by role models matter. For instance, exposing students to role models whose success seems unmatchable can demotivate students (Betz & Sekaquaptewa, 2012).

Our main objective was to use the framework of implicit theories of intelligence (Dweck & Legget, 1988) and interest (O’Keefe et al., 2013) to examine two features of role models’ messages that may have implications for children’s STEM confidence and interest. The first feature is how the role model describes the source of their STEM ability: hard work (growth mindset about ability) or natural talent (fixed mindset about ability). The second feature is the timing and stability of the role model’s interest in the STEM field: developing over time (growth mindset about interest) or early and sustained (fixed mindset about interest).

Children (N = 168) between the ages of 5 and 8 years (84 girls, 84 boys) were gender-matched with a role model who was a scientist in a STEM field unfamiliar to children (urban ecology). Participants heard an “interview” with the role model that served as our manipulation: The model described their ability in the field as being due either to natural talent or to hard work, and their interest in the field as being either fixed over time or growing over time. After hearing about the role model, participants were asked about their confidence (e.g., “Imagine you became an urban ecologist when you grew up, how well do you think you would do as an urban ecologist?”) and their interest (e.g., “How much do you want to be an urban ecologist when you grow up?”) in urban ecology.

For full results, see Figures 1-2. With respect to confidence, boys showed more confidence in their ability in the unfamiliar STEM field when they heard the role model endorse a fixed mindset about ability and interest, whereas girls showed more confidence when they heard the role model endorse a growth mindset about ability and interest. This difference may be explained by stereotypes that portray boys’ science ability as superior to girls’ (Boston & Cimpian, 2018). With respect to interest, girls who heard the role model endorse a growth mindset about interest reported significantly more interest in the unfamiliar STEM field compared to boys in that condition.

These findings highlight the importance of tailoring the messages provided by role models to the young students who are being targeted by these messages. A message that motivates one group of students may demotivate another.

Authors

• Jessica Gladstone, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Molly Tallberg, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jilana Jaxon, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Andrei Cimpian, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author