Promoting Diverse Youth’s Career Development through Informal Science Learning: The Role of Inclusivity and Belonging

• In Event: STEM Inequity: Promoting STEM Engagement and Challenging STEM Stereotypes among Marginalized Youth

Abstract

Globally, there is a significant shortage of people entering STEM (NSF, 2020; Peterson et al., 2015), and it is crucial to look at what factors are associated with youth’s career development. STEM youth programs at informal science learning sites (ISLS; e.g., science museums, zoos) aim to provide youth work opportunities outside the school in order to increase STEM knowledge and develop STEM and soft skills for later career development. We extended social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1992) and social cognitive career theory (Lent et al., 1994), which stress the importance of the social environment in individuals’ learning and career development, into the informal science learning context. Specifically, we focus on the role of perceived ISLS inclusivity and youth’s sense of belonging with the STEM youth program in career preparation. First, we expect that perceptions of ISLS inclusivity for own social identity groups will be positively associated with program belonging. Second, it is anticipated that perceptions of ISLS inclusivity for own social identity groups will be positively associated with future career preparation and program belonging will be positively associated with future career preparation. Finally, overall, it is predicted that there will be an indirect effect of inclusivity to future career preparation via program belonging.

209 participants were from six ISLS (from three US ISLS and three UK ISLS). The UK sites include a biomedical and cell biology science education centre (37.3%), a science museum (10.5%) and a medical heritage museum (4.3%). The US sites include an aquarium (23.9%), a zoo (14.8%), and a children’s museum (8.1%). Participants were aged from 10 to 20 years old at T1 assessment (M age = 15.27, SD age = 1.60); The sample (69.9% girls and 30.1% boys) is racially and ethnically diverse, with 111 participants (53.1%) from the UK (4.8%, of total sample, White British; 25.8% South Asian British; 7.2% Black British; 5.3% Dual Heritage) and 98 participants (46.9%) from the US (31.1%, of the total sample, White/ European American, 3.3% Asian American; 9.1% Black American; 1.9% Hispanic/Latinx; 1.4% Mixed-Race/Bi-racial).

The study included a longitudinal survey. Participants’ perception of site inclusivity (Mulvey et al., 2022) were measured at the beginning of the program (T1) and 12 months after joining the program (T3). Their youth program belonging (Mendoza-Denton et al., 2002) was measured at 3 months (T2) and their sense of future career preparation at T1 and T3. Path analysis was used to explore the hypothesized associations. For the specific results, please see Figure 1. Perceptions of inclusivity for own social identity group (i.e., gender, ethnicity/culture) at T1 were associated with T2 STEM youth program belonging. Importantly, there was a significant indirect effect of T1 perceptions of inclusivity for one’s own social identity groups on T3 future career preparation via T2 program belonging.

This study shows that developing a sense of youth program belonging by promoting perceptions of inclusivity around youth’s own social identity groups (i.e., gender and ethnicity/culture) is associated with a feeling of future career preparation amongst diverse youth within the informal science learning context.

Authors

• Mengya Zhao, University of Exeter
  Presenting Author

• Channing Mathews, University of Virginia

• Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University

• Adam Hartstone-Rose, North Carolina State University

• Luke McGuire, University Of Exeter

• Adam J. Hoffman, Cornell University

• Mark Winterbottom, University of Cambridge

• Angelina Joy, Purdue University, West Lafayette

• Fidelia Law, University Of Exeter

• Frances Balkwill, Queen Mary University of London

• Karen Burns, Virginia Aquarium

• Laurence Butler, ThinkTank Science Museum

• Marc Drews, EdVenture Children’s Museum

• Grace Fields, Liberty University

• Hannah Smith, Florence Nightingale Museum

• Adam Rutland, University Of Exeter