STEM Inequity: Promoting STEM Engagement and Challenging STEM Stereotypes among Marginalized Youth

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Inequalities in the representation of women, ethnic minoritized and lower SES individuals within the STEM (science, engineering, technology and math) workforce are pervasive (National Science Foundation, 2015). Inequity surrounding STEM emerges in childhood with robust stereotyping concerning STEM and is perpetuated into adolescence as under-represented groups experience less engagement and career preparation around STEM. In this symposium, international scholars address STEM inequity in our society by examining how to challenge STEM stereotyping and promote STEM engagement including career preparation among youth in formal and informal science settings.

Paper #1 examines school and individual factors that matter for both STEM class engagement as well as engagement with STEM outside of school through STEM activism. It shows that STEM class belonging, and STEM motivation relate to both in and out of school STEM engagement, suggesting that formal and informal STEM education can learn from each other. Paper #2 shows how, among youth within an informal STEM program (i.e., based in a museum, zoo, aquarium, or science center), feelings of program inclusivity (specific to their ethnic/racial and gender identities) and program belonging is related over time to a sense of career preparation. Paper #3 investigates how an extensive school-based intervention, focused on the harm of intergroup exclusion and the benefits of intergroup inclusion (including STEM inclusivity), can challenge children’s STEM gender and racial stereotypes, and impact their reasoning about STEM inclusion. The discussant, a well-known scholar in the field, will highlight how this research can help us address STEM inequity within society.

Sub Unit

• Diversity, Equity & Social Justice

Chair

• Adam Rutland, University Of Exeter

Discussant

• Allison Master, University of Houston

Individual Presentations

• Factors that Predict Adolescents’ Engagement with STEM In and Out of School - Presenting Author: Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University; Jacqueline Cerda-Smith, North Carolina State University; Angelina Joy, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Channing Mathews, University of Virginia

• Promoting Diverse Youth’s Career Development through Informal Science Learning: The Role of Inclusivity and Belonging - Presenting Author: Mengya Zhao, University of Exeter; 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

• Intervention about Children’s Intergroup Friendships Reduces Children’s STEM Stereotypes - Presenting Author: Jacquelyn Glidden, University of Maryland - College Park; Riley N. Sims, University of Maryland - College Park; Melanie A. Killen, University of Maryland - College Park