Intervention program to keep girls in the science pipeline: Outcome differences by ethnic status

Abstract

This study evaluated a 2-week residential program aimed at enhancing the science interest and persistence of high-achieving 8th-grade girls. Questionnaires were administered to 38 program participants (14 of whom were of minority ethnicity) and 173 applicants who did not attend the program, at 3 time points: preprogram, 1 year postprogram, and 4 years postprogram. Outcomes, measured postprogram, included science self-concept and interest, persistence and aspirations in science, science activities, science course-taking in high school, and plans for a science college major. There was no main effect of program participation on any of the outcome measures, but a significant Participation  Ethnicity interaction effect occurred for all but one of the outcome variables. At Time 2, and especially Time 3, nonminority participants tended to have the most positive outcomes, whereas minority participants tended to have the most negative outcomes, compared with applicants. Post hoc analyses showed that although nonminority girls overall were more advantaged, this difference did not explain results. Several interpretations for these findings are discussed, the most likely that some global feature of the program, not any intervention component, interacted over time with the girls' postprogram experience. ß 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 2003 As global competition in science and technology intensifies, the U.S. science community must work to optimize our own human capital development. This task falls largely to those science educators who generate curricula and set the goals for teacher training and what students should know. However, there is more. Educators must also address questions of equity-in this case women's and minorities' pursuit of science learning. This is the focus of the present evaluation

Augmenting Learning in an Out-of-school Context: The Cognitive and Affective Impact of Two Cryogenics-based Enrichment Programmes on Upper Primary Students

“…Despite the small effect size (see Cohen, 1988) of CBEPs on attitudes, the results can still be regarded as educationally significant, noting that small effect sizes on attitudes are common for studies involving science enrichment programmes. The effect size detected in this study was greater than those reported in a likewise short-term study (see for example; Jarvis & Pell, 2005) or was on par, if not greater, than those of studies that focused on relatively longer enrichment programmes (Falk & Balling, 1982;Jayaratne, Thomas, & Trautmann, 2003) held in out-of-school settings. It is also worth noting that a sizeable percentage (at least 20%) of the participants reported retention of considerable attitude gains (10% or three-point increase in subscale scores) 2 weeks post-CBEP.…”

Inquiry-Based Science and Technology Enrichment Program for Middle School-Aged Female Students

“…The results of these programs that use an inquiry approach have been mixed, with many showing a positive impact on girls' science attitudes and long-term career choices (Baker 2013;Brickhouse et al 2000;Fadigan and Hammrich 2004;Jovanivich and King 1998;Kahle and Damnjanovic 1994;Mattern and Schau 2002;Palmer 2009;Stake and Mares 2001), as well as some neutral outcomes (Carlone 2004;Davis 2002;Jayaratne et al 2003; BaramTsabari et al 2009). Given that inquiry-based learning has produced some promising results, it is critical that educators come to better understand how this approach can improve girls' science attitudes and content knowledge.…”

Addressing the STEM Gender Gap by Designing and Implementing an Educational Outreach Chemistry Camp for Middle School Girls

“…25 To simultaneously address both of these issues: the persistent gender gap in STEM disciplines and the lack of hands-on science education, we developed a full-time, week-60 long chemistry camp for middle school girls in Rhode Island. Hands-on full-time outreach programs for girls have previously been reported by this 34 and other journals; [35][36][37] review articles on this topic have also been published. 38 Only one of the previously reported full time programs was focused on chemistry, and in that case focused particularly on analytical chemistry experiments.…”