“There Are a Lot of People Like Me…”: The Impact of a STEM Program for Underrepresented Girls

Introduction

The underrepresentation of groups such as women and those from other marginalized identities in scienceculturally relevant pedagogy, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continues to be problematic. As of 2015, the National Science Board (NSB, 2018) reported that 28% of the STEM workforce identified as female, and 11% identified as either Black, Hispanic, Alaska Native, or American Indian. Different approaches over the years have been taken to improve these statistics and yet despite these efforts, these groups continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields (Tsui, 2007). One approach that may alleviate this issue is the development and effective implementation of out-of-school STEM programs and the subsequent engagement of historically underrepresented program participants.

Out-of-school programming includes programming that occurs outside of the school setting either before school, after school, on weekends, or during seasonal breaks such as winter or summer. In 2015, the National Research Council (NRC, 2015) published a report by the Committee on Successful Out-of-School STEM Learning. The purpose of this report was to establish criteria that could be used to identify and support productive out-of-school STEM programs. The Committee reported that a review of the literature reflects the ability of out-of-school STEM programs to (a) contribute to young people’s interest in and understanding of STEM; (b) connect young people to caring adults who serve as role models; and (c) reduce the achievement gap between young people from low-income families and high-income families.

Additionally, The Afterschool Alliance (2008) reviewed over 30 afterschool programs and found that they (a) improved school attendance and engagement in learning; (b) improved test scores and grades; and (c) students considered to be at greatest risk often show the greatest gains (2008). While these and other reviews report positive outcomes for students participating in out-of-school programs, there is less research available on the impact of these programs on historically underrepresented students.

The NRC (2015) also described three criteria to develop out-of-school programs with positive outcomes. The programs must be engaging intellectually, academically, socially, and emotionally; responsive to the participants’ interests, experiences, and cultural practices; and they must make connections to STEM learning in the various settings of a participant’s day-to-day life including in and out of school as well as at home. While the NRC report provides a detailed overview of criteria for effective programs as well as recommendations and limitations for evaluation, there is still a need for literature that describes the work done with out-of-school STEM programs specifically for underrepresented students.

In this review, we examine studies of out-of-school programs which evaluate interest, attitudes, and motivation in STEM, but we also need to consider how that translates to pursuing a STEM career. This is an important differentiation as this is often a desired outcome of providing out-of-school STEM programs, to go beyond the first level of triggered situational interest and generate an interest that translates to a well-developed interest eventually leading to the pursuit of a STEM career and thereby increasing the representation of minorities in these fields (Hidi & Renninger, 2006). For example, the research by Kang et al. (2018) revealed consistent common predictors of students’ identification with basic biology, applied biology, basic physical, and applied physical science careers. The students’ perception of self was associated with higher identification with STEM careers in all four categories. Participation in science-related activities at home and important for this study, outside of school, predicted higher identification with STEM careers in all categories except for applied biology and basic biology careers, respectively.

Out-of-school STEM programs are also helpful in exposing students to careers that may not be discussed or explored in traditional school settings. For example, in a 2015 study of a university pipeline program for African American high school students, participants reported “discovering occupations they never knew existed, thus expanding their range of career choices within health careers” as well as “reconsidering specific occupations” they had originally chosen to pursue but had lost interest in (Wallace et al., 2015, p. 492).