The Young Black Girl: Influencing Science Interest and Commitment to STEM through the Merging of Lived Experiences of Learners in an Out-of-School Program

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This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Black women make up the smallest percentage of persons in STEM careers. Girls aged three through fourteen years old, regardless of ethnicity, consider science occupations as unachievable at higher rates than other groups because they sense that these occupations are inappropriate for girls. Prior research also indicates that factors influencing Black girls to consider STEM majors and careers include interest in the science being studied, the learner's own sense of identity, and whether interest can be sustained. This project aims to develop an informal learning program designed as a venue through which Black girls tell STEM educators and researchers about the science activities that propel their interests and participation. The associated study will examine connections between Black girls’ lived experiences and their interest in pursuing STEM careers. Making a “connection” to students’ lived experiences has the potential to decrease the science achievement gap for students historically marginalized in their participation in STEM. The study’s premise is that connecting to science through lived experiences has the potential to support Black girls’ sustained interest in science, and thus increase the potential for them to pursue careers in STEM. The out-of-school program developed in this study will incorporate activities that use low-cost science supplies thereby increasing the curriculum’s potential use in other contexts. This study will recruit Black girls in fourth through sixth grades with various levels of interest in STEM for participation in a summer camp. During the camp, participants will explore the fields of engineering, mathematics, and physical science and learn to use multiplicative and additive comparisons, conduct investigations about matter and sound, and use engineering design processes and scientific inquiry to make connections to their real-life lived experiences. Lived experiences are the experiences, knowledge gained through those experiences, and the ways these experiences inform an individual’s evolving culture. Additionally, participant’s guardians are an important part of their lived experiences. The research study will employ a single-case methodology of off/on/off, quantitatively analyzing surveys and qualitatively analyzing observations, interviews, and artifacts. To inform the analysis of resulting data, the study will adopt a framework of seeking to understand how society organizes itself along intersecting lines of gender, race, class, and other forms of social hierarchies.The project responds to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.