Women in Natural Sciences: A Longitudinal Comparative Case Study of Black Women in STEMM (1995-2015)

黑人女性在科学，技术，工程，数学和医学（STEMM）职业中的低代表性明显存在明显的不平等，尽管在教育到工作场所STEMM管道的多样化方面进行了大量投资。黑人妇女的大学入学率占生物和物理科学所有学位的4-5%，计算机科学和数学学位的2-3%，工程学学位的大约1%。最终，黑人女性在STEM相关领域的劳动力中仅占2.5%，这表明她们长期以来一直处于职业发展停滞状态。由于在正式或非正式环境中的纵向研究很少，教育工作者和研究人员缺乏对为什么获得BA/BS证书的黑人女性在进入劳动力市场时以高比例退出STEM职业的关键见解。这项服务于实践的研究项目将对成年黑人妇女的主要专业成果和生活轨迹进行纵向检查，这些妇女参加了40岁的校外时间（OST）高中STEM富集计划。先前的研究表明，校友在大学毕业前与STEM进步相关的所有指标上都优于全国平均水平。这项研究将检验这样的假设，即这些群体在追求人生目标和驾驭劳动力时会继续取得成功。这项研究的结果将促进科学的进步，这对NSF的使命至关重要，因为该项目为黑人女性在STEMM职业生涯中建立了支持和挫折因素的知识。战略影响在于以参与者为中心的新研究方法，扩大黑人妇女的声音，并提高非正式STEM学习research.This研究的准确性和公平性探讨黑人妇女在其劳动力参与的关键阶段的经验时，BS/BA认证的校友建立自己的职业生涯（年龄26-46）。该小组将对20年（1995-2015年）的研究成果和生活轨迹进行纵向比较案例研究。研究问题包括：（1）什么样的人生旅程的叙述，在成年后的女校友揭示了影响因素的社会文化生态系统的黑人妇女在干？(2)在教育、STEM和其他职业、社会经济地位以及STEM自我效能和兴趣方面，女青年的长期结果是什么？这些是如何变化的？(3)在校友的叙述中，哪些突出的项目元素与黑人女性成年后的经历有关？这些关联是如何变化的？(4)如何选择的结果（在RQ 2中陈述）和生活故事叙述中未登记的申请人相比，程序校友？以及（5）在黑人妇女的职业生涯和其他生活目标方面，黑人妇女职业发展计划的突出组成部分如何与社会文化因素联系起来？参与者包括100名黑人女校友作为干预组和100名黑人妇女谁成功地申请了黑人女校友计划，但没有或不能注册匹配的对照组。将通过包括定量和定性分析的融合混合方法设计，研究两组可衡量的生活结果和生活轨迹叙述以及经验地图。将对研究组之间的结果和轨迹进行比较。此外，校友的长期成果之间的关联，以及他们如何将他们的经验与其他社会文化因素在他们的生活将被确定。预计调查结果将挑战现有的知识，并确定研究OST STEMM方案对黑人妇女和女孩的持久影响的最有效特征和适当措施。该项目的定位是大大有助于国家努力增加黑人妇女参与科学、技术、工程和数学管理。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Stark inequities evident in the low representation of Black women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) careers persist despite considerable investment in the diversification of the education-to-workplace STEMM pipeline. College participation rates of Black women measure 4-5% of all degrees in biological and physical sciences, 2-3% of degrees in computer science and math, and roughly 1% in engineering. Ultimately, Black women make up only 2.5% of the workforce in STEMM-related fields, indicating that they chronically experience stalled professional advancement. Because there are so few longitudinal studies in either formal or informal settings, educators and researchers lack critical insights into why BA/BS credentialed Black women drop out of STEMM careers at high rates upon entering the workforce. This Research in Service to Practice project will conduct a longitudinal examination of key professional outcomes and life trajectories among adult Black women who enrolled Women in Natural Sciences (WINS), a 40-year-old out-of-school time (OST) high school STEM enrichment program. Prior research on WINS documents that alumnae outperform national averages on all metrics related to STEMM advancement up through college graduation. This study will test the hypothesis that such success continues for these cohorts as they pursue life goals and navigate the workforce. Findings from this study will promote the progress of science, pivotal to NSF’s mission as the project builds knowledge about supportive and frustrating factors for Black women in STEMM careers. Strategic impact lies in the novel participant-centered research methods that amplify Black women’s voices and increase both accuracy and equity in informal STEM learning research.This research probes the experiences of Black women at a critical phase of their workforce participation when BS/BA credentialed WINS alumnae establish their careers (ages 26-46). The team will conduct a longitudinal comparative case study of outcomes and life trajectories among 20 years of WINS cohorts (1995-2015). Research questions include (1) What do the life-journey narratives of WINS alumnae in adulthood reveal about influential factors in the socio-cultural ecological systems of Black women in STEMM? (2) What are the long-term outcomes among WINS women regarding education, STEMM and other careers, socio-economic status, and STEMM self-efficacy and interest? How do these vary? (3) What salient program elements in WINS are highlighted in alumnae narratives as relevant to Black women’s experiences in adulthood? How do these associations vary? (4) How do selected outcomes (stated in RQ2) and life story narratives among non-enrolled applicants compare to program alumnae? and (5) How do salient components in the WINS program associate with socio-cultural factors in regard to Black women’s careers and other life goals? Participants include 100 Black WINS alumnae as an intervention group and a matched comparison group of 100 Black women who successfully applied to the WINS program but did not or could not enroll. Measurable life outcomes and life trajectory narratives with maps of experiences from both groups will be studied via a convergent mixed methods design inclusive of quantitative and qualitative analyses. Comparisons of outcomes and trajectories will be made between the study groups. Further, associations between alumnae’s long-term outcomes and how they correlate their WINS experiences with other socio-cultural factors in their lives will be identified. It is anticipated that findings will challenge extant knowledge and pinpoint the most effective characteristics of and appropriate measures for studying lasting impacts of OST STEMM programs for Black women and girls. The project is positioned to contribute substantially to national efforts to increase participation of Black women in STEMM. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.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.