Collaborative Research: SBP: Increasing Social Equality in STEM through Children's Structural Reasoning

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There are major gender and racial inequalities in who pursues Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, and these disparities take root in early childhood. STEM inequalities are largely caused by structural factors, which are systemic societal barriers such as negative societal stereotypes and unequal educational opportunities. The present research addresses STEM inequalities by encouraging children to recognize structural constraints as a primary cause. A structural understanding may help children from disadvantaged groups realize that current inequalities do not reflect any deficiencies inherent about their groups and thus empower them to pursue STEM. Moreover, structural thinking may encourage children to include their marginalized peers in STEM activities. The proposed project thus tackles issues of STEM disparities by addressing three interrelated questions: (1) How to increase children’s structural reasoning about STEM inequalities? (2) Does structural reasoning increase children’s motivation to persist in STEM and to include marginalized children in STEM activities? (3) How can parents promote children’s structural reasoning and STEM motivation? Findings from this research will provide new insights on how to promote structural reasoning to increase STEM equality from early on, and will help to develop educational materials for educators and parents. The project also directly addresses STEM inequalities by including research training opportunities for students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. Using cognitive and behavioral experimental methods with 5- to 8-year-old children, the present research is a systematic investigation of structural reasoning in childhood and its behavioral consequences. Specifically, the research tests two approaches to promoting structural reasoning: (1) between-group comparisons that emphasize differential structural barriers between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and (2) within-group comparisons that show that how the removal of structural barriers make a difference for the disadvantaged group. In addition, the research examines how increasing structural reasoning can have downstream consequences for children’s STEM motivation and inclusion of marginalized children. The project also informs the socialization of structural reasoning by examining the role of parents in transmitting structural information to children. The proposed research advances the field by applying theoretically-novel approaches to increase children’s structural reasoning about real-world inequalities. Additionally, by studying the effects of structural reasoning on STEM pursuits and inclusion, this research informs how structural reasoning can diversify STEM participation in childhood. Ultimately, this project can transform our understanding of the early-developing barriers underlying systemic inequalities in STEM.This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU Racial Equity). This activity supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.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.