A longitudinal study of the educational and career trajectories of female participants of an urban informal science education program

Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal case study is to describe the educational trajectories of a sample of 152 young women from urban, low‐income, single‐parent families who participated in the Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) program during high school. Utilizing data drawn from program records, surveys, and interviews, this study also attempts to determine how the program affected the participants' educational and career choices to provide insight into the role informal science education programs play in increasing the participation of women and minorities in science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET)‐related fields. Findings revealed 109 participants (93.16%) enrolled in a college program following high school completion. Careers in medical or health‐related fields followed by careers in SMET emerged as the highest ranking career paths with 24 students (23.76%) and 21 students (20.79%), respectively, employed in or pursuing careers in these areas. The majority of participants perceived having staff to talk to, the job skills learned, and having the museum as a safe place to go as having influenced their educational and career decisions. These findings reflect the need for continued support of informal science education programs for urban girls and at‐risk youth. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 835–860, 2004

Investigating Forty Years of Stem Research: How Explanations for the Gender Gap Have Evolved Over Time

“…Specifically, whereas STEM gender gap research in the 1970s and 1980s relied more commonly on representative samples in which race and SES are held constant, more recent work, especially within the past decade, has sought to disaggregate samples in order to understand race-and/or class-based nuances in the predictors of women's STEM participation. For example, case-study approaches such as Fadigan and Hammrich's (2004) examination of the impact of an informal science education program on the career trajectories of girls from "urban, lowincome, single-parent families" (p. 2) have become increasingly more prevalent in the literature.…”

Exploring the Important Factors of Informal Science Education Program of Youth in Poverty: A Case Study of Informal Earth Science Education Program in the U.S.

“…Dierking, 2007;Koke and Dierking, 2007). These studies also show that youths' positive development in an informal science education program is not only related to the program manager's leadership in developing strong relationships with youth participants but also external program characteristics, such as the program's mission, goals and institutional support (Dierking, 2007;Fadigan and Hammrich, 2004).…”

“…The program manager's role in informal science education programs is especially important for youth from poverty because they often need an adult for additional quality science learning (Benard, 1992;Fadigan and Hammrich, 2004). Most low income families cannot support quality science education resources for their kids, like quality books, afterschool programs, and out-of-school science programs, and as a result, these kids are more likely to fail to pursue higher education in science related degrees (Benard, 1992).…”

“…Most low income families cannot support quality science education resources for their kids, like quality books, afterschool programs, and out-of-school science programs, and as a result, these kids are more likely to fail to pursue higher education in science related degrees (Benard, 1992). Program managers in youth science education programs not only play an important role model as a science teacher or a scientist, but they also have a great potential to influence the youth to enter science careers through their attitudes, encouragement, expectations, resources, teaching methods, and classroom materials (Fadigan and Hammrich, 2004). However, there has been a lack of research to suggest the important characteristics for program managers, especially in science programs for youth in poverty.…”

“…Effective informal science education for underrepresented groups can be one of the answers to solve the inequity problems in science education (Fadigan and Hammrich, 2004). Unfortunately, the current body of literature on informal science education is not sufficient to inform us of the important program factors necessary for successful youth science programs that target youth in poverty.…”