GSE/DIS: WISSC via Web: A Dissemination Project Making GSE Research Useable for Practitioners Supporting Women in STEM Studies and Careers

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This project will apply research discoveries by launching the development of a first-of-its-kind, economical, and rapidly scaleable new web-based tool for schools, universities, and families to use in encouraging young women to 1) persevere in studying science, mathematics, and engineering, and 2) hold fast in their ambition to build careers in these fields. The project will disseminate both research and the tool that makes it useable for practitioners by allying with activities sponsored by CRESMET--Arizona State University's Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology. A previously developed taxonomy--Women in STEM Studies and Careers (WISSC) Taxonomy--will be used as a basis for the web tool. The tool will contain links from the issues listed in the taxonomy of barriers and supports, to information in written, audio, and video formats that will illustrate context, enhance the understanding of each issue, and provide extensive intervention information for educators, parents and family, peers, and girls and women themselves. The WISSC web tool will be developed as a part of the Virtual Counseling Center now housed in CRESMET and disseminated to all educators in Arizona as well as nationwide. Intellectual merit-- The development of the proposed web tool will facilitate broad dissemination of major findings from the results of NSF-sponsored research focusing on young women and STEM careers. It will educate professionals, parents, and girls on some of the challenges facing girls and women pursuing STEM careers, and organize this information so that it can be easily accessed and used by providing direct connections from information to interventions. The web tool will provide a useful bridge between practitioners and the research literature that will enhance the abilities of educators, parents and young women to access and make use of information and interventions informed by research. Broader impacts-- Through existing networks at ASU, 60,000+ teachers, counselors, and school leaders in the state of Arizona will be reached. Allying with CRESMET and the national network of collaborators the center leverages through currently operating MSP and TPC funded projects will enable the national dissemination of the WISSC tool, its foundational taxonomy, and the new knowledge created by researching and evaluating its impact on young women and those who advise and mentor them.