Doctoral Dissertation Research: Who Wants to be an Engineer? Early Adolescence and Girls' Declining Interest in STEM

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Doctoral Dissertation Research: Who Wants to be an Engineer? Early Adolescence and Girls? Declining Interest in STEM Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] careers are among the highest paying and most in-demand jobs in the United States, men outnumber women in STEM by nearly four to one. Black and Latina women comprise a mere 4% of the STEM workforce. In middle school, girls begin losing interest and confidence in STEM, and only 13% of high school girls report math as a favorite subject. Existing research identifies gender stereotypes, or beliefs that boys are "naturally" better at STEM, as an overarching reason girls lose interest in STEM subjects and activities. However, there are currently three limitations within existing research: 1) Few studies have examined how girls' daily experiences in school shape their career aspirations; 2) Nearly all girls lose interest in STEM by the end of middle school, but existing research tends to study gender inequality in STEM during high school and beyond; 3) Few studies have identified why and how girls from marginalized backgrounds lose interest in STEM. When taken together, identifying the processes that contribute to girls? declining interest in STEM during early adolescence remains imperative to developing early interventions to increase the representation of girls and women in the STEM workforce. Drawing upon 2.5 years of longitudinal participant observation and 170 interviews with students, teachers, and staff at a racially diverse public middle school in California, this project traces students' career aspirations as they transition across sixth through eighth grades. Previous research not only risks constructing children as passive recipients of stereotypes pertaining to gender and STEM, but also risks isolating gender from other systems of inequality. Moving beyond these limitations, this project highlights the active role students' interactions play in perpetuating inequality in STEM at the beginning of the occupational pipeline. In addition to contributing to gender, childhood, education, and work scholarship, this project has the potential to create enriched STEM learning environments and increase the representation of women?especially women from marginalized backgrounds?in STEM, thus helping contribute to a diverse and competitive STEM workforce.