Final Defense – Brandy Bourdeaux

Young Women and STEM Careers: Identity and Perceptions at a Mountain Region High School

Aug 30 @ 10:15 am

LSC 710

Declining numbers of STEM graduates and steadily increasing need within the STEM career market suggests that it would be in the best interest of all stakeholders to encourage more women to engage with and persist in STEM pathways. Yet gender ratios remain starkly unbalanced in STEM fields, especially in physics, engineering, and computer science. High schools are the environment where young women either do or do not crystallize their early interest in science and math into career goals. This mixed-methods study explored the beliefs and perceptions of young women at a mid-sized, semi-urban Mountain region high school, as they relate to commencing a STEM-focused degree and later, a career. This includes both how they see themselves as eventual STEM career women, as well as what obstacles they anticipate that may impede their progress into such a career, whether they are academic social, or financial.
The following research questions aimed to elicit data that addressed these issues:

  1. How does considering oneself to be a “science person” impact how young women’s perceptions of the STEM and advanced science courses at this high school prepare them for college and careers in these fields?
  2. What potential barriers, as well as opportunities, do these young women perceive when considering whether to engage in these classes at this high school and potentially pursue a STEM career?

This study utilized a sequential mixed method design, with the quantitative and qualitative stages being conducted concurrently, with mixing occurring at the data interpretation stage. The quantitative data included responses from the survey. The qualitative stage was comprised of a case study design; the case consisted of the selected high school, and the individual units of analysis (nested case) were the female students. Semi-structured interview questions included questions about students’ histories with science, obstacles they have faced or will face in pursuing a STEM career and steps taken for future plans for a STEM career, including both college major aspirations as well as out-of-school activities.
Female students express that they are interested in learning about science and are confident in their abilities to learn science and math at both the high school level as well as in the future. Yet their enrollment in upper-level science and math and STEM courses is lower than expected, leaving these classes with low enrollment overall. Five major themes then emerged to address the research question concerning barriers that young women perceived in embarking on a STEM career. The themes included content difficulties, uneven gender ratios, content relevance, a desire for more variety in STEM course offerings, and perceptions of science, math and STEM identity.

Young women at the school expressed concerns about specific science and math content, as well as their confidence in how relevant the high school curriculum was in preparing them for collegiate level academics. In several cases, they expressed discomfort with lopsided gender ratios in classes, which led to awkward or hostile social environments in which it was difficult to learn to their best ability. They felt that having a wider variety of STEM-oriented elective courses, available more frequently, could potentially interest more students, including young women, in the benefits of STEM proficiency and better prepare those already interested in STEM for lucrative and sustainable 21st century careers.
Young women at the high school have a polarized view of what it means to be a science or STEM person, versus being a math person. They are more likely to say that being a math person necessitates proficiency in the subject, while being a science or STEM person is more connected with one’s love or passion for the subject. Other barriers to a potential STEM career that young women perceive at this high school include content area difficulties, in both science and mathematics. These barriers also include math and science content difficulties and concerns about preparation at the high school level. These apprehensions about preparation include both issues of understanding the relevance of their coursework as well as concerns about a sufficient variety of STEM coursework being offered in order to introduce students to what career options are available to them.

Recommendations to the school include developing an equitable culture in the school around who “should do science,” expanding advanced science and math course opportunities for students, and encouraging a growth mindset in mathematics education to help eliminate the stereotype that math ability is innate. By implementing practices that may lead to greater gender parity in science, math and STEM, the school and district can further achieve its stated mission of preparing all students for future success at the post-secondary level.