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ERIC Number: EJ1408546
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0002-7685
EISSN: EISSN-1938-4211
STEM Summer Camp for Girls Positively Affects Self-Efficacy
E. Dale Broder; Kirsten J. Fetrow; Shannon M. Murphy; Jennifer L. Hoffman; Robin M. Tinghitella
American Biology Teacher, v85 n8 p432-439 2023
Women and racially and ethnically minoritized populations are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Out-of-school time programs like summer camps can provide positive science experiences that may increase self-efficacy and awareness of STEM opportunities. Such programs often use the same high-impact practices used in K-12 classrooms including relating concepts to real-world examples, engaging students as active participants in inquiry-driven projects, and facilitating learning in a cooperative context. They additionally provide opportunities for engaging in STEM without fear of failure, offer a community of mentors, and allow families to become more involved. We designed a summer camp for middle schoolers who identified as girls, low-income, and as a minoritized race or ethnicity. We describe the design of the camp as well as the results from a simple pre- and post-camp questionnaire that examined each camper's relationship to science, scientific self-efficacy, and interest in having a job in STEM. We found an increase in self-efficacy in camp participants, which is important because high scientific self-efficacy predicts student performance and persistence in STEM, especially for girls. We did not detect an increase in interest in pursuing a STEM job, likely because of already high values for this question on the pre-camp survey. We add to the growing body of work recognizing the potential of out-of-school time STEM programs to increase scientific self-efficacy for girls and racially minoritized students.
University of California Press. 2000 Center Street Suite 303, Berkeley, CA 94704. Tel: 510-643-7154; Fax: 510-642-9917; e-mail: customerservice@ucpressjournals.com; Web site: http://www.ucpressjournals.com/journal.php?j=abt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS); National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Environmental Biology (DEB); National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Colorado (Denver)
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1846520; 2030753; 2240950; 1816944; 2009996