Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Gender and STEM'

Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) education programs are currently being introduced and expanded across “developing” nations. STEM programs often conflict with hegemonic gender norms, for example by targeting girls and women in male dominated societies. However, given the cultural complexity of STEM for girls, implementing educators are rarely asked their point of view on programs from abroad. This study explored the perceptions of educators in Nepal who participated in the Girls Get STEM Skills (GGSS) program, a program funded through the U.S. Department of State for 2015/2016. The 8-month program reached 254 girls across three government schools and included the donation of 30 laptops. In August, 2016, the researcher conducted one-on-one interviews and focus groups with 18 participants at GGSS school sites in Pokhara, Nepal. Qualitative data was gathered on educators’ perceptions of teacher roles, Nepal as a developing nation, gender imbalance in STEM, and the GGSS curriculum. The study argues that educators viewed educational topics through the lens of bikas, the Nepali word for development. This suggests that the principal impact of STEM programs—as part of larger development initiatives—may be the creation and reinforcement of new social meanings rather than the tangible impacts of the projects themselves.

The purpose of the present study is investigating whether gender identity (masculinity and femininity) has an effect on women?s career choices (STEM or non-STEM), and their person-environment fit, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions with their choices. One-hundred eight-two female employees recruited via Amazon?s Mechanical Turk and a snowball/network sampling strategy completed an online survey. The results supported that masculine females were more represented in STEM jobs. However, feminine females were not more represented in non-STEM jobs. Furthermore, results revealed that higher person environment fit resulted with higher job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions for female employees. However, there were no significant relationship between gender identity, and person-environment fit, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. These results suggest that gender identity may affect female employees? career decisions, and their person-environment fit is important for their job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Despite much improvement over the past several decades, women continue to be underrepresented across many STEM fields. In this study, I draw upon past research to theorize that (1) there exist a substantial gender performance gap among STEM researchers and that (2) the gap is disproportionately larger among star performers, i.e., individuals who produce output many times greater than others holding the same job (Aguinis & O’Boyle, 2014). I then discuss how a gender performance gap specifically among star performers can be more harmful to the underrepresented group than an equivalent gap among average performers. To investigate the possible existence of such gender performance gaps, I assess the research productivity of all researchers in the fields of mathematics, materials sciences, and genetics who have published in the past decade at least one article in the most influential journals in their fields. Using the process of distribution pitting (Joo, Aguinis & Bradley, 2017), I identify the best-fitting theoretical distributions and associated dominant generative mechanisms that shape individual performance across the three STEM fields. Assessment of the shapes of the performance distributions confirms the existence of considerable gender performance gaps in favor of men, although the gap was substantially lower in the field of genetics compared to in the others. In addition, the findings suggest that (1) individual STEM researchers vary in performance predominantly due to differences in their accumulation rates (i.e., average output produced per time period), and (2) women’s research output accumulation rates are lower (on average) and also less variable compared to men’s. Implications for theory and practice based on these findings are discussed.

This study investigated the learning preferences of female students enrolled in pre-requisite math classes that are gateway to chemistry, engineering, and physics majors at a 4-year public university in southern California. A gender gap exists in certain Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines; this gap may be exacerbated by pedagogies that favor males and make learning more difficult for females. STEM-related jobs were forecast to increase 22% from 2004 to 2014. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, only 18.8% of industrial engineers are female. From 2006 - 2011, at the institution where this study took place, the percentage of females who graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering was 16.63%. According to the National Science Foundation, in 2010 there were 1.569 million “Engineering Occupations” in the U.S., of which only 200,000 (12.7%) were held by females. STEM professions are highly paid and prestigious; those members of society who hold these positions enjoy a secure financial and societal place.

This study uses the Women’s Ways of Knowing, Procedural Knowledge: Separate and Connected Knowing theoretical framework. A modified version of the Attitudes Toward Thinking and Learning Survey was used to assess student’s pedagogical preference. Approximately 700 math students were surveyed; there were 486 respondents. The majority of the respondents (n=366; 75.3%) were STEM students. This study did not find a statistically significant relationship between gender and student success; however, there was a statistically significant difference between the learning preferences of females and males. Additionally, there was a statistically significant result between the predictor variables gender and pedagogy on the dependent variable student self-reported grade. If Connected Knowledge pedagogies can be demonstrated to provide a significant increase in student learning, and if the current U.S. educational system is unable to produce sufficient graduates in these majors, then it seems reasonable that STEM teachers would be willing to consider best practices to enhance learning for females so long as male students’ learning is not devalued or diminished.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education curriculum is designed to strengthen students’ science and math achievement through project based learning activities. As part of a STEM initiative, SeaPerch was developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. SeaPerch is an innovative underwater robotics program that instructs students in how to build an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) following a STEM curriculum, including spatial thinking and rotation ability. This research study investigated if the students’ SeaPerch program and its spatial experience and training gave the opportunity to develop strategies not only in manipulating three dimensional objects but in strengthening mathematical ability (e.g. spatial thinking) in elementary, middle, and high school students with specific focus on gender and age.

This research study sample consisted of two groups of students: one that participated in the after-school SeaPerch program and the other that did not participate in the after-school SeaPerch program for the 2011–2012 school year. Both groups comprised students in similar grade levels and the MRT preassessment scores.

To measure students’ spatial rotation, the researcher used the Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotation Test (MRT). An independent samples t test was conducted to determine the effect of the SeaPerch program on MRT scores. The SeaPerch students (M = 1.35, SD = 2.21) scored significantly higher gains than the Non-SeaPerch students ( M = −.03, SD = 1.72), t (737) = 8.27, p = <.001. The effect size as measured by Cohen’s d = .697, indicated a medium practical significance. At each school level, MRT post assessment scores for students in the SeaPerch program increased significantly more than scores for students in the non-SeaPerch program.

Although women obtain degrees in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) at lower rates than their male counterparts, this difference does not alone account for the similarly large disparity of men and women working in STEM jobs. Using data from the American Community Survey for 2015, I run a survey of models, including linear and logistic regressions as well as propensity matching, to investigate the extent to which women are underrepresented, even after accounting for education. The results show that for women, the benefit of a STEM degree on STEM job placement rates is significantly lower than it is for their male counterparts; in some estimates, the effect is halved. The models diverge somewhat on the extent to which this is correlated with a lower baseline of women without STEM degrees working STEM jobs (compared to similar men), but all provide grounds to reject the notion that workforce disparity is attributable solely or even primarily to education.

Women are still vastly underrepresented in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, and compared to men, are entering these STEM fields at lower rates and leaving them in higher numbers. The disparity of women in STEM careers damages the diversity of thought essential to innovation and creates an environment encouraging of gender inequality and discrimination. The current study sought to understand the discrimination women perceive in STEM careers, the negative effects these biases may have on job attitudes, and the role coping self-efficacy plays in mitigating these harmful results. Participants were surveyed through MechanicalTurk and responded to questions regarding their experiences of gender discrimination, level of coping self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and intention to quit. Results indicated that greater perceptions of gender discrimination resulted in lower levels of job satisfaction. Coping self-efficacy proved to be a significant moderator of the relationship between gender discrimination and job satisfaction, such that higher levels of coping self-efficacy resulted in greater job satisfaction despite perceptions of discrimination. Training for coping self-efficacy may serve as an effective tool to competently navigate the obstacles to career success that women face in today’s workplace.

According to former President Obama’s Council on Advisors of Science and Technology (PCAST) analysis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduation rates, the study concluded that United States will require an increase in STEM graduation rates by 40% to keep up with future job demands. The PCAST findings and National Center for Educational Statistics indicated that Black females are underrepresented in attaining advanced STEM degrees. To achieve increased advanced STEM degree rates, it is necessary to increase graduation rates for underrepresented Black to meet the growing demand for jobs requiring advanced STEM degrees. This narrative inquiry study explores the experiences of seven Black females who attained their advanced STEM degree, as they recalled the people and events that positively influenced their successful completion.

Utilizing Swail, Redd, and Perna’s Geometric Model of Student Persistence and Achievement as the study theoretical framework, the study findings revealed the cognitive, social, and institutional factors that influenced advanced STEM degree attainment for the study participants. Additionally, the study revealed the influences outside of the Geometric Model that impacted their degree success. This study delved into the participants’ kindergarten through graduate school experiences to provide recommendations to improve advanced STEM degree completion rates for Black females. The study concludes with implications for future study so that researchers can add to the dearth of literature that exists on this topic and contribute to closing the gap on underrepresented resources needed for current high technology job demands.

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify barriers for women to advance into executive management positions in STEM professions, and to identify strategies deemed to be effective for women to advance into STEM executive management positions, by women currently in STEM executive management positions in the aerospace industry.

Conceptual Framework. The conceptual framework included 3 concepts: (a) cultural and societal factors; (b) mentorship, sponsorship, and networking; and (c) motivation and power levels. These concepts are connected to barriers women face when entering leadership and efforts to empower women entering leadership in the aerospace industry.

Methodology. This was a qualitative case study utilizing the transformative framework. The participants were 7 women in STEM executive management position in the aerospace industry. The participants responded to 8 open-ended questions designed to reveal barriers women in STEM executive management positions face and to highlight strategies deemed to be effective for women to advance into STEM executive management positions in the aerospace industry.

Findings. Through data collection and analysis, the data indicated major themes consisting of work performance, big picture, strong work ethic, underrepresentation, and trusted networks. Other themes emerged such as diversity of thought, advocacy, mentorship, credibility, no plan for executive management, and unfavorable perception.

Conclusions and Recommendations. The findings revealed that 5 major themes emerged from the data analysis pertaining to barriers women face to career advancement and effective strategies used by successful women in STEM executive management positions in the aerospace industry. It is recommended that this qualitative case study be replicated with a larger sample population. Additionally, future studies could explore other populations that would directly benefit from women in STEM executive management positions, such as men, millennials, aspiring women leaders, and other key stakeholders in the aerospace industry.