About this session

Saturday, 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Broadening access to science for diverse learners through public facing media and partnership programs

A diverse U.S. STEM workforce is crucial to innovation and competitiveness. STEM skills and mindsets are critical to successfully meet the demands of our technology-oriented world and to pursue training and careers in an ever-changing workforce. For students from underserved populations, opportunity gaps and lack of encouragement to pursue STEM interests can block access to the STEM pipeline or shunt students to low-wage, entry-level STEM jobs (Pew Research Center, 2018; Prescott, 2017). This session explores transformative approaches to promoting interest and engagement in informal STEM (IS) for students from traditionally under-represented communities.

The first paper used iterative, mixed-methods research, including two RCTs, to examine the impact of a culturally-relevant media program – a telenovela – on the STEM attitudes of Spanish-speaking caregivers of young children. The second paper used an RCT to examine the effect of an educational media program, Work it Out Wombats!, on children’s computational thinking, social-emotional learning, and problem solving. The third paper used a quasi-experimental design to explore how a research-practice-partnership among a science museum, preschool teachers, Spanish-speaking caregivers, and researchers can engage multilingual learners in IS learning experiences and promote positive attitudes toward science. The final paper examined the impact of a multi-tiered mentoring program, Technolochicas, on the STEM attitudes and skills of Mexican Latinas. Together, these papers provide insight into the potential of carefully designed and culturally-relevant media – particularly in partnerships with informal science institutions – to spark interest in STEM and improve the STEM outcomes of students from under-represented communities.

Paper #1
Title	#HacemosCiencias! Promoting informal STEM learning among Spanish-speaking families with young children
Presenting author	Dr. Joy Lorenzo Kennedy, Ph.D., EDC, United States

Paper #2
Title	Step it out, Wombats! PBS KIDS resources support sequencing skills
Presenting author	Dr. Claire Christensen, Ph.D., SRI, United States

Paper #3
Title	Science, play, and community partnerships at a science center: A powerful boost for multilingual learners
Presenting author	Megan Ramer, Connecticut Science Center, United States

Paper #4
Title	Impact Evaluation of the Technolochicas Program
Presenting author	Astrid Georgina Viveros Lopez, Televisa Foundation Inc, Mexico

View all paper details

Session chairs
Dr. Jessica Mercer Young, Ph.D., EDC, United States; Susana Beltran-Grimm, Ed.D., , United States

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