Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
Girls and women face persistent negative stereotyping within STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). This field intervention was designed to improve boys' perceptions of girls' STEM ability. Boys (N = 667; mostly White and East Asian) aged 9-15 years in Canadian STEM summer camps (2017-2019) had an intervention or control conversation with trained camp staff. The intervention was a multi-stage persuasive appeal: a values affirmation, an illustration of girls' ability in STEM, a personalized anecdote, and reflection. Control participants discussed general camp experiences. Boys who received the intervention (vs. control) had more positive perceptions of girls' STEM ability, d = 0.23, an effect stronger among younger boys. These findings highlight the importance of engaging elementary-school-aged boys to make STEM climates more inclusive.
DOI
10.1111/cdev.14007
Recommended Citation
Cyr, E. N., Kroeper, K. M., Bergsieker, H. B., Dennehy, T. C., Logel, C., Steele, J. R., Knasel, R. A., Hartwig, W. T., Shum, P., Reeves, S. L., Dys-Steenbergen, O., Litt, A., Lok, C. B., Ballinger, T., Nam, H., Tse, C., Forest, A. L., Zanna, M., Staub-French, S., Wells, M., Scmader, T., Wright, S.C., & Spencer, S. J. (2023). Girls are good at STEM: Opening minds and providing evidence reduce boys' stereotyping of girls' STEM ability. Child Development. Doi: 10.1111/cdev.14007
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Educational Psychology Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Personality and Social Contexts Commons, Science and Mathematics Education Commons
Comments
Online ahead of print, September 18, 2023.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.