A Scoping Review on Out-of-School STEM Programs for Middle School Girls in the United States
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Date
2018-10-25
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Abstract
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education is growing as an
imperative 21^st century academic emphasis for the development and welfare of the United States.
Literature in the discipline of STEM education offer evidence showing the underrepresentation
of women in STEM education and STEM careers. This underrepresentation is traced back to
young girls losing interest in STEM during middle school and eventually not choosing STEM
related professional opportunities as women. However, all these meaningful discourses often
overshadow one critical question which is, what measures are in place to promote interest in
STEM education among young girls?
In this regard, Out of School Time (OST) programs may be an effective strategy in
stimulating interest in STEM education. Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review is to
report and analyze a range of OST STEM programs available for middle school girls. Used in
this review, scoping review as a mapping methodological framework grants the flexibility of
covering a broad research area such as OST STEM programs, which has not been
comprehensively studied. Additionally, this framework allows inclusion of programs reported in
studies with different methodological design, as well as the ongoing research. Moreover, I have
used matrix method outlined by Garrard to manage and synthesize programs reported in
published studies between 2002-2018 that matched the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Forty-six
programs met the inclusion criteria for this review. These reported studies are from four primary
databases of education and engineering; ERIC (EBSCOhost), Education Source, Academic
Ultimate, and Compendex Village. Five major themes regarding OST STEM programs emerged
from the findings: 1) engineering as the main focus in the OST STEM program 2) neglecting
self-identity of middle school females 3) the need for more female role models 4) insufficient
OST STEM programs to meet identified needs, and 5) lack of accessibility to OST STEM
programs by young women of color. This review highlights the state of current out-of-school
STEM programs for middle school girls providing an opportunity for practitioners and policy
makers to improve any specific characteristics of the OST STEM program.
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Keywords
STEM, middle school, female students, OST programs