Skip to main content
COMMUNITY:
Peer-reviewed article

Early informal STEM experiences and STEM identity: The importance of talking science

January 30, 2019 | Media and Technology, Public Programs, Informal/Formal Connections

In this paper, we examine the relationship between participants’ childhood science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related experiences, their STEM identity (i.e., seeing oneself as a STEM person), and their college career intentions. Whereas some evidence supports the importance of childhood (i.e., K‐4) informal STEM education experiences, like participating in science camps, existing research does not adequately address their relationship to STEM career intention later in life. Grounding our work in identity research, we tested the predictive power of STEM identity on career intention (N = 15,847). We found that for every one‐point higher on our STEM identity scale, participants’ odds of choosing a STEM career in college increased by 85%. We then tested whether a variety of childhood informal experiences predicted participants’ STEM identity. While controlling for home environment, gender, and other relevant factors, only talking with friends and family about science, and consuming science and science‐fiction media (i.e., books and television) were predictive of STEM identity in college.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • IMG 9584
    Author
    Florida International University
  • Zahra Hazari
    Author
    Florida International University
  • 2015 07 06 KDabney 01 CG 220
    Author
    Virginia Commonwealth University
  • Gerhard Sonnert
    Author
    Harvard‐Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • Philip Sadler
    Author
    Harvard‐Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
  • Citation

    DOI : 10.1002/sce.21499
    Publication Name: Science Learning in Everyday Life

    Funders

    NSF
    Award Number: 1161052
    Resource Type: Research Products
    Discipline: Education and learning science | General STEM
    Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | Educators/Teachers | Museum/ISE Professionals | Learning Researchers
    Environment Type: Media and Technology | Broadcast Media | Comics, Books, and Newspapers | Public Programs | Summer and Extended Camps | Informal/Formal Connections | K-12 Programs

    If you would like to edit a resource, please email us to submit your request.