The Effects of a Female Role Model on Academic Performance and Persistence of Women in STEM Courses

Women are more likely to leave science, technology, engineering, and mathematics compared to men, in part because they lack similar role models such as peers, teaching assistants, and instructors. We examined the effect of a brief, scalable online intervention that consisted of a letter from a femal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Basic and applied social psychology Vol. 38; no. 5; pp. 258 - 268
Main Authors: Herrmann, Sarah D., Adelman, Robert Mark, Bodford, Jessica E., Graudejus, Oliver, Okun, Morris A., Kwan, Virginia S. Y.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Mahwah Psychology Press 02.09.2016
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Academic Failure
Academic staff
Achievement Tests
Brief interventions
Chemistry
College Students
Control Groups
Engineering
Experimental Groups
Female roles
Females
Gender Differences
Grades (Scholastic)
Hypothesis Testing
Intervention
Introductory Courses
Investments
Learning outcomes
Letters (Correspondence)
Mathematics
Men
Psychology
Role Models
Science and technology
STEM Education
Student Surveys
Teaching
Teaching assistants
Technology
Women
ISSN:0197-3533, 1532-4834, 1532-4834
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Women are more likely to leave science, technology, engineering, and mathematics compared to men, in part because they lack similar role models such as peers, teaching assistants, and instructors. We examined the effect of a brief, scalable online intervention that consisted of a letter from a female role model who normalized concerns about belonging, presented time spent on academics as an investment, and exemplified overcoming challenges on academic performance and persistence. The intervention was implemented in introductory psychology (Study 1, N = 258) and chemistry (Study 2, N = 68) courses. Relative to the control group, the intervention group had higher grades and lower failing and withdrawal rates.
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ISSN:0197-3533
1532-4834
1532-4834
DOI:10.1080/01973533.2016.1209757