Brandy BorgSummary of issue/topic/research questionRegardless of the equality developments that have happened for minorities in the past fifty years, females are still under represented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Women have won the right to vote, work outside the home and have an opinion in our society, but they are still in the minority in these fields. Alongside being in the minority, they make less money than their male counterparts. Heaverlo, Cooper & Lannan (2013) believe that the place to start by remedying this situation is with girls in middle school through high school. They believe that these ages are heavily affected by various environments that can influence whether or not a girl will have an interest and/or confidence in the STEM fields. Their purpose was to examine the extent to which various environments in which girls develop influence their interest and confidence in science and math. (Heaverlo, Cooper & Lannan, 2013, p. 123)Heaverlo et al. (2013) further explains how, regardless of the gender equality advances, females still have major obstacles which hinder their abilities in STEM fields. A major obstacle is that there is a lack of female role models in the STEM fields. In correlation, there is just a lack of female role models in American history. This makes it harder for girls to relate to a prominent female in which to model after. In regards to schools, females get less encouragement from teachers. This is important for girls to have so that they can feel confident enough to be proud of themselves. This leads to the next obstacle, that American culture supports primarily male confidence. This causes females to sit back and let the males take the lead in class discussions and career fields. The experience of STEM extracurricular activities is important, also. (Heaverlo et al, 2013, p. 122) There are often not made available but they would be very helpful because some females just dont get what they need from the classroom experience. If the extracurricular experiences were available, then girls might be able to appreciate STEM involvement.This research was performed with the following questions in mind:1) Is there a significant difference between girls (grades 6-8 and 9-12) a. interest in math and science b. confidence in math and science?2) Does race/ethnicity, region of residence, family STEM influence, extra curricular STEM involvement and math/science teacher influence predict 1. math/science interest2. math/science confidence?(Heaverlo et al., 2013, p.127)Summary of MethodologyThe use of Bronfenbrenners Bioecological Model helps explain how this study was created. (Heaverlo et al., 2013) Bronfenbrenners system is broken into five systems: chronosystem, macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem and microsystem. (Heaverlo et al., 2013) The study evaluated the microsystem (the individuals environment) and the macrosystem (the society). (Heaverlo et al., 2013) In regards to the students, the microsystem involves the teachers influence, family STEM influence and extracurricular activities. The macrosystem involves race/ethnicity and region of the state. Again, the study is trying to evaluate if the microsystem or the macrosystem influence 6-12th grade girls interest and confidence in STEM fields. (Heaverlo et al., 2013)Female students were chosen by their Science, Math or Talented/Gifted teachers to attend a conference. Those who were to attend filled out a self-assessment survey with questions about their confidence and interest in math and science. The girls ages range from 11-18 years of age. Middle school consists of grades 6-8 and high school is grades 9-12. Of those who attended the conference (885 middle school and 398 high school students) only 66.8% of middle school girls and 70.3% of high school girls returned the surveys. (Heaverlo et al., 2013, p.128) The questions were set up on a scale from 1-5, with 1 being the least and 5 the most. The answers were scored by various statistical theories, resulting in comparative views of how different factors can affect females confidence and interest in STEM fields. (Heaverlo et al., 2013, p. 128)Summary of FindingsThe results of the study performed showed that the macrosystem does not have as much influence as girls microsystem. The macrosystem results were not significant enough to report as influencing females. However, correlation was shown between the microsystem and girls interest/confidence.The study found that in math, only extracurrirular STEM involvement and math teacher influence were statistically significant predictors for these girls interest and confidence in math. For science, teacher influence was the only predictor for girls interest and confidence. (Heaverlo et al., 2013, p. 121)Summary of Recommendations/ImplicationsI must explain that the study did not find that girls interests in math and science decreased during these middle and high school years; only their perseverance and actual funneling into STEM careers. So, we are only looking at increasing the number of girls pursuing the STEM careers. Heaverlo et al. (2013) recommended two changes be made in order to remedy this: teacher and extracurricular related. In regards to teachers, there was a long list in the publication that is basically summed up by encouraging a positive learning environment (Heaverlo et al, 2013, p. 137) in which questions, active learning and feedback are part of the process. It also involves teaching students about real world applications. (Heaverlo et al, 2013, p. 137) Extracurricular activities should be included as resources for males and females. There should be STEM related activities available to students, and if not, then programs should be developed to fill in this gap. This also includes giving parents the know-how to getting their child involved in these activities and fields.Within the macrosystem, the authors recommended getting more federal support for funding of school and extracurricular programs. (Heaverlo et al, 2013, p. 138) These involve political and legal changes that are necessary in order to have changes made to our educational system.Analysis using at least 3 different course readingsThe three readings that I have chosen all support the findings and recommendations of the research by Heaverlo et al: the teachers and extracurricular activities.The article by Sadker & Zittleman, 2010, which we read and discussed in class, gives point to gender bias in America today. I felt that this was a great representative article in starting with analysis of female under-representation in todays STEM fields. First, the article discusses how womens rights have been a struggle since America has begun. Females were thought to only be capable of bearing children and domestic skills. (Sadker et al., 2010, p. 138) Women in history, of the world and America, were few and far between and did not have much representation. In 1972, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act paved way for womens equal rights in public education. (Sadker, 2010, p. 140) This Act allows females to stand their ground in regards to being able to have equitable representation in STEM fields. There really is no legitimate reason that females should be so far behind males, over forty years after this act was made legal. Sadker et al, 2010, also discussed how girls self-esteem plummets (p. 141) as they go through school. During the middle and high school years, when their self-esteem is really low, this is when they really need the boost of confidence and teacher support. The research done by Heaverlo et al. supports this statement. Sadker et al (2010) suggests that teachers make sure that they have a gender equitable classroom. (p. 151) This would involve review of textbooks, software, and hands-on activities to make sure that they are not biased toward the males of the class. Teachers should be aware of calling on equal amounts of boys & girls, along with making sure that the males of the class dont dominate the classroom discussions. These are just small steps but hopefully giant leaps toward giving females equality in STEM fields over time.The article by Persell, 2010 was intended to educate us on tracking, however, I also found evidence to support that teachers and their expectations affect students. Only expectations that teachers truly believe are likely to affect their behaviors. (Persell, 2010 p. 96) Teachers need to have the expectation that girls are going to do as well as boys in their classes. There should be no reason for teachers to expect otherwise. Persell (2010) also goes to explain that there is evidence that at least some teachers behave differently toward students for whom they hold different expectations. (p. 96) Again, the expectations should not be based on gender issues. If the teacher is a male, he should not be biased against the girls in his class. This discussion by Persell supports the findings by Heaverlo et al (2013), that teacher influence is a statistically significant aspect of girls interest and confidence in math and science. In regards to Persells main point, tracking, I have a few more theories related to this. Persell discusses tracking as being grouped at the same level in all subjects. (Persell, 2010, p. 93) This grouping is made often when the students are younger and according to their abilities. The grouping may not be very accurate. There could easily be some students, male and female, who are not put in the appropriate groups because the means of evaluating the students abilities may not be accurate. Males and females test differently. Often, girls do better on writing portions and boys do better with hands on or lab demonstrations. Those who are tracked in the higher levels have great benefits to it. The students who are placed in the middle or lower levels may have a sincere interest in math and science but will never get the benefits that the higher tracked students will get when it comes to education and future opportunities. In the discussion of looking at middle and high school girls, I feel that there are probably many girls that fall into this category. Just because the teachers dont see the ability in their evaluations does not mean that there is no interest or ability to be fostered. Persell (2010) even states, teachers of high-track students set aside more time for student learning and devoted more class time to learning activities. (p. 94) This is so unfortunate for those girls who have a sincere interest in math and science but not enough positive teacher influence. According to Heaverlo et al. (2013), these girls would not be as likely to go into a STEM field.Upon review of the readings within Nieto & Bode (2008), I have found many points that are cross-referenced with the results of Heaverlo et al. The first that I found very interesting is the relationship between girls and their family members. I, personally, thought that familial relationships are very important, especially in influencing a girls academic success. Heaverlo et al. showed proof that I was incorrect. Nieto & Bode further supports the research by stating that a close and open relationship between children and their parents or guardians is necessary but insufficient for school success. Families are important but not the presiding factor to affect girls interest and confidence in math and science. Another microsystem factor is that of the teacher. Nieto & Bode (2008) explains research that shows how gender-matched role models had better academic performance, had more achievement-oriented goals and thought more about their future, compared to students who did not have such matched role models. (p. 315) Just as Heaverlo et al.s (2013) results have stated, having positive female role models can influence girls confidence in math and science. Girls will see that women are capable of being in these fields and can relate to it. Nieto & Bode (2008) dedicate a small section to discuss extracurricular activities and how they can further support students learning. They explain how school-related organizations, hobbies, religious groups or other acivities (p 306) are important and can be very helpful in supporting learning and confidence. This is exactly what Heaverlo et al. (2013) proved.To bring the entire point back around, the findings by Heaverlo et al., (2013) show how important a teacher is on the influence of girls in science and math education. In order to increase the number of girls educated to work in the STEM careers, our society needs to make changes so that we have more of a multicultural education within our schools (specifically for girls). When the barriers are taken down for all students, this is when the real equality and learning occur. Just as Nieto & Bode (2010) state, a true multicultural approach permeates everything. (P. 50) Sources Heaverlo, C., Cooper, R., & Lannan, F. (2013). Stem development: Predictors for 6th-12th grade girls' interest and confidence in science and math. Journal of Woman and Minorities in Science and Engineering,19(2),121-42. Print. Nieto, S., & Bode, P. (2008).A definition of multicultural education. affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education.(pp 62-107, 296-318) Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc. Persell, Caroline Hodges (2010). Teachers, Curriculum, and Teaching Practices, pp. 91-100. InMulticultural Education: Issues and Perspectives(7thEdition). Edited by James A.Banks and Cherry A. McGee Banks. Sadker, David and Zittleman, Karen (2010). Gender Bias: From Colonia America to Todays Classroom, pp. 137-152. InMulticultural Education: Issues and Perspectives(7thEdition). Edited by James A.Banks and Cherry A. McGee Banks.