Strategies for overcoming barriers to women and minorities in STEM

Integration of STEM education into middle and high school curricula for women and minorities poses important challenges. First the average female or minority teenager is exposed to less than 3 hours/week of STEM-related material in popular media as compared to over 100 hours/week of non-STEM content such as sports, entertainment, music, movies, legal/medical TV soaps and dramas. As a result, STEM issues are barely on their radar screens. Second, STEM curricula in most middle and high schools is not always presented in the context of real world applications and everyday needs of society that would interest this population. Third, there are very few role models available. The STEM research effort reported here attempts to find ways to diversify the STEM workforce through identification of pedagogical strategies for recruitment and retention of women and minorities into STEM classrooms and ultimately into the STEM workforce.