In partnership with the Academy of Natural Sciences, this project documents the work of the decades-long Women in Natural Sciences (WINS) program. WINS is an out-of-school STEM program offered to high school Women of Color from low-income families from across the city of Philadelphia. In this program, WINS students are welcomed into a sisterhood of achievers and a supportive environment where role models and mentors foster positive attitudes towards STEM. Under a three-year grant funded by the National Science Foundation, the EngWINS program was re-designed to include the engineering design process and teach coding basics. Opportunities for EngWINS students to participate in summer internships where they work with mentors who are practicing engineering professionals were also integrated. To understand the outcomes of the program, we use Critical Race Feminism to explore EngWINS students’ and mentors’ experiences. Using mixed methods, we investigate EngWINS students’ STEM self-efficacy alongside their storied experiences within the program. We also explore the extent to which training in Culturally Responsive Pedagogies (CRP) and anti-discriminatory frameworks influence WINS mentors’ mindsets and dispositions towards their work with WINS students.

Partner(s): Academy of Natural Sciences

Funder: National Science Foundation

Publications

Sterin, K., Mathew, K.A., Allen-Handy, A., Manonsong, A.M., Genovesi, J., Thomas, D., Godfrey, K., Marcus, I., Peter, N., Blecker, H., et al. (under review, 2023). Women of color in STEM: How an OST program can foster empowering experiences. Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research.

Presentations

Sterin, K., Mathew, K., Allen-Handy, A., Genovesi, J., Thomas, D. A., Godfrey, K., Bryant McPherson, S., & Dong, V. (2023, April). Empowering Women of Color’s STEM Self-Efficacy: A Mixed Methods Case Study. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Chicago, IL.