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

ABSTRACT

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.

Notes

Although definitions of STEM vary by institution, the National Science Foundation characterizes STEM fields as the academic and professional disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, including social and behavioral sciences such as psychology, economics, sociology, and political science (American Psychological Association, 2010; National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, 2010).

Male students were also invited to participate in the study; however, they were not the focus of this study and there were no differences in their performance by condition. Thus, the results are not presented here.

As in Study 1, male students were invited to participate in the study; however, they were not the focus of this study and there were no differences in their performance by condition. Thus, the results are not presented here.