Images that are displayed in the classroom should be intentional and complement learning goals (Baker 2015, p.4). Baker (2015) explains that images are an authentic way of communicating with children. One way teachers can begin to clear the misconception that males are more suited for STEM careers than females is to show students that women have been successful in STEM fields by sharing photos and information about those women. These results emphasize the idea that “Both building on and refining prior conceptions (which can include misconceptions) are important in teaching science at any grade level” (NGSS Lead States 2013, p. Finally, Fralick, Kearn, Thompson, and Lyons (2009) found that when students were asked to draw an image of an engineer, 50% of those images were male while only 13% were female. In a similar study where students were asked to draw a mathematician, the same was true: a male dressed in nice clothes wearing glasses was most often the perceived image (Aguilar et al. When most children are asked to draw a picture of a scientist, many will draw what is considered the stereotypical image: a white male with crazy hair wearing a white lab coat (Bodzin and Gehringer 2001). To prepare our classrooms to be equitable and meet the needs of the NGSS, we must rid our students of the idea that STEM careers are more suitable for males than females. This article allows me to share a method that promotes the equitable environment the NGSS aim to establish. When students have a personal connection to what they are learning, their interest and motivation may increase. The purpose of these connections is to improve female interest in STEM and to show our female students that if they want, they can be a woman in a STEM field. In this article, I share a strategy I used in my former fifth-grade classroom and now share with the preservice teachers I teach: incorporating images of female scientists in the classroom to improve the connections female students make with the field of STEM (Figure 1). Additionally, the Framework states “an effort should be made to include significant contributions of women and people from diverse cultures and ethnicities” (NGSS Lead States 2013, p. 281).įor these reasons, the Framework of the Next Generation Science Standards ( NGSS) is rooted in guiding principles of equity, stressing that opportunities for in-depth teaching and experiences with science and engineering practices should be equitable and made available to all students (NGSS Lead States 2013). While female STEM leaders are not unheard of, women continue to be underrepresented in the science and engineering workforce as well as on science and engineering faculties of college and university campuses (NGSS Lead States 2013, p.

As girls enter middle school, their interest in science begins to decline.

The 2015 NAEP science scores, for example, reveal higher average scores for males than females in both grades 8 and 12 (NCES 2015), while the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed an average of 1% of 15-year-old girls from OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries expressing interest in a STEM-related career, compared to an average of 8% of boys (Schleicher 2019). While educational reforms continue to expand the horizons of our classrooms, one historical trend has remained constant: Young girls are continuing to demonstrate a lack of interest and success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In the last 10 years, science classrooms in the United States have transformed into interdisciplinary vessels including technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Stem girl middle school