How to be a great science role model

Personal connections make scientists great role models for girls.

Students are more likely to enter a profession when they perceive a role model in that profession. However, having women scientists as role models for girls is not always effective in increasing their desire to pursue science.

This study used qualitative methods to understand what promotes effective relationships between girls and science role models. Girls and women scientists involved in a school program that brought scientists into schools participated in open/semi-structured interviews. Initially, the expectation that the girls and the women scientists had of a good role model were very different. The girls thought of a role model as someone with whom they had a personal connection, while the women scientists thought they needed to model good characteristics and encourage scientists to be good role models. In addition, the girls did not include scientists in their definition of role model. They perceived scientists as male, “geeky,” evil, and mean, and thus not someone with whom they could have a personal connection.

Throughout the program, the girls developed personal connections with the women scientists and began to see them as role models. They changed their perceptions of scientists to include women and described scientists as intelligent, funny, cool to talk to, and as “normal people who know science.” As the women scientists learned that the girls valued personal connections, they too expanded their definition of a role model and adjusted their behaviour to suit their needs. By developing personal connections, scientists can become more effective role models to girls, which can increase the participation of girls in science.

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Study Details

Sample size(s): 13 girls, 8 women scientists

Participants: Female 8th grade students from a Midwest public school and graduate student scientists, (4 White, 4 Hispanic, and 5 African American)

Design: Qualitative, semi-structured interviews

Reference:

Buck, G.A., Plano Clark, V.L., Leslie-Pelecky, D., Lu, Y. & Cerda-Lizarraga, P. (2008). Examining the Cognitive Processes Used by Adolescent Girls and Women Scientists in Identifying Science Role Models: A Feminist Approach. Science Education, 92(4)688–707.

Summarized by WinSights team members: Emily Ana Butler, Bianca Dreyer, Catherine Palm & Adrianna Tassone