Academic motivation
Do visits from women in STEM change girls' career plans?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
After meeting female STEM professionals at school, girls endorsed math gender stereotypes less and reported more interest in STEM degrees, especially when the role models stressed social skills.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — One-group pre-test/post-test evaluation of school visits by female STEM role models (no control group), analysed with structural equation models
- N
- N=304 · 304 girls surveyed 1 week before and 1 month after the sessions
- Population
- Girls aged 12 to 16 at 16 public and private schools across Spain
- Outcome
- Math gender stereotypes, math enjoyment, importance, expectations of success, and likelihood of choosing a STEM degree
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Key findings
Before and after the sessions, stereotypes predicted lower STEM choice, mostly indirectly through lower expectations of success; enjoyment and importance did not directly predict STEM choice. After the sessions, stereotype endorsement fell and enjoyment, importance, expectations and STEM choice all rose, and the link from expectations to STEM choice became stronger. Among girls who saw the role models as highly counterstereotypical, expectations and STEM choice increased more and the expectations-to-choice link was stronger.
Methodology
The researchers surveyed Spanish schoolgirls before and after sessions in which three women working in STEM visited their school to talk about their careers. Questionnaires based on expectancy-value theory measured stereotypes about math ability, math enjoyment, importance, expectations of success, and how likely girls were to choose a STEM degree. Structural equation models tested how these were linked, whether the links changed after the sessions, and whether sessions seen as emphasising teamwork and communication skills had stronger effects.
Limitations
There was no control group, because the programme considered random assignment unethical, so the changes could reflect other events, maturation or simply answering the survey twice. Schools were self-selected, and the follow-up was only one month, so we do not know whether effects last or turn into actual degree choices. The 'counterstereotypical' grouping was based on girls' own perceptions after the session, not a manipulated feature of the talks, and the text gives no effect sizes for the mean changes.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
How students see themselves in maths tracks how they do and what they choose.
Ability self-concept in maths predicted end-of-term maths grades beyond intelligence and prior grades in German upper-secondary students, and math stereotypes lowered girls' expected success and STEM choice in a Spanish sample.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
How students see themselves in maths tracks how they do and what they choose.
Ability self-concept in maths predicted end-of-term maths grades beyond intelligence and prior grades in German upper-secondary students, and math stereotypes lowered girls' expected success and STEM choice in a Spanish sample.
Scope note — one-group pre/post design without a control group
Limits the claim's scope: a different population, assay, or outcome.
Stereotypes seem to work through girls' expectations and self-views rather than directly.
Maths gender stereotypes are linked to lower motivation for girls: in Spanish schoolgirls stereotypes predicted lower STEM choice mainly through lower expectations of success, and in German teenagers stereotype endorsement widened girls' gap between general and in-lesson maths anxiety.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Role-model visits are promising for girls' STEM motivation, but not yet proven.
After school visits by female STEM role models, Spanish girls reported weaker stereotypes and higher maths enjoyment, importance, expectations and STEM intentions one month later, with larger gains among girls who saw the role models as counterstereotypical.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Role-model visits are promising for girls' STEM motivation, but not yet proven.
After school visits by female STEM role models, Spanish girls reported weaker stereotypes and higher maths enjoyment, importance, expectations and STEM intentions one month later, with larger gains among girls who saw the role models as counterstereotypical.
Scope note — one-group pre/post design with no control group and a one-month follow-up
Limits the claim's scope: a different population, assay, or outcome.
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