UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students,
scientists, Girls Inc. coordinators and Five Stars
project team show why they are great role models.
The
Five Stars Pathway project created a model in which five “generations” of females engage in science together in an afterschool setting, with each generation representing one stage in the pathway of pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). The five stages are: elementary age students, middle school age students, undergraduate-level college students, graduate-level college students and professional scientists.
Women and girls in each stage act as role models to those in an earlier stage in the pathway. The undergraduate- and graduate-level college students are role models for the middle school girls by acting as instructors in the afterschool program. The middle school students take a STEM activity they learned from the college students and teach it to elementary students, such that they become the STEM role models for the younger girls. Professional scientists join the afterschool program as guest presenters to share their expertise about careers in STEM and real-life applications of STEM studies.
The Five Stars model.
The primary target audience for the model is middle school age girls. Research shows that girls often decide not to pursue studies in STEM around the time of middle school. By providing them with STEM role models who are only a few years older than themselves (i.e. undergraduate-level college students), the middle school girls are given a glimpse of the immediate pathway in studying STEM disciplines and encouraged to consider following this pathway themselves. Exposure to graduate students and professional scientists provides them with a glimpse of the longer-term pathway and career options. By acting as role models for elementary age students, the middle school girls have the opportunity to see themselves as the STEM experts and increase their interest and confidence in their ability to pursue STEM studies.
Please click on the links below for more information about connecting middle school girls to each of the other stages in the intergenerational model.
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