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- All Subjects: Equity
Description
An underrepresentation of females exists in the STEM fields. In order to tackle this issue, work begins early in the education of young women to ensure they are interested and have the confidence to gain a career in the STEM fields. It is important to engage girls in STEM opportunities in and out of school to ignite their interest and build their confidence. Brigid Barron's learning ecology perspective shows that girls pursuing STEM outside of the classroom is critical to their achievement in the STEM pipeline. This study investigated the impact after-school STEM learning opportunities have on middle school girls by investigating (a) how the length of engagement in after-school programs can affect the confidence of female students in their science and math abilities; (b) how length of engagement in after-school programs can affect the interest of female students in attaining a career in STEM; (c) how length of engagement in after-school programs can affect interest in science and math classes; and (d) how length of engagement can affect how female students' view gender parity in the STEM workforce. The major findings revealed no statistical significance when comparing confidence in math or science abilities or the perception that gender plays a role in attaining a career in STEM. The findings revealed statistical significance in the areas when comparing length of engagement in the girls' interest in their math class and attaining a career in three of the four STEM fields: science, technology, and engineering. The findings showed that multiple terms of engagement in the after-school STEM programs appear to be an effective catalyst to maintain the interest of girls pursuing STEM-related careers, in addition to allowing their interest in a topic to provide a new lens for the way they see their math work during the school day. The implications of this study show that schools must engage middle school girls who are interested in STEM in a multitude of settings, including outside of the classroom in order to maintain engagement in the STEM pipeline.
ContributorsCupp, Garth Meichel (Author) / Spencer, Dee Ann (Thesis advisor) / Appleton, Nicholas (Committee member) / Schauer, David K (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Extant evaluation studies of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 have focused primarily on its effects on the pace of innovation and on the norms and practices of academic research but neglected other public values. Seeking to redress this shortcoming, I begin by examining Bayh-Dole with respect to other relevant public values following the Public Value Failure approach. From that analysis, equity emerges as a pressing issue. I define equity issues, in a loosely Rawlsian sense, as situations of unfair distribution of political power and economic resources. My analysis identifies a business model of offices of technology transfer--that I call "nurturing start-ups"--that is likely to become a standard of practice. This model can foster either firm competition or concentration in emerging industries and will therefore have an impact on the distribution of economic benefits from innovation. In addition, political influence to reform Bayh-Dole is allocated disproportionately in favor of those who stand to gain from this policy. For instance, elite universities hold a larger share of the resources and voice of the university system. Consequently, adjusting the nurturing start-ups model to foster competition and increasing cooperation among universities should lead to a more equitable distribution of economic benefits and political voice in technology transfer. Conventional policy evaluation is also responsible for the neglect of equity considerations in Bayh-Dole studies. Currently, "what is the policy impact?" can be answered far more systematically than "why the impact matters?" or "is this policy designed and implemented legitimately?" The problem lies with the consequentialist theory of value that undergirds evaluation. Hence, I propose a deontological theory of evaluation to reaffirm the discipline's commitment to democratic policy making.
ContributorsValdivia, Walter (Author) / Guston, David H. (Thesis advisor) / Sarewitz, Daniel (Committee member) / Bozeman, Barry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this study was to determine how I, as a future teacher, can best combat inequities in technological access and fluency in my future classroom. In this study, I explored a range of literature on the role of technology in the classroom, the digital divide in home and school settings, and variance in digital literacy. Additional insight was gained through interviews and observing school faculty in three public school districts in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. This provided a better understanding of local context in order to gain a sense of the national and local realities of the digital landscape as they relate to educational equity in the educational settings where I aim to serve as a certified teacher.
ContributorsJakubczyk, Nicole Marie (Author) / Foulger, Teresa (Thesis director) / Barnett, Juliet (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05