Rising Stargirls: Benefits of a Creative Arts-Based Approach to Astronomy Education for Middle-School Girls from Underrepresented Groups

TL;DR

The Rising Stargirls program uses creative arts-based astronomy workshops to boost science engagement and identity among middle-school girls from underrepresented groups, showing positive impacts on their interest in STEM.

Contribution

This study demonstrates the effectiveness of arts-integrated astronomy education in strengthening science identities among marginalized middle-school girls.

Findings

Girls showed increased science engagement after workshops.

Science identities were significantly enhanced post-program.

Arts-based approach fostered creativity and interest in STEM.

Abstract

Women from historically marginalized groups in the sciences continue to be severely underrepresented in the fields of physics and astronomy. Young girls identifying with these groups often lose interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields well before college. Middle school (grades 6-8) emerges as a pivotal phase for nurturing science identities among girls. The educational program Rising Stargirls offers creative arts-based astronomy workshops for middle-school girls, with the aim of cultivating their science identities. We retrospectively analyze participants' responses to four key assessment items through which their engagement in science and their science identities before and after the workshops are assessed. Our findings overwhelmingly indicate that girls exhibit heightened engagement in science and enhanced science identities after engaging in the Rising Stargirls program. These outcomes underscore the merits of fostering creativity and integrating the arts into science education.