Effectiveness of enrichment program in increasing middle grade girls’ interest to pursue physics studies and STEM careers

Although gender diversity within industry increases economic outcomes, productivity and innovation, women remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce globally including within Australia. In attempts to minimize the gender gap, STEM enrichment programs for women have been implemented but there remains a lack of evidence for their effectiveness and long-term impact. A STEM Enrichment Academy was established at Flinders University in late 2018 using a government funded grant to engage year-nine female students in STEM and encourage them to consider future STEM careers while making subject selections at senior school level. Specifically, the program aimed to inspire the visiting students to pursue STEM subjects at school and at university. The program contains three different enrichment methods: one-day Real Science Days, a series of Design and Technology workshops, and a 3 day STEM Enrichment Conference. To evaluate the influence of the STEM programs on career interest in STEM, this study surveyed participants from the 2019 workshops and the 2021 conference before and after the events. Additionally, long-term effects were investigated using 2 year follow-up data for participating student’s year-11 subject choices. There was an overall increase in career interest in STEM subjects following the 1 day Real Science Days which was significant for the Physics workshop. There was also a significant overall increase in career interest in STEM following the 2021 conference. The enrichment program appeared especially beneficial amongst girls from regional South Australia who previously possessed less motivation to pursue STEM careers than metropolitan students. Finally, 2 year follow up data for 46 participants from the 2019 STEM enrichment program revealed that 42 (91%) had enrolled to study subjects such as Physics and Specialist Mathematics at school for Years 11, 12 and many participants enrolled in STEM degrees including Physics, Space and Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Laboratory sciences, Engineering, Architecture, Biomedicine and Medical Sciences. Our results provide evidence that the direct support of STEM programs for developing girls’ interest in science careers have meaningful effect on both interest and subject enrolments.