Mentoring in Medicine (MIM): Motivating and enabling disadvantaged youth to become the next generation of minority health professionals

Mentoring in Medicine, Inc (MIM) is a nonprofit health and science youth development organization based in the Bronx, NY. Founded in 2006 by three physicians and an engineer- trained entrepreneur, MIM’s organizational goal is to expose socioeconomically disadvantaged students to the wide variety of health and science careers and to increase the health literacy of their communities. It is aligned with the outreach mission of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM) whose former Director, Donald A.B. Lindberg M.D., fostered an enduring relationship. Technical assistance, evaluation, and financial support provided under his leadership helped MIM to become a nationally recognized organization leading the field to diversify health careers and to increase health literacy in often hard to reach populations. Through live and virtual programming, MIM has impacted nearly 58,000 students, parents, and educators in urban epicenters in the U.S. The MIM Team has helped 503 students who were discouraged to build a competitive application and matriculate in health professional school. MIM has 88 press features highlighting its work in the community.

Effect of Embedded Careers Education in Science Lessons on Students’ Interest, Awareness, and Aspirations

In the last decades, secondary school students have indicated a low interest in science and a lack of awareness of authentic science careers that may impede their aspiration to work in science-related fields in future. To raise students’ aspirations, several studies used context-based approaches, but few integrated career aspects into the school curricula. Accordingly, this study aimed to promote lower secondary school students’ interest in and awareness of science careers by introducing science career-related scenarios reflected in a real-world context as embedded careers education in science lessons. In this study, we explored the effect of the interventions on students’ interest, awareness, and aspirations towards science careers using Estonian, Finnish, and German datasets. According to the results, the students participating in the project indicated a higher interest in science, aspiration towards science careers, and awareness of future careers than those who did not experience the embedded science career interventions. Also, the results showed that when students got more information about science careers at school, their interest in science was more easily transferred to their aspirations in science studies and careers. Thus, this result emphasizes the importance of fostering awareness of science careers at lower secondary schools in order to inspire young learners to engage in science studies and works in future.

INITIATIVES AND ROLE OF WOMEN SCIENTIST FORUMS WITH MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES IN STEM

Women scientists are strategically positioned to drive the current initiatives for achieving targeted sustainable development goals (SDGs). Many women are celebrated today, who have made significant contributions in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), despite hurdles they have been faced with in their science careers. Engaging in normal scientific collaborations was difficult for some of them and simply impossible for others. They were not encouraged by the predominantly male environments of university and business worlds, barred from the communities in which male scientists met and conversed, these women in science struggled against discrimination based on gender. While many of these women have been nearly lost to history in a changing world, some achieved such pinnacles as the Nobel Prize by surmounting these hurdles. This paper investigates factors that inhibit women in science. To this end, a survey design based on random sampling technique using a questionnaire instrument was designed, to retrieve information from individuals engaged in science careers. The study population involved one hundred and fourteen post-graduate science students of the University of Benin. Data was collected and analyzed using SPSS 20.0 for descriptive and inferential statistics. The result revealed that females view mentorship as a very important factor towards their career progression in STEM, but 29% lacked mentors. 73% of the women were not aware of women scientist forums with mentorship opportunities. They were faced with the barrier of funding, lack of mentors and personally encountered gender bias amongst other barriers. From our result, it is evident that the role of mentors to mentees and women scientist initiatives alongside forums with mentoring activities, cooperation, networking and collaborative groups is needed to increase the participation of women and girls in STEM. It is recommended that mentoring forums and strategies should be adopted in schools and organizations to encourage girls and women in science.

Children's perceptions of scientists, and of themselves as scientists

In rapidly developing countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where this study took place, having a body of competent, dedicated key workers in STEM fields is critical to growing national economies. This, in turn, requires motivated, well-qualified graduates of STEM degrees. School students' perceptions of science, scientists and science careers have been shown in some research to affect uptake of science degrees later on. How much of their science classwork students experience as authentically 'feeling like scientists' is less understood, yet important. This study took place in upper primary science classrooms in the UAE. Immediately following a science lesson, children were interviewed in focus groups (n=66, with an approximately even gender split). Broad questions were explored, such as whether they felt like 'real scientists' when they 'performed' science in the classroom, whether they enjoyed science, and their science career aspirations. 83% of students stated enjoying science, while 61% would like to have a career involving science in the future. The interview data revealed that, overall, children mostly disagreed that their classroom science was reflective of work a 'real scientist' would do, chiefly due to perceptions of a lack of discovery element in their work, which suggested to them a lack of authentic science exploration, and of the work not being dangerous enough. Students frequently reported feeling that they were 'following steps' because the teacher 'already knew the answers', which was different from the work of a scientist. The implications of these findings to classroom practice are discussed.