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Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS): The Effectiveness of an Afterschool

Environmental Science Program for Increasing Female Students’ Interest in
Science Careers

Article  in  Journal of Science Education and Technology · February 2012

DOI: 10.1007/s10956-011-9279-2

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J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55
DOI 10.1007/s10956-011-9279-2

Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS): The Effectiveness

of an Afterschool Environmental Science Program for Increasing
Female Students’ Interest in Science Careers
Tandra Tyler-Wood • Amber Ellison •

Okyoung Lim • Sita Periathiruvadi

Published online: 21 January 2011

 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Abstract Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) was an Introduction

afterschool program for 4th and 5th grade girls that pro-
vided authentic learning experiences in environmental President Obama’s new STEM initiative, ‘‘Educate to
science as well as valuable female mentoring opportunities Innovate’’ (The White House Office of the Press Secretary
in an effort to increase participants’ academic achievement 2009) emphasizes the importance of Science, Technology,
in science. BUGS participants demonstrated significantly Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and its
greater amounts of gain in science knowledge as measured improvement. Aligned with this new initiative, it has
by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in Science (ITBS-S). become even more important to determine the success of
The original BUGS participants and contrasts have now programs to improve student knowledge and participation
completed high school and entered college, allowing in STEM.
researchers to assess the long-term impact of the BUGS Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) is a demonstra-
program. Fourteen former BUGS participants completed tion project funded by the gender equity division of
two instruments to assess their perceptions of science the National Science Foundation (NSF) that spanned
and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics 2001–2005. This study involved 32 girls in grades 4 and 5
(STEM) careers. Their results were compared to four from a mid-sized urban community in North Texas. The
contrast groups composed entirely of females: 12 former program consisted of participation in an after-school
BUGS contrasts, 10 college science majors, 10 non-science environmental science program which utilized a high
majors, and 9 current STEM professionals. Results indicate interest science curriculum with mentor support. It has
that BUGS participants have higher perceptions of science been 8 years since the completion of the BUGS project,
careers than BUGS contrasts. There were no significant and its year one participants and controls are now out of
differences between BUGS participants, Science Majors, high school and in college or the workforce. This article
and STEM professionals in their perceptions of science and examines the short-term effects of the BUGS program
STEM careers, whereas the BUGS contrast group was on female students’ science knowledge, as well as the
significantly lower than BUGS participants, Science program’s long-term effectiveness on female students’
Majors, and STEM Professionals. Additional results and perceptions of STEM careers.
implications are discussed within.

Keywords Gender equity
STEM Interest
The Gender Gap in Science

Female student perceptions of science
It is commonly believed that boys have higher academic
achievement in STEM than girls, but some literature sug-
gests that the gender gap is less of an ability gap than a gap
T. Tyler-Wood (&)
A. Ellison
O. Lim
S. Periathiruvadi
in perceptions of science careers. Indeed, girls achieve as
Department of Educational Psychology, University of North
Texas, P.O. Box 311335, Denton, TX 76203-1335, USA well as or even better than boys on many indicators of
e-mail: [email protected] educational achievement in elementary, secondary school,

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J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55 47

and college (Freeman 2004). Although there are still some subsequently increase the number of females participating
gender differences in science and math, many gender gaps in science careers. There is a lack of long term studies
appear to be closing (Freeman 2004). Freeman found that which look at the effectiveness of programs on improving
scores fluctuated year by year, but the average scores of young girls’ achievement and attitudes towards science.
boys in calculus, computer science, and science on The BUGS project hopes to establish that girls with
Advanced Placement (AP) examinations were higher than improved achievement and attitudes towards science are
those of girls. However, there was very little difference actually more likely to have positive perceptions of science
between boys’ and girls’ scores on the math National at the college level.
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment
(Freeman 2004). Furthermore, girls continue to perform
better than boys in writing and reading and are less likely
than boys to have repeated a grade or dropped out of school Narrowing the Gender Gap
(Freeman 2004).
While the existence of a gender gap and the actual size Research about ways to narrow the gender gap is abundant.
of the gender gap in science academic achievement are This section of the literature will reflect four specific areas:
questionable when various datasets and test scores are the characteristics of effective classroom curriculum, the
compared, the fact that women are underrepresented in importance of early intervention, targeting girls’ percep-
STEM careers is considered indisputable (Blickenstaff tions of science careers, and the effects of long-term
2005). Van Langen et al. (2006) studied the influence of the mentoring.
gender achievement gaps worldwide in secondary educa-
tion on the STEM participation of women. Even though Characteristics of Effective Classroom Curriculum
there are considerable differences among countries, the
result indicates that the smaller the gender achievement gap Effective science program curriculum for young female
for mathematics and science literacy between males and students should address the very specific needs of bright
females in secondary education, the greater the STEM and capable female students. The National Science
participation of females in higher education (Cereijo et al. Teachers Association (NSTA) (2003) documents the need
2002). Thus, the current study explores whether the BUGS to match curriculum and instructional strategies to learning
program was effective in improving academic achievement styles. Programs for females should not duplicate programs
as well as longer term placement in STEM college majors for male students, but should be equitable, emphasizing
and careers. This study focuses on science rather than hands-on, real-life laboratory experiences while incorpo-
STEM as a whole, but both STEM and science literature rating verbal/language arts components where many
drive the theory behind this research. females excel (Subrahmanyan and Bozonie 1996). Previ-
Weinburgh (1995) conducted a meta-analysis of the ous research has indicated that cooperative learning
literature on gender differences in students’ attitudes and mentoring programs are effective methods for incor-
toward science. The correlation between students’ attitudes porating a verbal/language arts component into science
towards science and student achievement was explored. (Subrahmanyan and Bozonie 1996).
Weinburgh concluded that boys display more positive Burkham (1997) emphasized the importance of active
attitudes towards science and that attitude toward science is classroom involvement as a way of promoting gender
highly correlated to science achievement. Baram-Tsabari equity. Methods to increase active involvement include:
et al. (2006) noted that the attitude of girls towards science engage in real life scientific experiments that personify
became increasingly negative with age. These researchers females’ interest areas, increase hands-on experience
also found that girls’ interests in science were significantly through lab time, allow girls to share research findings
different from that of boys, as girls preferred biological through innovative methods that have a strong verbal
topics over other science areas. Using these topics of component (ex. two way audio visual interactions through
interest as the context for learning science can be valuable the use of the computer), and increase opportunities for
to increase girls’ interest in science. Girls are much more cooperative learning (Tyler-Wood 1993). Furthermore, the
drawn to science themes that are perceived to have a high Institute of Education Sciences (Halpern et al. 2007) rec-
social relevance, while boys tend to be more attracted to ommends the following to encourage and improve the
science themes that are perceived to have a high mechan- participation of girls in science classes:
ical or practical relevance (Reid 2003).
Improving the elementary female’s perception of sci- • Teach students that academic abilities are expandable
ence would seem to be an essential goal if one is to and improvable.
increase science achievement in female students and • Provide prescriptive, informational feedback.

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48 J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55

• Expose girls to female role models who have succeeded seem important to use teaching strategies in science
in math and science. which have a strong language arts/verbal component to
• Create a classroom environment that sparks initial meet the learning style preferences of female students.
curiosity and fosters long-term interest in math and Oakes (1990) further reiterated the importance of early
science. intervention for increasing girls’ choices for a science
• Provide spatial skills training. career with research that indicates that the number of
students considering careers in the field of science
increases very little after ninth grade. To facilitate gen-
Importance of Early Intervention der equity in science, it is critical to identify programs
that match girls’ learning styles and provide learner-
Perhaps the most important characteristic of effective centered materials at an early age.
science curriculum is early timing of interventions.
Interventions should occur prior to high school in order to
be effective (Subrahmanyan and Bozonie 1996). Caleon Targeting Girls’ Perceptions of Science Careers
and Subramaniam (2008) studied the attitude of aca-
demically talented girls and boys towards science. These Hamrick and Carlisle (1990) indicated that many women
researchers discovered that although the gender gap is less harbor stereotypical ideas about science and scientists.
evident in the primary years, as students progress through Most women believe science is a male dominated field with
school, the gap becomes greater. To increase the number few opportunities for female participation. Even when
of women in STEM careers, it is important to prevent the there was no significant difference in the achievement
widening of the gap between girls’ and boys’ attitudes scores of boys and girls in math, girls rated their math
towards science. The researchers also noted that more abilities lower as early as the elementary grades. Students
girls than boys are undecided about their attitudes towards with more confidence in these subject areas are more likely
science-related careers during their upper-primary years. to perform well and pursue careers in math or science.
In order to assist these undecided students with develop- Girls form perceptions when they observe stereotypes in
ing more positive attitudes towards science, Caleon and society in the areas of science and math (Herbert and
Subramaniam believe that students should be provided Stipek 2005).
with an opportunity to explore STEM career choices in To attract girls into science, Packard and Nguyen (2003)
their primary years. suggested expanding the range of girls’ career-related
Ford et al. (2006) noted that in spite of doing well in vision of ‘‘possible selves.’’ Girls should be given the
early grades, girls tend to lose interest in science in the opportunity to experience different careers in the sciences
later grades. To engage girls in science, their learning and ‘‘envision’’ what their future life might be like if they
styles and interests should be considered during early selected such a career. Career related ‘‘visions’’ can be
science instruction, even if the gender gap is not provided through mentoring and job shadowing. Packard
apparent. and Nguyen (2003) indicated that career exploration should
Stoking (1993) studied the attitude of academically be a part of the science curriculum in the K–12. Baker and
talented girls and boys in grade seven participating in the Leary (1995) found that girls expressed more interest in life
Duke University Talent Identification Program. Student sciences than physical sciences because they would have
participants rated school subjects and college majors in more opportunity to help others in life sciences careers.
terms of how much they liked or disliked each subject. Therefore, the positive impact of different STEM careers
Student participants indicated subject preferences on society should be illustrated to them. Early exposure to
according to a forced choice system. Girls consistently career possibilities will not only keep girls from rejecting
rated language arts courses as their favorite courses STEM careers either due to lack of information or stereo-
while boys rated mathematics and science as their typical views, but also help girls to explore possible career
favorite courses. Freeman’s more current data continues options. A thorough discussion about different careers and
to support these noted differences in preferred course the financial stability that can accompany specific career
work related to gender (2004). It appears that academi- choices can benefit all students, especially students from
cally talented girls have already determined specific low-income backgrounds. The problem of attracting
subject preferences for language arts by the seventh females into science careers has been documented for
grade. Any plan seeking to increase academically tal- many years (Baker and Leary 1995). Providing girls with
ented girls’ perceptions of science should most likely the opportunity to see the advantages of selecting a science
focus on demonstrating the positive aspects of science in career at an early age should increase the opportunity for
the early grades, prior to grade seven. It would also girls to select a STEM career.

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J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55 49

Long-Term Mentoring mentoring relationships may influence a mentee’s current

self-concept as well as their future self-concept.
Exposure to women in scientific careers over longer peri-
ods of time as teachers, mentors, or though internships
results in positive attitude changes (Tsuji and Ziegler
Research Questions
1990). A long-term intervention supported by appropriate
mentoring would seem to provide important elements to
1. Initial Study: Will authentic educational experiences in
sustain a long-term commitment to the study of science for
4th and 5th grade, such as those provided by the BUGS
highly capable elementary aged girls (Coleman 1998).
program, increase academic achievement in basic
Lanz, in Chipman, Brush and Wilson (1985) indicated that
science knowledge?
long-term programs are more effective in changing aca-
2. Follow-up Study: Will early science intervention have
demic attitudes. One-day or short term programs often do
a long-term positive effect on girls’ STEM perceptions
not involve consistent, active participation and rarely
and on their future career interest?
address the reasons females do not take advanced science
courses. Career opportunities for women have changed
dramatically since Lanz’ work in the 80’s. Therefore, it is
important to determine if a year-long program, such as Methods
BUGS, provided in more recent years, can result in an
increase in female’s participation in science coursework at Participants and Activities
the college level.
Coleman (1998) studied barriers to career mobility and The BUGS Program in Detail (2001–2002)
advancement by African-American and Caucasian women.
One of the most frequently identified barriers for Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) was a 3 year project
advancement was lack of opportunity for professional funded by the National Science Foundation. The study
networking and exclusion from the—‘‘good ole boys’’ served between thirty and forty female students in grades
network. Coleman indicates that the—glass ceiling ‘‘is a four and five each year of the 3 year project. The current
very real phenomenon for both Caucasian and African- research reviews data obtained from year one participants.
American females.’’ It is important to provide females an The year one data was selected for analysis because girls in
opportunity to network and form support groups. A pro- this group are currently entering college, selecting a col-
gram for elementary-aged girls that emphasized mentoring lege major and career path. A group of thirty-two 4th and
and the establishment of a long-term relationship could 5th grade girls was selected to participate in an after-school
help young girls establish a pattern of forming career science program, Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS).
enhancing long term relationships. Participants were selected from a large school district in
Dee (2007) reported positive educational outcomes north Texas. A matched comparison group of thirty-four
through same gender interaction effects between a student 4th and 5th grade girls with similar characteristics was
and teacher. The presence of female mentors or teachers in selected from another large school district in north Texas.
the STEM areas can not only bolster the confidence of girls Students in the comparison group were matched on science
in STEM areas, but also help girls understand different scores on the third grade administration of the Iowa Test of
problem solving and coping strategies through discussions Basic Skills (ITBS). Each BUGS participant was matched with
with role models. When students are provided with men- a girl who scored within three percentile points on the science
tors, they get a chance to explore different career possi- section of the ITBS (Tyler-Wood and Mortensen 2006).
bilities in science and math. During year one, 32 of the 35 BUGS participants
According to Packard and Nguyen (2003), mentoring completed the pre- and post-test administration of the
can be a blend of academic, professional or personal ITBS. The science portion of the ITBS was used to mea-
function. Mentoring can help to develop career-related sure participants’ achievement gain. Three students missed
identity by modeling career-related possible ‘‘selves’’ to either the pre- or post-test due to illness, and their scores
which young girls aspire. Esprivalo-Harrell et al. (2004) were not included in the study. The original BUGS pro-
drew from the literature to create the following model for gram involved participation in an after school outdoor
the BUGS mentoring relationship: ‘‘The mentor creates a science lab at a local elementary school. Students from
social context that fosters interest, participation, and self- three neighboring schools were bused to the school for
concept related to science by encouraging the mentee to project participation. The elementary school where the
think reflectively, question effectively, and develop per- program was held housed a large outdoor environmental
sonal responsibility for her own learning.’’ Positive lab as well as indoor laboratory facilities. One day each

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50 J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55

month additional activities were held at the Elm Fork the summer program. Each STC unit was based on a
Education Center, the public education branch of the learning cycle that included four stages: focus, explore,
University of North Texas’ Environmental Science reflect, and apply. In the first stage, the prior knowledge
Program. and experience of the learner was addressed. The students
Female high school students who were enrolled in the then focus on what they would like to know about a par-
Texas Academy for Mathematics and Science (TAMS) ticular topic. Next, the students explore a scientific concept
served as mentors for BUGS participants. TAMS provides or phenomenon as they engage in a particular activity.
an opportunity for talented students in mathematics and Students usually work in groups of two to three. In the
science to complete the first 2 years of college while BUGS program, mentors were included in the groups. The
earning a high school diploma. Each TAMS student was third stage reinforces the learning that has occurred. With
matched with a BUGS participant on interests in specific the help of their mentor the students reflected on what
science subject areas and interests in extracurricular happened during the activity, recorded their observations
activities. TAMS students also served as instructional aides and data in a journal and discussed the results with their
for the weekly science lab in which the girls participated. classmates and mentors. Finally, the students applied what
TAMS participants had face-to-face contact with their they have learned to a real life situation and to other parts
mentees for approximately 120 min each week throughout of the curriculum. The STC curriculum addresses National
the academic year. In addition, mentors contacted mentees Science Education Standards.
through the phone, internet and a website established The essential design of the evaluation for the initial study
through the project. TAMS students helped the BUGS was the purposeful quasi-experimental. The BUGS group
participants with science activities each week. In addition, participated in the study, working closely with female
at the end of the year, TAMS participants facilitated the mentors from TAMS and American Association of Univer-
BUGS participants in developing a science project and a sity Women (AAUW) throughout the program. The contrast
hands-on demonstration of a concept in the lab that was group did not receive any treatment or support. Both groups
presented to parents and faculty at UNT. An adult mentor were recruited through parent letters, contacts, and appli-
from the University of North Texas served as a mentor for cations and were assessed in a pre- and post-test fashion.
both the TAMS students and BUGS participants. The role
of the adult mentor included providing information on Follow-up Study
career and educational opportunities in science. The adult
mentor met with both the TAMS and BUGS participant Fourteen former BUGS participants were surveyed and
two times for a total of 2 h of contact for the academic their responses were compared to various contrast groups.
year. A 2-week summer experience at the Environmental The all-female contrast groups consisted of 12 original
Education Center of Elm Fork was provided for the aca- BUGS contrast students, 10 female science major students
demic year participants and their BUGS mentors. in their senior year of studies at a large Texas university, 10
For the academic year and summer program, the Science, general studies college students in their freshman year of
Technology, and Children Curriculum (STC) curriculum college, and 9 STEM professionals. The 10 general studies
was used. This curriculum provides lesson plans and activ- majors had indicated that elementary education was their
ities as well as a complete set of materials so that elementary intended area of study. These students were included in the
students can participate in ‘‘hands-on’’ science experiments. study to allow for a comparison between BUGS partici-
The goals of the STC Curriculum include: pants and the future teachers who might actual teach stu-
dents similar to BUGS participants. The BUGS participants
• Make science relevant, interesting, and challenging for
and contrasts were located through a combination of
all children.
snowball sampling and use of the ‘‘find a friend’’ tool in
• Contribute to children’s conceptual understanding of
Facebook, an online social network. Facebook was founded
their world.
in 2004 and originally served as a social networking utility
• Help children develop scientific-reasoning and prob-
for college students. Although Facebook is no longer lim-
lem-solving skills.
ited to college students, users between 18 and 24 years old
• Foster the development of scientific attitudes, such as
still comprise the majority of Facebook’s population,
curiosity, respect for evidence, flexibility, and sensitiv-
making it ideal for locating college students (Smith 2010).
ity to living things.
A former BUGS participant assisted with recruiting other
Five units were available for use during the academic former participants and contrasts on Facebook.
year program. These units included: animal studies, land For the Science Majors group, 10 female science majors
and water, micro-worlds, experiments with plants and in their junior or senior year of college were recruited from
floating and sinking. A unit on micro-worlds was used for a preparatory class for the Medical College Admission Test

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J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55 51

(MCAT) in a large-sized university in central Texas. The were based on a comprehensive analysis completed by
Non-Science Majors group included 10 students from a Bowdich (2009). The CIQ items, divided by subscale, are
class of pre-service educators in a large-sized university in as follows:
north Texas. Finally, nine adult females who are currently
in a STEM career, who attended the Society for Informa- Part 1: Interest
tion Technology and Teacher Education Conference
• I would like to have a career in science
(SITE) in South Carolina in March 2009, formed the
• My family is interested in the science courses I take.
STEM Professionals group for this follow-up study.
• I would enjoy a career in science.
• My family has encouraged me to study science.
Instrumentation and Data Collection Part 2: Intent
• I will make it into a good college and major in an area
In the initial study, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills—Science
needed for a career in science.
(ITBS-S) was administered as a pre- and post-intervention
• I will graduate with a college degree in a major area
measurement of basic science knowledge and skills. The
needed for a career in science.
test is 37 items long and yields a total raw score. The test is
• I will have a successful professional career and make
leveled for grade 5.
substantial scientific contributions.
The follow-up study assessed participants with the
• I will get a job in a science-related area.
STEM Semantics Survey (SSS) and the Career Interest
• Some day when I tell others about my career, they will
Questionnaire (CIQ) to understand BUGS participants’
respect me for doing scientific work.
actual perceptions of science and interest of their future
STEM careers 6 years after the original study. Both Part 3: Perception
instruments are intended to serve as major indicators for
• A career in science would enable me to work with
perceptions of STEM disciplines and careers.
others in meaningful ways.
SSS was adapted from Knezek and Christensen (1998)
• Scientists make a meaningful difference in the world.
Teacher’s Attitudes Toward Information Technology
• Having a career in science would be challenging.
Questionnaire (TAT). On the SSS, participants use a
semantic differential scale (ranging from 1 to 7) to indicate Both instruments were analyzed as part of a validity
how they feel about five different topics: science, math, study separate from this study and found to have
engineering, technology, and STEM careers. Because the respectable to excellent internal consistency reliability,
BUGS program targets science, only the science and career as well as good content, construct, and criterion-related
subscales were used in this study. Figure 1 shows the sci- validity for the areas assessed (Tyler-Wood et al. 2010).
ence subscale of the SSS. The STEM careers subscale is Reliability estimates for both instruments are reported
similar, but the order of adjective pairs is randomized. in Tables 1 and 2. Guidelines by DeVellis (1991) for
The Career Interest Questionnaire (CIQ) is a 5 point assessing internal consistency reliabilities are shown in
Likert-type (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree) Table 3.
instrument composed of 12 items on three subscales. This The reliability of two instruments ranged from .78 to .94
instrument was adapted from a longer instrument devel- across the 5 constructs. These numbers are in the range
oped for a Native Hawaiian Studies project promoting of ‘‘respectable’’ to ‘‘excellent’’ according to DeVellis’
STEM interest in Hawaii. Adaptations of the instrument guidelines.

Fig. 1 Science subscale of the STEM semantics survey

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52 J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55

Table 1 Internal consistency reliabilities for STEM semantics survey and current learning theory supporting the benefits of
scales authentic experiences to the students’ learning.
Scale Number of items Alpha
Follow-up Study: Do 4th and 5th Grade BUGS
Science 5 .84
Participants have Positive Perceptions of Scientific
STEM Career 5 .93 Disciplines and Interest in Future STEM Careers Now
that they have Completed High School and Entered
Table 2 Internal consistency reliabilities for career interest ques- College?
tionnaire scales
Results of a one-way ANOVA for the five comparison
Scale Number of Items Alpha
groups in both the Science and Career subscales of the
Interest 4 .86 STEM Semantics Survey are shown below in Table 5.
Intent 5 .94 Non-Science Majors had significantly less positive per-
Perception 3 .78 ceptions of science than the other four groups. No other
post-hoc differences were found on the Science subscale,
indicating that while BUGS participants (M = 6.59,
Table 3 DeVellis reliability guidelines
SD = .326) have more positive perceptions of science
Below .60 Unacceptable than Non-Science Majors, their perceptions did not sig-
Between .60 and .65 Undesirable nificantly differ from those of the Science Majors, STEM
Between .65 and .70 Minimally acceptable Professionals, and the BUGS contrast group. The BUGS
Between .70 and .80 Respectable group scored significantly higher (p = .000, Cohen’s
Between .80 and .90 Very good d = 2.7) than the regular college group (M = 4.84, SD =
Much above .90 Excellent (consider shortening the scale) .853) in perceptions of science. In the career subscale,
the BUGS group (M = 6.44, SD = .403) scored signifi-
DeVellis (1991, p. 85)
cantly higher (p = .000, Cohen’s d = 2.2) than the regular
college group (M = 4.44, SD = 1.23) and the BUGS
Results contrast group (M = 5.02, SD = 1.23; p = .001, Cohen’s
d = 1.47).
Initial Study: Did the BUGS Program Increase Figure 2 graphically demonstrates that Science Majors
the Academic Achievement of 4th and 5th Grade Girls (Group 2) have the highest positive perceptions on both
in Science? science (M = 6.88, SD = .140) and career (M = 6.56,
SD = .386). BUGS participants were the second highest,
A repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that the followed by STEM professionals, BUGS controls, and non-
BUGS group made significantly higher gains on the ITBS- science majors.
S pre to post than the BUGS Contrast group (F = 14.985, Since STEM professionals are already in STEM careers,
p \ .001). Furthermore, as shown in Table 4, the BUGS they were excluded from the analysis of the Career Interest
group made significant gains pre to post, whereas the Questionnaire (CIQ). Therefore, only BUGS, BUGS Con-
contrast group did not make significant gains. This quan- trasts, Science Majors, and Non-Science Majors are pre-
titative data indicates that participation in the BUGS pro- sented in the following results. A one-way ANOVA was
gram, which provided the participants opportunities of performed on the Interest, Intent, and Perceptions subscales
authentic environmental experiences such as outdoor and of the CIQ. Table 6 indicates that, analogous to the SSS,
indoor lab opportunities, simulation, trips and experiments, Science Majors have the highest interest in a science career
yields significant improvement in the BUGS participants’ (Part 1, M = 4.65, SD = .337), followed by the BUGS
science achievement. This result reinforces the literature group (M = 4.54, SD = .378). Non-Science Majors

Table 4 Paired t-test results for ITBS-S for BUGS participants and controls
Subscale Mean 1 (pre) Mean 2 (post) t df p Effect size (Cohen’s d)

BUGS Participants 23.03 (6.34) 29.03 (7.45) -6.29 31 \.001 -1.13

Controls 24.06 (5.98) 25.03 (7.91) -1.10 33 .28 –
Standard deviations appear in parentheses below means

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J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55 53

Table 5 A comparison of mean scores among groups completing the STEM semantics survey
Comparison Groups
Group 1: Group 2: Science Group 3: Non-Science Group 4: STEM Group 5: BUGS
BUGS n = 14 Majors n = 10 Majors n = 10 professionals n = 9 contrasts n = 12
SSS Subscale Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Science 6.59 .326 6.88 .140 4.84* .853 6.33 1.00 6.08 .726
Career 6.44 .403 6.56 .386 4.44** 1.23 6.20 .843 5.02** 1.23
* Significantly lower scores when compared to Groups 1, 2, 4, and 5; ** significantly lower scores when compared to Groups 1, 2, and 4

6.88 Science Career the children involved in BUGS are certainly unknown, data
6.56 6.59 6.44 6.33 6.2 6.08 clearly indicate that the majority of these girls now have a
5.02 4.84 much stronger awareness, appreciation, and confidence
4.44
with science. The final results of this impact will likely not
be noted until much later in the girls’ lives.
There are some limitations associated with the current
study. The sample size is small (32 original participants).
Less than half of the original BUGS participants completed
Science BUGS STEM BUGS Non-Science the follow-up surveys. Such limitations call into question
Majors Professionals Contrasts Majors
the generalizability of the current study. In addition, there
Fig. 2 Semantic perceptions of five groups toward science and career is a possibility that the increase in science knowledge and
interest is simply a result of additional exposure to science
(M = 3.23, SD = .399) have the lowest interest in pursu- subject matter and the results reported are not necessarily
ing a science career in the future. The BUGS group scores related specifically to participation in the BUGS program.
outperformed Non-Science Majors and the BUGS contrast Also, the BUGS program infused many components which
group, which suggests the BUGS group has higher science included: mentoring, an afterschool program, a summer
career interest for their future. program, and an increased exposure to the STC curriculum
which is based on National Science Education Standards.
The methodology provided by the current study does not
Discussion present an opportunity to determine how the BUGS pro-
gram components interact and which component is most
It was an important goal of the BUGS program to not only effective. Future research on the BUGS program should
bring about short term academic gain, but to influence address these concerns.
girls’ perceptions of science and increase their placement When reviewing STEM perceptions among the mea-
in STEM careers. Gains in academic achievement are sured groups, it is of concern that the future education
evident as the BUGS participants in the initial study made majors scored so low in their perceptions of science. It
significantly greater gains on the ITBS-S pre- to post-test would seem important to conduct additional research to
than the contrast group. While the eventual career paths of determine the role that a teacher’s perception of science

Table 6 A comparison of mean scores among groups completing the career interest questionnaire
Comparison Groups
Group 1: BUGS Group 2: Science Group 3: Non-Science Group 4: STEM Group 5: BUGS
n = 14 Majors n = 10 Majors n = 10 professionals n = 9 contrasts n = 12
CIQ Subscale Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD

Interest 4.54 .378 4.65 .337 3.23* .399 – – 3.79* .745

Intent 4.37 .302 4.64 .280 2.20** 2.38 – – 3.48*** .463
Perception 4.60 .325 4.77 .316 2.57** .610 – – 3.75*** .669
* Significantly lower scores (p \ .001) when compared to BUGS and Science Majors. ** Significantly lower scores (p \ .001) when compared
to BUGS, Science Majors, and BUGS Contrast Group. *** Significantly lower (p \ .001) when compared to BUGS and Science Majors, but
significantly higher (p \ .001) than the Non-Science Majors

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54 J Sci Educ Technol (2012) 21:46–55

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