ERIC Number: ED407207
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1997
Pages: 21
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Sleeping Beauty Redefined: African American Girls in Transition.
Kusimo, Patricia S.
This paper examines the interests, perceptions, and participation of 16 African American girls in a program designed to improve girls' persistence in science, mathematics, and technology (SMT). The girls are among 33 African American and 73 total original participants in "Rural and Urban Images: Voices of Girls in Science, Mathematics, and Technology," a project taking place in one urban county and one remote rural county in West Virginia. This paper focuses on the first year and a half of the 3-year project, which involves the same girls during grades 6-8. Project participants meet for monthly workshops, work with mentors from SMT careers in years 2 and 3, and meet with school sponsors and do community service in year 3. The project also works actively with parents and other advocates to provide information and strategies to encourage the girls in schooling and SMT studies. Retention in the program has been very high in the rural county for both African American and other participants, but has been less than 50 percent in the urban county. In separate sections, eight rural and nine urban African American girls in the project are described with regard to favorite pastimes, church activities, social skills, academic perceptions, heroes and role models, program attitudes, self-concept, career aspirations, and social interactions. This paper does not draw comparisons between the rural and urban girls nor focus on the factors placing many girls at risk, but rather, presents evidence that the girls are adopting new selves. An appendix describes the program. Contains 16 references (SV)
Descriptors: Black Students, Career Exploration, Early Adolescents, Educational Attitudes, Females, Intermediate Grades, Junior High Schools, Middle School Students, Middle Schools, Occupational Aspiration, Program Attitudes, Rural Youth, Science Education, Science Programs, Self Concept, Student Attitudes, Student Development, Urban Youth
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation, Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Appalachia Educational Lab., Charleston, WV.
Identifiers - Location: West Virginia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A