A Qualitative Study Of STEM Identity Among Chinese Female Graduate Students In America

In recent years,women's potential and contribution in STEM(science,technology,engineering and mathematics)domain has been more and more recognized by the society.However,at the same time,their participation in STEM specialty has not been improved to match their ability,and the “leaking pipeline” of women in STEM domain still exists.Therefore,all international and domestic organizations are speaking for women,calling on relevant organizations to take effective measures to improve this situation,so as to help more women build a stable STEM identity.So,what should we do to influence their STEM identity? Or what factors can affect women's STEM identity? This is the main problem that this paper tries to solve.Due to the subjective characteristics of STEM identity,this study adopts a qualitative research method.Through in-depth interview and observation of 20(10female,10 male)Chinese students from the University of Wisconsin Madison,the United States,the research method of combining the grounded theory and collective case study is applied to present the Chinese students with female graduate students in STEM field in detail.The positive and negative factors that affect women's STEM identity are also analyzed.This paper finds that,firstly,women's cognition of individual self is more likely to form identity perceptual adaptation,while their cognition of gender self is more likely to form identity perceptual threat.Among them,the positive guidance and evaluation of family members and teachers can have a positive impact on women's STEM identity,while the distraction of family responsibilities and women'sstereotype of gender differences can negatively affect their STEM identity.Secondly,women have strong emotional feedback on STEM identity.Among them,the help and encouragement of partners,mentors and peers can help women get relatively positive emotions;however,the influence of peers and the maladjustment of social activities may also cause pressure on women,resulting in anxiety and depression.Thirdly,women's attitude towards their current situation,their vision for future work and the cultural beliefs they are exposed to will also make them have the desire to stay in STEM field;on the contrary,the carelessness of entering stem field at first and the lack of female companions in the environment without sense of belonging will make women slack and tired of STEM identity and even doubt its rationality,so it is easy for them to remain in STEM field.There will be a negative attitude of will.Based on this,this paper proposes a more comprehensive and detailed framework of STEM identity influencing internal and environment factors.