Broadening Perspectives on Broadening Participation in STEM: A Summary Report

This report summarizes the ideas and conversations of the CAISE Broadening Participation Task Force, which was led by the authors, along with James Bell, Principal Investigator and project director of CAISE (see informalscience.org/bp-task-force). The task force was instrumental in identifying key ideas and challenges to the field, providing edits and input into the report, developing and drafting the associated practice briefs, and piloting the materials.

Across the nation, many are undertaking efforts to significantly transform who participates in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), but the informal science education and science communication sectors are largely peripheral to these efforts. Rather than assume that this exclusion is an oversight, we examine how our fields typically present and represent STEM, and if and how we do so in truly inclusive ways that can contribute to efforts to broaden participation. Organizations, programs, and people within our fields can reflect on and question our work to determine if and how it can be made more equitable and inclusive.