Promoting Equitable Access to STEM in a Summer Herpetology Fieldwork Program

The lack of equitable access to science learning for marginalized groups is now a significant concern in the science education community (Bell et al. 2009). In our commitment to addressing these concerns, we (the HERP Project staff) have spent four years exploring different ways to increase diverse student participation in our informal science programs called herpetology research experiences (HREs). We wanted the demographics of participants to mirror the racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic demographics of the areas where our HREs are held. To achieve this, project staff worked closely with local teachers to attract and recruit diverse participants; thus, the connections between teachers in formal education and our informal learning program were paramount to our success. We defined diverse students as those from populations that are often marginalized in STEM education due to their gender, race or ethnicity, first language, socioeconomic status, academic status, and prior knowledge of reptiles and amphibians, as research indicates that these groups do not have equal access to STEM opportunities.