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Cited by 10Museums and Cultural HeritageCareer Development and DiversityScience Education and Perceptions

Spatial inequalities leave micropolitan areas and Indigenous populations underserved by informal STEM learning institutions.

Open access
Short, Rachel A., Struminger, Rhonda, Zarestky, Jill, Pippin, James, Wong, Minna, Vilen, Lauren, Lawing, A. Michelle·2020·Science Advances
DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abb3819PMC PMC8262761
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Abstract

Informal learning institutions (ILIs) create opportunities to increase public understanding of science and promote increased inclusion of groups underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers but are not equally distributed across the United States. We explore geographic gaps in the ILI landscape and identify three groups of underserved counties based on the interaction between population density and poverty percentage. Among ILIs, National Park Service lands, biological field stations, and marine laboratories occur in areas with the fewest sites for informal learning opportunities and have the greatest potential to reach underserved populations, particularly in rural or high poverty counties. Most counties that are underserved by ILIs occur in the Great Plains, the southeast, and the northwest. Furthermore, these counties have higher Indigenous populations who are underrepresented in STEM careers. These unexpected geographic gaps represent opportunities for investments in ILI offerings through collaborations and expansion of existing resources.

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  • Years of disenfranchisement have resulted in little economic development, underfunded learning institutions, and limited economic opportunities on reservations, especially in the private sector.

    “Years of disenfranchisement have resulted in little economic development, underfunded learning institutions, and limited economic opportunities on reservations, especially in the private sector (Miller, 2018;Short et al., 2020).”

    From The Potential of Bison Restoration as an Ecological Approach to Future Tribal Food Sovereignty on the Northern Great Plains (2022) · cites this paper as Short et al., 2020

    The Results (Underserved counties; page unavailable) find that Indigenous populations are disproportionately represented in counties with fewer informal STEM learning institutions. The paper does not establish that these institutions are underfunded, locate the finding specifically on reservations, or address disenfranchisement as a cause of limited economic development and private-sector opportunities. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. [3]L. Darling-Hammond, Inequality in teaching and schooling: How opportunity is rationed to students of color in America, in The Right Thing to Do, The Smart Thing to Do: Enhancing Diversity in Health Professions, Institute of Medicine, Ed. (National Academies Press, 2001), pp. 208–233.
  2. [4]National Research Council, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (National Academies Press, 2009).
  3. [5]National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine, Science Literacy: Concepts, Contexts, and Consequences (National Academies Press, 2016). 27854404
  4. [13]J. Zarestky, R. Struminger, J. Rodriguez, R. A. Short, A. M. Lawing, paper presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the Adult Education Research Conference, Victoria, BC, Canada, 7 to 10 June 2018.
  5. [15]National Research Council, Identifying and Supporting Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings (National Academies Press, 2015).
  6. [18]Institute of Medicine, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads (National Academies Press, 2011). 22379652
  7. [24]S. Lauver, P. M. D. Little, H. Weiss, Moving beyond the barriers: Attracting and sustaining youth participation in out-of-school time programs (Harvard Family Research Project, 2004), vol. 6, pp. 1–12.
  8. [28]K. LaConte, P. Dusenbery, STEM learning in public libraries: New perspectives on collaboration from a national conference. Informal Learn. Rev. 140, 21– 27 (2016).
  9. [50]G. F. Jenks, Optimal data classification for chloropleth maps, in Department of Geography-Meteorology, Occasional paper (University of Kansas, 1977), vol. 2, pp. 1–24.

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Authors
Short, R. A., Struminger, R., Zarestky, J., Pippin, J., Wong, M., Vilen, L., & Lawing, A. M.
Affiliations
  • Texas A&M University (US)
  • Colorado State University (US)
Corresponding author
Short, Rachel A.
ORCID
Venue
Science Advances
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Published
2020-10-09
Volume
6
Issue
41
ISSN
2375-2548 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1126/sciadv.abb3819
PMC
PMC8262761
OpenAlex
W3091779179
Cited by
10
References
28
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3
FWCI
14.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Science Advances (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1713359, 1713351)
  • National Institute of Food and Agriculture (1003462, 1020451, 1021915)
  • International Union of Biological Sciences
  • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University
  • Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Texas A&M University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Museology › Museums and Cultural Heritage
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Science Education and Perceptions
Keywords
regional disparities, indigenous peoples, rural counties, poverty, population density, biological field stations, marine laboratory, micropolitan areas

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