This conference aims to present empirical research and instructional practice, exploring how STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) educators, practitioners, and students form STEM identities, how these identities are formed or constrained by existing structures, and ways that instruction and educational policy can broaden conceptions of who can and could do STEM research and practice. Complimentary perspectives will address how such pathways can be facilitated at various points along students’ and young adults’ educational and occupational development.
An important aim of this conference is to extend the interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers, members of industry, and educators to move beyond results which highlight single aspects of issues raised by the study of Gender & STEM identities. Implications for educational and vocational training and practice will be discussed.