The Effect of STEM Education on Teenagers’ Aspiration and Gender Attitudes: Field Evidence from Tanzania

Last registered on January 04, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The Effect of STEM Education on Teenagers’ Aspiration and Gender Attitudes: Field Evidence from Tanzania
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005215
Initial registration date
December 27, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
January 04, 2020, 11:20 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Tanzania, United Republic of
Region
Tabora

Primary Investigator

Name
So Yoon Ahn
Affiliation
University of Illinois at Chicago
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Semee Yoon
PI Affiliation
Yonsei University
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PI Name
Youjin Hahn
PI Affiliation
Yonsei University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2018-11-12
End date
2018-11-30
Keywords
Education, Gender
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
We analyze the effects of providing STEM education on career aspirations and gender attitudes of elementary and secondary school students in Tabora region of Tanzania. The STEM education was provided by a local social enterprise e3empower for 5 days as a form of bootcamp. The bootcamp consists of an introduction to computer and programming sessions to use basic coding to create robots and a simple app. The purpose of STEM bootcamp is to increase the exposure of new technologies so that students can improve their creativity, computational thinking, and problem solving skills, and they can enhance their motivation to learn, especially STEM fields. The STEM bootcamp program may have an impact beyond just the knowledge on STEM subjects. For instance, it may affect students’ non-cognitive outcomes such as confidence, long-term career aspirations in STEM fields, and gender attitudes. Given under representativeness of women in STEM fields, we investigate the impact of STEM bootcamp by gender.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ahn, So Yoon, Youjin Hahn and Semee Yoon. 2020. "The Effect of STEM Education on Teenagers’ Aspiration and Gender Attitudes: Field Evidence from Tanzania ." AEA RCT Registry. January 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5215-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2018-11-12
Intervention End Date
2018-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Favorite subjects, Study hours, Education goal, Preferred major, Expected occupation and earnings, Aspirations, Gender attitudes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Household outcomes (desired age of marriage, number of children)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conduct a field experiment to understand the impacts of STEM education. Randomly chosen students were provided with a 5-day long STEM bootcamp in Tabora Region in Tanzania. The bootcamp was a part of an education program offered by e3empower, a local social enterprise in Tanzania, and it was sponsored by Compassion International. Because the contents of the STEM boot camp require basic knowledge of basic arithmetic skills, this program was offered to students who have completed 6 years of primary school. Through the ‘STEM boot camp’ program, the students who have otherwise very little knowledge in computer or other ICT (information, communication and technology) skills were trained to use basic coding to create robots and a simple app under the supervision of technological experts from e3empower.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization was conducted by Compassion International and the exact procedure is not known to researchers.
Randomization Unit
Individual (student)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
400+ students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Treatment group: 200 students
Control group: 200 students
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Yonsei University
IRB Approval Date
2018-12-20
IRB Approval Number
7001988-201812-HR-515-03
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
November 30, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
No
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials