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744 COUCH ET AL.
Table 7. Shifts Described by Chelly During the InvenTeam Year
Chelly’s shifts Attributed to Leading to
Seeing InvenTeam project as Significance conveyed by teachers, Commitment to producing the
significant and a major thing support at the mid-grant technical prototype and presenting at
review from people (Congressman, EurekaFest
community members, teachers,
family), and interviews “here and
there”
Overcoming not liking anything InvenTeams Possibility of studying something in
about engineering and becoming STEM in college
knowledgeable about STEM
Thinking about learning how to InvenTeam experience Looking at more majors at college
code she will attend for possibility of
studying computer science
Ability to see ways of going Experiencing such highs and lows An invention and characterization
through hardships in college and doing something of this of the experience as unique
[InvenTeam project] magnitude
played a significant role in the accomplishments of of a director from a major university (Celaena), and
the whole group by sharing responsibilities and lead- the support of the many people in attendance (Chelly)
ing different aspects of the InvenTeam processes. enabled them to proceed and to think of “the future”
The young women talked about the MGTR as one and “how we would be once we were [at MIT pre-
of the critical parts of the program that supported senting their projects]” (Chelly).
their invention work, in addition to the team-build- The interviewees also talked about resources
ing and distributed leadership models promoted by within and beyond the teams. Chelly talked about
InvenTeams. the value of the afterschool program and emphasized
The MGTR is a required step and involves each the importance of online resources as a key support
team presenting their work-in-progress to their local for her work on InvenTeams. She said that another
community, intended users, and invited guests (teams afterschool program, known as “Project Grad,”
often invite local elected officials). Community mem- focuses on getting under-represented students to
bers are asked to provide feedback about the technical take the coursework needed for college eligibility
aspects of the developing prototype, and an LMIT and helped her “learn what it took to go to college.”
staff member supports the teams in planning out In addition, online resources provided much-needed
their next steps and finding necessary resources. technical help for the InvenTeam work. Since Chelly’s
Chelly said that the MGTR helped her team realize team worked exclusively in an afterschool environ-
that what they were doing was “very significant and ment with less technical support, they needed to find
a major thing,” while Celaena emphasized that this “video tutorials, instructables, projects … as a place
step in the program was instrumental in reminding to start … to get a hang of it.” Meanwhile, the two
them that “what we were doing benefited people young women from the STEM school did not talk
and they said they have been looking for a solution about resources explicitly, signaling that the resources
for this problem.” All three participants viewed the may have been invisible or taken for granted in their
MGTR as a support that validated their work, helped STEM-rich school environment.
them feel motivated, and provided feedback that they The third major support the young women saw
“had to think through more” since they saw that the as instrumental in their work on InvenTeams was
“customer wanted our product” (Celaena). The cer- people. The people included “customers,” commu-
tificates from the mayor (Magdalena), the feedback nity members, LMIT staff, and others who provided
ADDRESSING THE GENDER GAP 745
support and feedback at the MGTR and along the teammates had limited time to fully engage in and
way. However, the most significant people supporting understand all of the processes necessary for invent-
their journeys were parents and teachers. Magdalena ing. As mentioned above, it was not until the MGTR
talked about her teachers, who provided guidance in February that Chelly realized the importance of
and shared their technical expertise, while Celaena her team’s project—not just for the team but also for
and Chelly talked about their parents more. Celaena the larger community interested in seeing the proto-
stated that her parents “forced me to go to STEM” but type. Time was an issue for Celaena and Magdalena,
then provided the support needed for her to succeed who worked on their InvenTeam project during the
in school and the InvenTeam project. Chelly, on the school day, afterschool, and on Saturdays because
other hand, emphasized her mother’s role in pushing they had multiple demands. Celaena stated that her
“that idea [to go to college] on me” and getting her “tenth grade was the hardest year. I had to prioritize
to join Project Grad and the afterschool InvenTeam. InvenTeams over robotics …[and] got really over-
The InvenTeam organization and processes, the whelmed.” Magdalena also talked about “scheduling
resources, and the people were significant supports difficulties” and a conflict with robotics, noting that
in the young women’s engagement with invention, the inventing “wasn’t going as quick as it needed to
but, ultimately, they saw their own personal qualities, be,” and she “was scared” because they “were going to
values, and beliefs as forces driving their success in lose a lot of [team members with coding experience]
InvenTeams and STEM. Celaena took pride in her for a while” due to schedule conflicts with robotics.
“ability to speak to people” and to create “harmony” Thus, as the participants made visible in the inter-
when “dealing with a bunch of people.” Magdalena views, inventing requires significant amounts of time,
emphasized the importance of her leadership skills which becomes a challenge for high school students
and her ability to “take charge … so that things are who have multiple demands on their time. Magdalena
happening.” Meanwhile, Chelly talked about her estimated that she spent seven to eight hours per
“many interests” and associated her ability to look week working on the invention, while Celaena and
at “engineering [as] a growing industry I should Chelly both thought that they spent nine to 10 hours
learn about” with her “love to learn” attitude and her per week.
recollection of “always loving school.” She also said Participants not only felt constrained by time
her wanting to “do something good … that will impact but also by the stereotypes about women in STEM.
community” sustained her through the “highs and Celaena was most explicit about the stereotypes, stat-
lows” of the experience, leading to more confidence ing that there is a “stereotype on girls that you are not
in her ability to persist and to “make it” in college. supposed to be interested.” Talking about her shift
Constraints to math becoming her strongest subject, she said
that previously she heard “you’re not supposed to be
The young women interviewed for this research interested,” and she believed that STEM “was sitting
emphasized their successes and supports, but they in a classroom doing math equations all day.” If not
also shared the constraints and challenges they expe- for her parents’ support and push to go to a STEM
rienced. Our analyses of the interviews identified school, she may never have come to see herself as
three factors constraining the work of InvenTeams: an inventor. Chelly did not state the stereotypes as a
1) time; 2) stereotypes; and 3) lack of knowledge, constraint explicitly, but, in describing her experience,
exposure, understanding, and engagement. she indicated that prior to the afterschool leader’s
InvenTeam students have one school year to com- invitation, she had not considered coding or STEM
plete phases 4 through 8 of the InvenTeam grant cycle as a pathway for her future. The participants had to
outlined in Table 1. Periodic check-ins and one site overcome stereotypes about females in STEM in order
visit by LMIT staff help the teams maintain momen- to see themselves as leaders, innovators, inventors,
tum and use their time effectively, but, as the young and important members of InvenTeams.
women shared, time was a challenge. InvenTeam work While time and stereotypes were significant con-
was an afterschool activity for Chelly, so she and her straints, the constraints that the participants described