Jocelyn Steinke

University of Connecticut | UConn · Department of Communication

This study investigated portrayals of women in STEM on TikTok focusing on their self-presentation of identity and use of platform features to promote audience engagement. This quantitative content analysis examined TikTok posts ( N = 400) from a 3-month sample of 100 TikTok accounts by individuals identified as women in STEM. Results for STEM-focus...

As science media content creators strive for inclusivity in communication design and promotion, they must consider the influence of audiences’ identities on their engagement with science media. A gender gap in viewership or "missing audience" has been identified for women viewers for educational science content on digital media; one such example of...

Despite recent increases, women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Using social identity theory as a framework, this study conducted a reflexive thematic analysis of 614 Instagram posts by 30 women in STEM influencers on Instagram to determine the extent to which and how they portrayed thems...

Despite prior research on portrayals of women in STEM in traditional media, fewer studies have considered portrayals on social media. This content analysis of Instagram posts ($N=300$) examined how individuals using the hashtag #WomenInSTEM presented their gender identity, STEM identity, and other social identities through digital self-portraits, s...

YouTube videos offer a potentially useful vehicle for the communication of science, health, and medical information about COVID-19 to children. Findings from this research showed that primary characters appearing in children's educational YouTube videos about COVID-19 were most often adults, with about an equal number of men and women and few chara...

Role models are critical for broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); however, little is known about STEM role model characteristics most likely to promote identification. This study focused on adolescents’ preferences and identification with diverse STEM role models featured in online videos. Findings f...

Popular media have played a crucial role in the construction, representation, reproduction, and transmission of stereotypes of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals, yet little is known about how these stereotypes influence STEM identity formation. Media images of STEM professionals may be important sources of infor...

Images of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals in popular films influence public perceptions of the participation, status, role, and contributions of women in STEM. This study used content analysis and textual analysis to examine the prevalence and portrayals of female STEM characters in 42 popular films in the Uni...

Scholarly interest in media portrayals of female scientists has emerged as a focus of media studies research because such portrayals (1) reflect cultural views and trends related to the status and roles of women in the workforce and society, and (2) are potential sources of information and influence about future professional roles for children and...

Adolescents’ wishful identification with televised scientist characters was examined as related to interactions among the following variables: gender of participant, gender of scientist character, program genre, and selected character attributes. Findings indicated some gender differences in adolescents’ wishful identification with scientist charac...

This content analysis examined portrayals of scientist characters in 14 television programs popular among or likely to have been viewed by middle school-age children. While male scientists significantly outnumbered and appeared in significantly more scenes than did female scientists, males and females were depicted similarly in reference to profess...

Early adolescence is a critical time for fostering girls' awareness and interest in science, engineering, and technology careers as they actively construct their identities. Possible selves theory describes the factors that influence adolescent girls as they create current and future identities. Research suggests that media models can influence vie...

Gender stereotypes in the mass media perpetuate traditional views of women that may influence children's perceptions of women in science, engineering, and technology. This study used a randomized posttest-only control group design to determine the efficacy of media literacy training on middle school–aged children's perceptions of scientists. Partic...

This study examined the efficacy of media literacy training designed to teach critical thinking about gender stereotypes on middle school-aged children's recognition of gender stereotypes; perceptions of women in science, engineering, and technology (SET); and attitudes toward SET and SET careers. A total of 302 seventh-grade students were randomly...

Images of female scientists and engineers in popular$lms convey cultural and social assump- tions about the role of women in science, engineering, and technology (SET). This study analyzed cultural representations of gender conveyed through images offemale scientists andengineers in popularjilms from 1991 to 2001. While many of these depictions of...

In the absence of real-life role models, images of women scientists and engineers on the World Wide Web can be important sources of information about women in science, engineering, and technology. This study analyzed the content of 27 science and engineering Web sites for girls and examined recurring themes in 168 of the biographies of women scient...

In the absence of real-life role models, children may construct an understanding of the role of women in science based largely on images of women scientists they see in the media. This study assesses the images used in the portrayal of a female astronomer in the film, Contact. The themes used as a framework for the analysis were early encouragement...

Bern's gender schema theory (Bern 1981, 1983, 1993) provides a useful framework for examining the influence of women scientist role models on girls’ perceptions of science and scientists. The purpose of this paper is (1) to describe how Bern's gender schema theory serves as a framework for guiding future research, (2) to examine the fundamental pre...

Educational, attitudinal, and sociocultural factors create barriers that prevent girls and young women from pursuing opportunities in science. Of these barriers, gender-role stereotypes of science have been cited as a significant obstacle. This research analyses a US television series that counters gender-role stereotypes of science. The analysis f...

Several media effects perspectives suggest that televised images can influence children's perceptions of science and scientists. This study analysed images of science and scientists in four children's educational science programmes. The images of science as truth, as fun, and as a part of everyday life, as well as the image that science is for ever...

Although most people rely on the mass media to translate the abstract principles and technical jargon of scientific research into comprehensible information they can use to make informed decisions about their lives and about science policy, there is little research examining people's impressions of newspaper reports on science and how these impress...

Television teaches children gender-specific behaviors, attitudes, characteristics, and personality traits. Research indicates that by observing male and female characters on television, children learn to label certain characteristics and behaviors as masculine or feminine and to assign traditional sex-role stereotypes to careers. Content studies of...

Media images of engineers and scientists reinforce cultural stereotypes about the role of women in American society and in the engineering, scientific, and technical professions. These images can have a negative impact on adolescent girls who are making career plans at a time marked by waning self-confidence and a heightened awareness of cultural n...