Step Up for STEM and Health Careers

The goal of this randomized control trial is to evaluate the impact of the "Step Up for STEM and Health Careers" intervention game on STEM/health career and bystander attitudes, as well as self-efficacy. Participants will be randomly assigned to participate in either the Step Up intervention game or the educational PowerPoint presentation. The "Step Up for STEM and Health Careers" intervention consists of students playing a "Step Up" game to help them understand the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, attain STEM/health career self-efficacy, and create an inclusive learning environment for others. The control group consists of an educational PowerPoint presentation on the importance of diversity in STEM and health careers, STEM/health career self-efficacy, and creating an inclusive learning environment for others. The Step Up intervention game (created by Resilient Games Studio (RGS)) consists of six digital episodes that focus on a specific topic: importance of diversity in STEM careers, heuristics and biases, structural biases and intersectionality, harassment, sexual harassment, and bystander behaviors. Each episode includes interactive mini-games to teach theory-based skills and lessons. Adult characters, who serve as "in-game" STEM/health role models, are integrated throughout the game. The game was built based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to improve STEM/health career and bystander attitudes, as well as self-efficacy. The educational PowerPoint presentation on bias and harassment in STEM/health fields was also created by RGS and will be used as a control experience for adolescent participants. The PowerPoint presentation will contain sections that correspond to each of the episode topics of the Step Up intervention game.