Ms. Adventure Girls: A Critical Feminist Pedagogical Empowerment Program for Pre-adolescent Girls and Mentors.

Elsa Kraus and Shantee Scheel, and Faculty Deb PatteeUniversity of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Background

Methods

Discussion

References

Acknowledgements

Results: Transfer of Training Analysis

Pre-adolescent Participants The Ms. Adventure Girls Spring 2012 program included 14-19 active, female participants in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade.  Because the program is voluntary, the number of participants for each meeting fluctuated.   Out of nineteen middle school girls, 15.7% were African-American, 10.5% were Asian, and 73.7% were European-American.  

University Mentors There were 14 active, female university mentors.  Thirteen mentors regularly attended the weekly club meetings.  Even though attendance was voluntary, many mentors chose to attend. There were four phases to the mentoring program:1. All the mentors and researchers met three times to

finalize the spring curriculum.    2. Collaborative teaching of the lesson plans occurred during

the eight weeks. 3. Collaborative analysis the participants’ reflections

occurred at the end of the program.4. A focus group was conducted at the end of the program.

Weekly Meeting Outline Circle of Power and Respect: allowed girls to use their voice to discuss the issues most central to them Fitness Tip: led by a university mentor to promote social, emotional, and physical wellness in the classroom setting Topic of the Day: presented by a university mentor relating to one of the four themes of the program Reflections on Focused Question: reflections focused on the theme of the day, written by the pre-adolescent participants, to emphasize a transfer of training—applying learned material to real life situations Meeting with University Mentor: time was allocated outside of club meeting for one-on-one connections between mentor and mentee; mentor also transcribed another reflection

Research Design Harter Self-Esteem Test Pre- and post tests : were given to the pre-adolescent participants to examine six subscales of self-esteem: social, behavioral, athletic, physical, academic, and global (Stewart et al., 2010). Collaborative analysis: university mentors rated eight weeks’ worth of reflections on a five-point Likert scale rubric created by the researchers to assess the transfer of training the participants experienced each week.  Mentors scored four to six participants’ anonymous reflections by theme. Researchers averaged the mentors’ scores given to each participant to create inter-rater reliability, producing a transfer of training score for each participant on the four themes. Focus groups: To assess the impact of the feminist pedagogical framework on the university mentors’ and the program experience for the pre-adolescent participants, the researchers conducted two focus groups at the end of the program. Voice recordings of the focus groups were transcribed by researchers and analyzed according to theme.

A mutualistic approach of combining qualitative and quantitative research methodologies works to promote efforts of embracing women’s lives and their individual stories by being reflexive, interactive, and non-hierarchical, diverging from traditional methods of research (King, 1994; Lather, 1991; Fonow & Cook, 1991). Our goal for this research is to move towards changing the detrimental systematic impacts experienced by all of the participants making praxis a reality. Children who are under-resourced, in a lower-socioeconomic status and experiencing challenges that are an effect of living in poverty, comprise 22% of children (younger than 18) living in the bottom quartile of the United States ("Effects of poverty," 2012). The United States population of children in poverty is growing, from 15.5 million children in 2009, to 16.4 million children in 2010 ("Effects of poverty," 2012). According to the American Psychological Association, the effects of children living in poverty are devastating—contributing to lower achievements in education, particularly affecting African-American and Latino/a children (Effects of poverty," 2012). Children in this position are more likely to struggle with behavioral and emotional problems, experience a higher level of unhealthy living conditions, and have less access to healthy foods ("Effects of poverty," 2012; Jyoti, 2005; Kaiser, 2003; O’Dea and Maloney, 2000). The empowerment of youth through intervention, prevention, and youth development programs (YDP’s) are growing trends in the past decade to disrupt negative tendencies in education, personal and social development of students in under-resourced positions (Cullen et al., 1999; Wechsler et al., 2000, Rhodes, 2002). YDP’s provide opportunities and support to help youth gain the skills and knowledge they need to meet the increasing challenges the future holds (Roth, 1998). Many YDP’s specifically address gendered issues in the areas of developmental, emotional, and social behaviors through fitness education, media literacy, and self-esteem programs (Warner et al., 2009; DeBate , 2009). The Ms. Adventure Girls program focuses on four themes, teaming, wellness, self-esteem, and leadership, in hopes to reduce the issues associated with youth being under-resourced at Delong Middle School. Delong Middle School has a high rate of free and reduced lunch and is demographically the most diverse middle school population in the Eau Claire School district with 25% students of color, and 48% of the students are on free and reduced lunch (Evers, 2012).

Goals • The goal of the pre-adolescent participant component

was to show a transfer of training in the areas of wellness, self-esteem, leadership, and teaming.

• The goal of the mentor component of this participatory research was to equalize and elevate the mentors to become effective and experienced in the feminist pedagogical tenants of collaboration, interaction, egalitarianism, and empowerment (Campbell, 2003; Fonow & Cook, 1991).  

Overall, the pre-adolescent scores from the collaborative analysis were lower than expected. However, the scores are trending to the higher end of the scale. Six possible variables could have contributed to the results. 1) The process and experience of the collaborative analysis was a new addition to the program, so the researchers and mentors had little prior experience. 2) During the transcription process at the one-on-one meetings, mentors unintentionally chose what to transcribe, creating a selection bias. Voice recordings may be necessary to avoid this bias in the future. 3) The writing ability of the pre-adolescent participants may have limited the content of perceived knowledge during the club meetings. In the future, voice recordings could be made during all interactions between the university mentors and the pre-adolescent participants, including the club meeting. 4) Inconsistent participation in the club meetings could have contributed to the lower reported level of transfer of training. 5) University mentors did not have enough training to teach focused lesson plans on the four themes affecting the level of transfer of training displayed by the pre-adolescent participants. Mentors varied in experience, therefore, they were not equipped with the knowledge of focused lesson planning. In the future, extensive orientation and training should be mandatory for university mentors to increase mentoring ability and teaching skills. 6) The rubric formatting could be edited by combining items four and five to make the grading more consist across mentors. This error could have potentially lowered the reported level of transfer of training. Analyzing the participants’ transfer of training by grade also did not display a difference in the level of transfer of training. The Harter Self-Esteem Test displayed non-significant results. Two of the six self esteem subscales, physical and behavioral self-esteem, were approaching significance (t(10)=-2.065 p>0.066; t(10)=2.092 p>0.063). Inconclusive results may be due to the small sample size. To achieve statistically significant results on the Harter Self-esteem Test, becoming more focused on the six self-esteem subscales during the club meetings is necessary as well as an increasing the sample size. The focus group with the pre-adolescent participants indicated favorable discussion and awareness on the themes connecting to their lives outside of the club meetings. However, the responses were not consistent with the transfer of training analysis conducted by the university mentors. Both focus groups concluded that the mentor-mentee bond was impactful to their lives. Many pre-adolescent participants reported that the mentoring component benefited their lives in many ways. An example of this is a participant concluding that, “Ever since I have been meeting with my buddy, she has been encouraging me to get it done [math homework] and my grade has gone from an ‘F’ to a ‘B’.” Overall ,the pre-adolescent participants believed that the Ms. Adventure girls program taught them many skills and one participant felt that, “It makes you a better person and makes you realize things.” An general goal for the program is to create a safe and inclusive space for all members. One participant reported that, “It’s like almost a family.” Both focus groups concluded that the mentor-mentee bond was significant and impactful to their lives. The university mentor focus group displayed that it is difficult to diverge from the hierarchical structure. The freedom that feminist pedagogy permits in its very nature is non-traditional, therefore, overwhelming. Even though the mentors experienced dissonance, they were able to collaborate and interact with one another and the researchers, and engage in an egalitarian community, feeling more empowered at the end of the program. Future research on the feminist pedagogical structure should to be implemented in YDP’s.

1-Not at All 2-Not Very 3-Neutral 4-Some-what 5-Extremly0123456789

1011121314

Transfer of Training for the Theme of Wellness

Transfer of Training Scale

Num

ber

of

Part

icip

an

ts

1.51.351.2

2.972.952.652.4

3.53.43.4

3.43.33.23.1

21%29%

50%

1-Not at All 2-Not Very 3-Neutral 4-Some-what 5-Extremly0123456789

10111213

Transfer of Training for the Theme of Leadership

Transfer of Training Scale

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

1.971.3

3.83.773.52

3.53.453.393.25

4.324.154.14.0

15%

54%

31%

1-Not at All 2-Not Very 3-Neutral 4-Some-what 5-Extremly0123456789

1011121314

Transfer of Training for the Theme of Self-Esteem

Transfer of Training Scale

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

1.73

2.952.852.792.652.2

3.93.853.353.3

4.154.14.1

7%

36%29%

21%

1-Not at All 2-Not Very 3-Neutral 4-Some-what 5-Extremly0123456789

1011121314

Transfer of Training for the Theme of Teaming

Transfer of Training Scale

Nu

mb

er

of

Part

icip

an

ts

1.85

2.82.82.72.72.7

3.93.73.63.13.05

4.44.34.3

7%

36% 36%

21%

Special thanks to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for funding the faculty /student collaborative project. Special thanks also to all of the University mentors who participated in the collaborative analysis and the focus group. Our gratitude also goes to Deb Pattee, for supporting and guiding this project throughout the year.

Focus Group Quotes with the Pre-adolescent Participants

• “Adventures Girls has helped me in the area of wellness by before I eat something it makes me look twice and think about what’s in it and what it could do, and it also gave

me a lot of activities I could do like fitness wise.”• “I now read my food labels even more, so I can make healthy food choices.”

• “For wellness, I ride my bike and I think it’s fun, and didn’t even realize it was exercise.”• “I learned that exercise can be fun, it’s not always hard work and now I go for more walks

at home than I used to.”

Focus Group Quotes with the Pre-adolescent Participants

• “Leadership is being a leader under conflict. You can be a leader by being nice to others and instructing others and leading by examples and in many other ways.”

• “To be a leader, you have to be a follower, and to be a follower, you have to know what’s right and wrong.”

• “I have been a leader for when we went to the presentation of the Kony Invisible Children thing. I got a group together to do ‘Cover the Night’, April 20th.”

Focus Group Quotes with the Pre-adolescent Participants

• “Self-esteem is when you feel good about yourself and what you do. An example of this is when I did solo ensemble and I used the goal setting skill to work towards my goal and

when I was done I was confident and felt I can do anything.”• “Self-esteem helped me when I stuck up for myself at camp.”

• “Um, one way to have self-esteem is to think that you are beautiful in your own ways. An example is that my sister, she would have fake friends, and would call her ugly and she

needed more things and she said to herself in her head that she was beautiful in her own ways and, um, she didn’t listen to her friends and she ignored them.”

Focus Group Quotes with the Pre-adolescent Participants

• “For teaming, ‘Never Give Up’. Everything is easier when you work together.”• “I learned how to make friends, because I did not know how to do that before, and I

learned how to work together with others.”• We were all cooking and different jobs. It ended with us making a full meal.”

• “Teaming is working together and joining as a group and being not as one individual as yourself, but working together.”

• “Voting for activities and we all agreed on things to do and on the scavenger hunt we all worked together.”

University Mentor Focus Group Analysis by Theme

“It [Ms. Adventure Girls] keeps me accountable and I know I mean something to her…”

“[It] is really gratifying to…learn how to be a support system for them.”

Mentor-Mentee Relationship - 9 out of 10 Mentors

“It is that one-on-one I thing I think that makes it really a stronger bond with them the people you’re working with.”

“you may be the only one they can count on and so it’s always just a struggle but it’s been a realization that no matter how hard it gets like

I need to still be there for her.”

Empowerment – 8 out of 10 Mentors “[It] is really empowering for me to see that they trust me and they

[the mentees]want to share this information and it also really invests me that much further into this program because I see that these are

girls that really need us.” “I plan on going to graduate school for clinical psychology and hopefully working with the adolescent population, and I’ve learned through this program that this is population that I feel really needs

me, and I feel I can make an impact with.” “ [Because my mentee] she does not get a lot of attention from her

parents, that really solidifies the idea that I want to go into family and marriage therapy and be able to help girls like her family, function

better.”

Egalitarian - 9 out of 10 Mentors “Being able to have that connection with middle schoolers, it’s interesting

to figure out where, to look at where they are, and reflect back where I came from, to not compare, but o have a better understanding of things.”

“even though we have come from very different families, we have a lot more in common than you would think, or than I would have thought,

which is nice too.”

Interactive - 9 out of 10 Mentors “Getting someone to do self defense or getting someone to do cooking we

actually followed through with it which I was really impressed on almost every activity if not every activity that we said we said we wanted to do at

the bringing and that was really nice.” “The camping trip that we do is one of my favorite parts of the whole

experience ‘cause you just its so real you get to know the girls in every level.”

Empowerment – 8 out of 10 Mentors “It was really cool to know that I was leading it but I had all these other

people facilitate this conversation.” “I had issues … for my mentee, and it was nice I was able to like open up

a email through everyone and ask everyone’s input and it was nice to get different viewpoints on how it could go about um getting the point across

[to the mentee].” “It was kind of nice too to be able to lean on the support of other

mentors.”

Personal Development - 8 out of 10 Mentors

Discussion

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IRB number: patteedk662011