Expanding the Heroine’s Learning Journey: Enhanced Strategies for Engaging Young Women in STEM via Heroic Narratives
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5753/rbie.2026.5008Keywords:
Women, STEM, Heroic Narratives, FOSTWOM, MOOCs, Gender Equality, EducationAbstract
The Fostering Women to STEM MOOCs (FOSTWOM) project aims to increase women's participation in STEM careers through free-access Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) targeted at young women. One of its key actions was the development of the Heroine's Learning Journey (HLJ), a framework structured into 3 acts and 12 stages, employing a heroic narrative to inspire and empower young women, ages 15 to 21, to persist in their STEM studies. This work assesses the effectiveness of the HLJ stages through complementary evaluations involving students’ video ratings, students’ reflective reports, and expert assessment. The first evaluation with 12 educational specialists — professors, researchers, instructional designers, media producers, and pedagogical coaches — and the second with students participating in the MOOCs. Results show that all HLJ stages received at least 60% positive ratings regarding motivational capacity, with Stages 1 and 5 rated particularly highly. However, Stages 6 and 9 needed improvements for greater clarity and engagement. Qualitative student feedback also highlighted Stage 10 (Self-Regulated Learning) as a critical moment of reflection and growth. The HLJ was recently recognized with the SBC Innovation Seal and the SIGHP Education Award. Our results offer valuable insights for educators seeking to design MOOCs that address gender-equality needs in STEM fields.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Luis Felipe Costa, Carlos Eduardo Barbosa, Yuri Lima, Luciana Nascimento, Larissa Galeno, Ana Moura Santos, Geraldo Xexéo, Jano Moreira de Souza
Este trabalho está licenciado sob uma licença Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
