Factors that Influence Persistence of Biology Majors at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

To promote diversity within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce, we must identify factors that influence or hinder historically underrepresented minority (URM) students’ persistence to degrees in STEM. We documented potential factors that influence students’ persistence in an undergraduate biology program and created a 14-item, Likert-scale instrument. We recruited 137 undergraduate biology majors at a Hispanic-serving institution in Texas to report which factors they found influential in their decision to remain enrolled in their degree programs. We used a modified social cognitive career theory model of career choice to guide interpretation of the reported influences and identify patterns in responses. We documented three highly influential factors for all students: personal motivation, potential learning experiences, and job opportunities with the job opportunities showing a significant difference (P=0.036) between White and URM student groups. We also found a trend (P=0.056) indicating White students were more influenced by role models and mentors than URM students. Our findings suggest that personal motivation and potential job opportunities are the most influential factors driving students to seek educational opportunities that could lead to STEM careers. However, access to a diverse pool of role models also has the potential to provide positive impacts on student persistence in STEM

Advising in science education: Critiquing where we have been, moving toward an equitable and holistic advising approach

This article explores and wrestles with the various discourses that arise when considering why it is important to advise students from an assets-based and holistic approach into science-related majors and careers. Our hope is to inform how and why it is important to advise students into science-related careers, specifically, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, more generally, from an ethical and justice-oriented approach. We begin with a review of empirical literature that highlights the different approaches to advising and the challenges racially and gender-minoritized students often face in STEM fields. We then review contemporary research from science education that document the hostilities that racially and gender-minoritized students experience in undergraduate and graduate science programs. We find the intersection of these two subfields to be productive for elucidating multilevel, context-dependent strategies, which can redress the inexcusable and alarming underrepresentation and exclusion of racially minoritized peoples in science programs and careers in the United States. We end by contemplating the ethical question of how science programs, careers, and the broader field would need to change, to keep historically minoritized students from experiencing further material and epistemological violence. We argue that, without this reimagination, even the most effective advising models will only ensure that more racially and gender-minoritized students are sacrificed on the altar of “equality” for the sake of the economic and geopolitical needs of the state

Threats and Supports to Female Students’ Math Beliefs and Achievement

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149563/1/jora12384_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149563/2/jora12384.pd

Minority Women in STEM: A Valuable Resource in the Global Economy

While there is an expected demographic shift of the ethnic minority population in the United States to become the majority population by 2020, few minority women successfully attain baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields. To address this gap, this article employs critical race feminism and narrative analysis methods to examine minority women’s challenges while pursuing undergraduate STEM degrees. Findings suggest that limited access to the field, isolation and alienation, and affordability create barriers that result in many minority women leaving STEM majors. Implications for practice include targeted institutional efforts to increase recruitment and retention efforts towards degree attainment for minority women to achieve the national goal of increasing America’s global preparedness.https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/jiasgag/1006/thumbnail.jp

Identifying Faculty and Peer Interaction Patterns of First-Year Biology Doctoral Students: A Latent Class Analysis

Faculty and peer interactions play a key role in shaping graduate student socialization. Yet, within the literature on graduate student socialization, researchers have primarily focused on understanding the nature and impact of faculty alone, and much less is known about how peer interactions also contribute to graduate student outcomes. Using a national sample of first-year biology doctoral students, this study reveals distinct categories that classify patterns of faculty and peer interaction. Further, we document inequities such that certain groups (e.g., underrepresented minority students) report constrained types of interactions with faculty and peers. Finally, we connect faculty and peer interaction patterns to student outcomes. Our findings reveal that, while the classification of faculty and peer interactions predicted affective and experiential outcomes (e.g., sense of belonging, satisfaction with academic development), it was not a consistent predictor of more central outcomes of the doctoral socialization process (e.g., research skills, commitment to degree). These and other findings are discussed, focusing on implications for future research, theory, and practice related to graduate training

The Effects of Gender, Race, and Grade Level on Interest, Relevance, and Perceived Confidence in Science among Middle School Students in the Deep South

This study looks at middle school students’ attitudes toward three dimensions of perceptions of science (interest, relevance, and competence) and compares student attitudes by gender, age, and race. These measures are expected to reflect the varying potential of these students’ interest in pursuing careers in STEM. A sample of 719 students in East-Central Mississippi were asked to rate their level of agreement with statements taken from common surveys for measuring attitudes towards science, the Test of Science Related Attitudes 2 (TOSRA 2) and the Views on Science and Education (VOSE) questionnaires. Logistic regression analyses showed that age is a more significant indicator of low interest and of low competence than gender, and that race does not play a significant role in any dimension. Findings indicate students lose interest earlier than high school, suggesting that earlier interventions may be better at increasing participation in STEM than programs targeting older students

Female computer science and engineering undergraduates: reflections on participation in the academic landscape

Women continue to be underrepresented in computer science and technology related fields despite their significant contributions. The lack of diversity in technology related fields is problematic as it can result in the perpetuation of negative stereotypes and closed-minded, unchecked biases. As technology tools become integral to our daily lives it is essential that a diverse group of people contribute to the sociocultural environments where we participate and live. This dissertation is a phenomenological, interview-based, study designed to investigate the lived experience of women in undergraduate computer science and engineering programs. The purpose of this study was to better understand the factors that might encourage or discourage the participation women in the major and in the field. In order to grow the number of women in technical fields it is important to first understand what attracts them to the field and what supports they find helpful or not helpful. This study illuminated some recommendations that might guide the work of practitioners in secondary schools as well as higher education. Among other things, participants appreciated being challenged by the content and assignments, feeling support from faculty and peers, feeling a connection to the culture, effective encouragement to persist, and engaging interactions. All of the participants described having gone into their field to make a positive impact on society and they also all described the importance having at least one supportive female mentor. Participants described the importance of having spaces where they felt included and appreciated their professors and peers who pushed back against the historical CS-world stereotypes. While the experience of each participant was unique, and there were some very negative experiences, all six participants reported having mostly positive experience in their undergraduate programs

Uncovering the intersection between race and gender of the experiences of female engineers.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.The purpose of the current study is to examine the complexities that female engineers experience in a male dominated industry. These complexities are compounded further when the element of race is intertwined with their gender. A review of the current literature notes the influence that gendered constructions have on society and therefore, perpetuates into the choices that men and women have based on their gender, especially in terms of appropriate career choices. The research focuses on social constructionism and intersectionality as a theoretical framework. As the study aims to understand the experiences of the female engineers and how their race intersects with their gender, a qualitative analysis was conducted, as it was the most appropriate for the study. Hence, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine employed female engineers from various companies and engineering sectors. The semi-structured interviews took place from May 2017 to June 2017. A thematic analysis was conducted on the interviews, which formed three focal themes, viz. Negotiating Multiple Identities; The Two Extremes and Proving Yourself. The nature of the identities in which the participants narrate can be seen as an act of intersection of the various identities, which the participants acknowledged in their narratives. The various identities are viewed as manifestations that form from the social interactions in which the participants immerse themselves in. In addition, the women would note ‘subtle issues’ that would arise in the engineering workplace, which differentiated the women from the men, however, would not acknowledge the severity of the inequality that perpetuated from the differentiation. However, many of the women would acknowledge the positive experiences they have had as a female engineer and were therefore treated as an engineer and not a female engineer

STEM Education and Retention for Black Women using High-Impact Practices: Historically Black Colleges and Universities vs. Predominantly White Liberal Arts Colleges

Black women are significantly underrepresented within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). To address this, the Association of American Colleges & Universities crafted ten high-impact practices to increase student engagement and promote retention. This research paper examines how three specific high-impact practices (learning communities, mentoring, and undergraduate research experience) are utilized in STEM education.This research paper explores and compares the best high impact approaches that successfully teach and retain Black women within the various fields of STEM within the differing academic environments of historically Black colleges & universities ( HBCUs) and predominantly white liberal art colleges (PWLACs). This paper concludes with recommendations for continuous research on Black women who pursue STEM in addition to institutional policies and practices that predominantly white liberal art colleges must do in order to contribute efforts in addressing the large disparity