Science Identity and Underrepresented Minority STEM Organizations

President Obama indicated that there are twice as many science and technology jobs available in the U.S. as there are workers for those jobs (Office of the Secretary, 2013). To fulfill the need for more scientists and engineers, there must be increased educational support for the nation’s underrepresented minority (URM) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. URM STEM organizations, such as the National Society of Black Engineers and other URM student-oriented organizations that provide academic and career resources, are widely used on college and university campuses across the nation to support these students both academically and professionally. Future developments of URM STEM organizations should be informed by the voices of the populations they serve: the students of URM groups. In fact, a better understanding of URM students’ science identities can inform the organizations’ efforts to recruit and retain these students in STEM disciplines. Jones and Abes (2013) expressed that one must understand identity in order to understand college students and their experiences in higher education contexts. Individual students may possess many identities, including a student identity and a race identity, as well as a science identity. The goal of this research study was to explore how URM STEM organizations influence URM STEM students’ science identity development. Accordingly, this study employed identity theory as a theoretical framework to answer the following research questions: 1. What is the composition of a URM STEM student’s science identity? 2. How do URM STEM students perceive that their participation in a URM STEM organization at a major university shapes their science identities? In this study, identity theory was used to examine URM STEM students’ science identities, the ways they identify themselves as scientists (Malone & Barabino, 2009). We asked URM STEM students who belong to URM STEM organizations on a campus in the Southwestern U.S. to complete an open-ended survey in which they described experiences that have made them feel like scientists, their purposes for joining the organizations, and the specific ways in which they believe the organizations have contributed to their feeling like a scientist. Some of the students who completed the questionnaire were asked to give an interview that focused on their perspectives about how the URM STEM organizations affect their views of themselves as scientists. Forty-two surveys and eleven interviews were completed by undergraduate and graduate student members of five different URM STEM organizations. All surveyed students are from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in STEM: African-American, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, and the female gender. Survey responses were analyzed using a grounded approach in order to determine the specific features of URM STEM organizations that students perceive to affect their science identities. The results of this study indicate that URM students believe URM STEM organizations make them feel more like scientists by providing opportunities to demonstrate characteristics of scientists (such as being able to showcase their use and understanding of scientific material during research experiences) and participate in activities and events of practicing scientists, such as at outreach events and conferences. The students also perceive an enhancement of their science identities due to the recognition, professional development, networking, and confidence that they obtain as a result of their membership and participation in activities and events presented to them by the URM STEM organizations. There is a need to produce more talented scientists and engineers to support the future economy of the USA. Additional educational support for the nation’s URM STEM students helps fulfill this need; but more importantly, inclusion of more URM students with diverse backgrounds and different perspectives will impact the level of creativity, innovation, and quality of STEM products and services (Denson, Stallworth, Hailey, & Householder, 2015; National Research Council, 2003). Ultimately, a better understanding of how URM STEM organizations can encourage the development of students’ science identities can contribute to the recruitment and retention of URM students in STEM

The Development of a Novel, Standards-Based Core Curriculum for Community Facing, Clinic-Based Community Health Workers.

Introduction: Historically, CHW trainings have been developed to support community-based CHWs. When CHWs have been trained to engage with patients, typically such trainings have been for short term grant funded projects, focusing on a specific health intervention and not for long term, ongoing engagement of CHWs employed in clinical settings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such effort to describe the development of a standards-based training curriculum for clinic-based CHWs using a novel conceptual framework. Methods: Our conceptual approach for curricular development has several innovative features including: (1) a foundational consultation process with CHW national experts to inform curricular development approach, process and content; (2) utilization of the CHW Consensus Project (C3 Project) to provide curricular standards and guide learning objectives; (3) integration of three key stakeholder group perspectives (patients, healthcare teams, and healthcare systems); (4) use of popular education principles, aiming to foster a collaborative learning process; (5) integration of adult learning principles which build on learners\u27 experiences, culminating in a modified apprenticeship model and (6) collaboration with clinical partners throughout planning and development of the curriculum. Results: The resulting standards-based curriculum is comprised of 10 modules, which span three areas of focus: (1) Establishing a professional CHW identity and competencies; (2) Outlining the context, processes and key actors in health care settings with whom CHWs will engage; and (3) Identifying the main forces that shape health and health care outcomes of patients/families and communities. Discussion: We highlight four lessons from our curriculum development process that may help other such efforts. First, curricular development should utilize CHW standards, existing training materials, and community-focused principles to inform curricular content and learning outcomes. Second, curricula should support training delivery using experience-based, participatory approaches, consistent with adult education and popular education principles. Third, training development for clinical settings should also draw from clinical CHW experiences and input. Fourth, curricula should support training for key stakeholders and champions in clinical organizations to improve organizational readiness for integrating CHWs into healthcare teams and health systems. Our results contribute to growing research on effective CHW training methods for clinical settings