– The authors found that white men were most likely to report a sense of belonging whereas women of color were the least likely.
– Representation within one’s STEM sub-discipline, namely biology versus the physical sciences, impacts sense of belonging for women.
– Four key factors were found to contribute to sense of belonging for all students interviewed: interpersonal relationships, perceived competence, personal interest, and science identity.
– The authors findings indicate that students who remain in STEM majors report a greater sense of belonging than those who leave STEM.
– Students from underrepresented groups are less likely to
feel they belong.
– Both race and gender moderate the experiences that impact sense of belonging for science students.
– Women of color reported the feeling a sense of belonging less frequently than any demographic group.
– Lack of belonging reported by men is primarily experienced by men of color
Current Selections
ClearRace and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in STEM
Mind the Gap: Student Researchers Use Secondary Data to Explore Disparities in STEM Education
1) How do students’ math and science self-efficacies relate to students’ post-secondary education plans? Are there differences by gender? 2) Is gender or race related to students’ taking of computer science courses? In the student’s choice of a computer science career? 3) Do students with individualized education plans (IEPs) differ from general education students in their expectations to obtain a degree post high school? Of the students that have an IEP, are there differences in their expectations for post-secondary plans by socioeconomic status? 4) Does participating in extracurricular activities (EA) have an effect on a student’s plans to attend college? Does SES status affect the relationship between participation and educational plans?
The Role of STEM High Schools in Reducing Gaps in Science and Mathematics Coursetaking: Evidence from North Carolina
The authors examined whether underserved students in North Carolina STEM high schools have similar or higher rates of advanced science and mathematics course taking than students in neighboring traditional high schools.
Aligning Science Achievement and STEM Expectations for College Success: A Comparative Study of Curricular Standardization
This paper examines student science
achievement in the precollege years, focusing
on students who indicate they plan to major
in science or pursue a science career. It compares the United States with other industrialized countries in terms of science achievement and determines the degree to which crossnational variations in standardization of the curriculum are related to science achievement, net of other country-level factors such as teacher quality and economic development. The authors then examine cross-national variations in students’
future orientations toward STEM to determine
whether curricular standardization is related
to the alignment of students’ science achievement with their plans to pursue a STEM major or career
Gender Differences in Learning Outcomes from the College Experiences of Engineering Students
1) How do curricular emphases differently affect engineering learning outcomes by gender? 2) How do instructional approaches differently affect engineering learning outcomes by gender? 3) How does participation in co-curricular experiences differently affect engineering learning outcomes by gender?
Science Achievement Gaps Begin Very Early, Persist, and Are Largely Explained by Modifiable Factors
- How large are general knowledge gaps occurring in kindergarten, and to what extent do these continue to occur by the end of first grade?
- As children move from third to eighth grade, what is their typical initial level (i.e., intercept) and rate of achievement growth (i.e., slope) in science?
- Are these gaps consistent with stable, cumulative (i.e., gap increasing), or compensatory (i.e., gap decreasing) achievement growth trajectories? How do these initial third-grade science achievement levels and third- to eighth-grade growth trajectories vary by children’s race, ethnicity, language, and family SES status? How are a more general set of child- and family-level characteristics, including parenting quality, related to typical levels of third-grade science achievement in the United States as well as to achievement growth from third to eighth grade?
- To what extent are the third-grade science achievement gaps, as well as third- to eighth-grade science achievement growth, explained by such modifiable factors as general knowledge, reading and mathematics achievement, and behavioral self-regulation? How much of children’s later science achievement can be predicted by their first-grade achievement-related knowledge, skills, and behaviors?
- With the aforementioned first-grade predictive factors accounted for, how important are the modifiable factors of children’s subsequent reading and mathematics achievement, and behavioral self-regulation at each of third, fifth, and eighth grades to their science achievement during these grades?
- To what extent does a school’s academic climate and racial, ethnic, and economic composition explain children’s science achievement, over and above the afore- mentioned child- and family-level factors?
The concentration of Asian Americans in STEM and health-care occupations: an intergenerational comparison
This article examines the concentration of Asian Americans in the STEM and health-care fields of study and occupations by generation, ethnic group and gender, compared to white Americans.
Effects of Student Body Racial and Ethnic Demographics on Community College Student Persistence: A Correlational Inferential Study
1) What is the effect of racial and ethnic community college student body composition on student persistence? 2) Does the racial and ethnic composition of a community college’s student body have differential effects on the persistence of students from different racial and ethnic groups? 3) What is the effect of racial and ethnic student body composition on student academic and social engagement?
Student perceptions of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) content and careers
1) Are STEM dispositions of high school science and mathematics students more similar to those of their generational peers or those of STEM professionals? 2) Are STEM dispositions or career interests different for disaggregation attributes such as gender, year in the academy, size of school, or ethnicity? 3) What are the primary influences reported by academy students for their interest in STEM careers?
The High School Environment and the Gender Gap in Science and Engineering
Extend existing explanations for gender differences in plans of pursuing STEM degrees and examine the role of the high school context.
Predictors of Latina/o community college student vocational choice of STEM fields: Testing of the STEM-vocational choice mode
1) Are there statistically significant effects of exogenous factors associated with observed vocational interest on the dependent variable of vocational choice in STEM at transfer for community college students? 2) Will the exogenous and observed variables in the STEM-VC model serve as a successful predictive model for the intention to major in a STEM field at transfer for Latina/o community college students? For White students? 3) Are there significant differences between Latina/o and White student respondents in the final STEM-VC model measurement and pathway model and what are these differences between the two ethnic populations?
Friendship Groups, Personal Motivation, and Gender in Relation to High School Students’ STEM Career Interest
Friendship group characteristics, motivation, and gender were investigated in relation to adolescents’ science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career interest. First, the authors investigated the extent to which personal motivation and friendship group STEM climate predicted adolescents’ STEM career interest after controlling for gender and other background factors. They hypothesized that the effects of these variables would be domain-specific, such that the friendship group’s STEM climate and students’ sci-ence motivation would predict STEM career interest after controlling for the friendship group’s English climate and students’ English motivation. Finally, they investigated possible moderation effects.
Stability and Volatility of STEM Career Interest in High School: A Gender Study
To gauge how stable versus volatile the reports of boys’ and girls’ STEM career interests are over the course of high school.
Tracking Financial Aid and Persistence of Women, Minority, and Needy Students in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics
1) What are the persistence patterns of the special student populations compared to other populations in the same institutional setting? 2) Are the special student populations financing higher education differently than the comparison groups? 3) Are there significant differences in the persistence patterns of SEM and SEM student populations based on the type of aid received? 4) Have the amounts and types of aid received by the special student populations changed over time compared to other student populations?
A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention. III. Gender Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes
Why did the women in the study- whose qualifications were arguably better than those of the men when they entered the chemical engineering curriculum- earn lower grades in chemical engineering courses and exhibit progressively lower confidence levels and expectations of themselves as they advanced through the curriculum?