The authors completed a pilot study to examine the original Student Support Needs Scale (SSNS') and alternative forms. They assessed how the items were related to each other, how SSNS versions correlated with each other, and the SSNS versions associations with measures of student attitudes and performance. Eighty students from a historically Black college and university participated. SSNS 10-item- and 5-item-per-scale form s were created. They were compared with the original, to each other, and to other measures. The coefficients related to how items related to each other indicated that the alternative form s had similar to better correspondence between related items than the original scales. The 5-item-per-scale version was used as the augmented SSNS (SSNS-A). SSNS-A correlations with measures o f student attitudes and performance were generally in the expected direction. Implications are discussed in regard to reliability and validity of the SSNS-A.
Abstract:National discourse about STEM careers has dominated conversations about the need to meet the demands of the labor market. The ever increasing population diversity requires the participation of underrepresented groups, including women and individuals from racially minoritized backgrounds. However, for those at the intersections of historical and persistent marginality, such as Black female students, access to STEM majors, programs, and careers are particularly limited. This article uses observations, four student focus groups, document analysis, and survey data from a Black science conference to understand the experiences of Black women student attendees. Through an intersectional lens, we find that professional conferences can better serve Black female student participants by considering their nuanced experiences, barriers, and contributions to the field.We thank the National Science Foundation for supporting the conference and data collection used in this project.
Abstract:While much of the research on formal mentoring programs considers their impact on underrepresented students, there is very little research on formal mentoring programs which examines the utility of these programs for underrepresented students who are also first-generation and limited-income students. The authors addressed this gap in the literature by examining the relationships between formal mentoring program participation, science identity salience, and graduate school enrollment in a sample of first-generation, low-income, underrepresented students. Specifically, interest was in understanding whether these relationships are the same for first-generation, low-income students, underrepresented students; and what aspects of a formal mentoring program are most important for graduate school enrollment in this group. These relationships were explored using data from The Science Study, a national panel study of undergraduate STEM majors.
Abstract:As this country’s K-12 student population becomes increasingly racially heterogeneous, the preponderance of its teachers remains White and female. Inspired by this phenomenon, the purpose of this article is to examine the shortage of Black men teachers using critical race theory (CRT). The precepts of CRT used in this examination are the centrality of race and racism in society and challenge to the dominant, including meritocracy and color blindness. This article identifies some of the current challenges facing prospective Black men educators, and it offers insight into forces that began an involuntary exodus of Black educators from the profession. This article also contends the Black men teacher shortage is based on racial considerations and is a patently nationwide epidemic.
Abstract:In order to increase the access of underrepresented minority (URM) students to STEM careers, we need a better understanding of the students’ science identities—the ways they perceive themselves as being (or not being) scientists. Such knowledge can inform efforts to recruit and retain URM students in STEM. The authors asked postsecondary URM STEM students to describe the characteristics that they (1) have in common and (2) do not have in common with scientists, as well as experiences that made them feel like scientists. In this article, the authors present a composite of a URM STEM student’s science identity—the first of its kind—and discuss the implications of this perceived science identity for the recruitment and retention of URM STEM students.
Abstract:This article investigates Black students’ educational attainment in relationship to parental divorce. Using a national representative sample from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS), which is part of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the authors have found several outcomes: (a) Female students were impacted more by divorce than male students, (b) College Social Capital and Positive Class Preparedness were positive impacts on females and males, (c) Home Environment variables operated differently for female versus male students, and (d) Economic Capital variables indicated that socioeconomic status was significant for both males and females. These results suggest that different and innovative tools which address race, gender, and class are needed to assess divorce in the Black family.
Abstract:This ethnographic case study explores the nature of social justice at an historically Black college and university (HBCU) from the perspective of a physical education teacher education—a discipline within a context rarely explored in depth. Throughout this study, I maintain that a careful analysis of social justice must consider the culture and mission of the institution for which it exists. Interviews, participant observations, artifact analysis, and video cued methods revealed that social justice was not just about the preparation of physical education teacher candidates as teachers, but also attending to their developmental needs as college students. The major theme of The Gap provided context for how teacher educators prepared teacher candidates in the midst of tensions existing among students, the university, and faculty.
Abstract:Undergraduate students of color (SoC) struggle to negotiate STEM experiences, which becomes a barrier to shaping identity and academic success. A qualitative research study was designed using a created figured worlds (FW) to observe how SoC used language to engage in activities for understanding and negotiating identities. Multiple frameworks was used to highlight the lived experiences of SoC in STEM including identity theory, FW, and intersectionality. Identity in FW demands consideration be given to the space, community, and present structures where identity work is produced. In this research SoC created ideas for new cultural models and built solidarity using multimodal communication. Twitter was useful for co-constructing ideas for new cultural models and critical for gaining agency for navigating STEM.
Abstract:Drawing from the experiences of 14 Black students participating in a structured undergraduate research program at either an historically Black university or a predominantly White institution, the authors conducted a secondary data analysis on interview and journal prompt data using Yosso’s community cultural wealth framework to identify sources of capital for, and challenges to, STEM identity formation. This current undertaking is seen as a direct response to what works, in regards to the practices and conduits that directly influence the preparation and recruitment of Black students into STEM majors. This has noteworthy implications for the role that educators and other members of Black students’ communities contribute to their acquisition of cultural capital and subsequently how they develop STEM identities.
