How Do Latina STEM Majors Succeed in a Hispanic-Serving Institution? Resilience Strategies in STEM Spaces

• In Event: Advancing Latino/a/e STEM Education Research in Hispanic-Serving Institutions

Abstract

Objectives/purposes: The objective of this study is to understand how Latina students persisting in STEM majors navigate the social climate through success strategies, particularly as Latinas’ cultural strengths influence their STEM degree pursuit (Contreras Aguirre, 2022; Gonzalez et al., 2020). This study utilizes a resilience model (Gonzalez, 2020) based on community cultural wealth and an asset-based approach in the analyses of such strategies. The purpose of this study is to inform HSI leadership (and perhaps other minority serving institutions) of Latina resilience or strategies in STEM as this information can inform leadership on how to tackle STEM retention and sense of belonging, particularly through an asset-based approach.

Theoretical framework: This study utilized the Latina/e/o resilience model (Gonzalez, 2020) which centers culture and its interaction with five contexts (college, home, school, community, and workplace). Latinas' unique backgrounds and experiences (first-generation college students, daughters of immigrants, etc.) can be largely driven by culture and influence their academic trajectory, and thus both influence and define resilience.

Methods: Individual interviews of junior and senior Latina undergraduates pursuing STEM majors in research intensive HSI were completed. We used qualitative case study approach to address the research project; the HSI is the case where we focus our study. Demographic information was collected and then triangulated during interviews. Transcribed interviews were coded using inductive (emerging codes) and deductive (resilience model contexts as preliminary codes) approaches Bingham & Witkowsky 2021). Content analysis and the constant comparative method were used.

Findings: The findings primarily describe participant strategies/assets and ways of being or showing resilience. First and foremost, nearly all participants described an interest or curiosity for STEM subjects that began prior to college. Participants also cited fun experiences that piqued their interest in STEM, such as when they got to see science in action. Second, participants sometimes described STEM environments or culture as exclusive and unwelcoming. For example, participants used descriptors such as STEM is intimidating, competitive, and pretentious. They described STEM spaces or interactions as lacking community and/or reciprocity. Finally, participants demonstrated various strategies, assets, or resilience in action whether to deal with such STEM environments or generally seeking communal spaces. Participants sought or found comfort in diversity and belonging. Specifically, they gravitated to diverse spaces, including Latine-dominant groups. Another pattern of behaviors that is perhaps unappreciated as an asset is the tendency for having prosocial, altruistic, or communal values and behaviors. Participants described the importance of being role models to youth, helping others in similar situations or generally serving others and outreach. Communal values and their Latine cultural ties will be discussed.

Scholarly significance: The significance of this work is in its contribution to the Latine student population pursuing STEM majors in an HSI context, particularly through an asset-based, resilience perspective. The information gathered (assets and success strategies) can further the understanding of the Latina experience in STEM which can serve to guide the institution and its stakeholders as they develop or enhance structures that affect their students, particularly those underrepresented in STEM.

Authors

• Emma Claudia Perez, Texas A&M University

• Elsa M. Gonzalez, Texas A&M University

• Isabella Sanchez Hernandez, University of Houston