When Microsystems Collide: How Latina/o/x Students Negotiate Belonging Cues Within and Across Engineering Contexts (Poster 2)

• In Event: Constructing Educational Possibilities for Latin* Engineering Students: Call to Action for the Institutions and Systems That Serve Them

Abstract

Objectives
Researchers continue to point to the culture of engineering fields as a rationale for why some Latina/o/x students do not persist in these disciplines (Banda & Flowers, 2018; Rincón & Rodriguez, 2020). When Latina/o/x students do not perceive a sense of belonging, they may be less likely to fully immerse themselves in the engineering field or gradually withdraw from the major altogether. In contrast, when Latina/o/x students are validated, made to feel like they matter, and are cared for, they are more likely to thrive in engineering (Abrica et al., 2022). Thus, engineering education programs need to know more about environmental factors that relay messages or cues about belongingness for Latina/o/x students in engineering contexts.

Theoretical Framework
We applied Bronfenbrenner’s (2005) ecological systems theory. Due to the study’s scope, we only describe microsystems and mesosystems, two tenets of the framework. Microsystems contain the individual. These systems may entail families, student organizations, laboratories, classrooms, co-ops, and internships. Mesosystems are the interaction of two or more microsystems. The interactions of mesosystems may inhibit or facilitate development or belongingness in certain contexts.

Methods and Data Sources
This phenomenological study sought to investigate the following: How do Latina/o/x students in engineering experience and make meaning of belonging cues within academic and non-academic environments? In 2017-2018, we conducted audio-recorded interviews with 10 Latina/o/x engineering majors at one of four, predominantly white, Northeastern institutions. To analyze our data, we developed a codebook containing a set of descriptive codes reflecting the microsystems of college students as well as deductive codes reflecting the types of belonging cues students encountered. These codes were applied to analysis of participant data in Dedoose, an online qualitative software program.

Results
As Latina/o/x students navigate within and between microsystems, they receive negative and positive messages that influence their sense of fit and inform the extent to which they perceive engineering as a place for them. While Latina/o/x students largely received messages that they didn’t belong from non-minoritized peers and faculty, these messages were often counteracted by Latina/o/x engineering peers and faculty. Further, students received conflicting and reinforcing messages about the extent to which they fit in engineering across various microsystems. Latina/o/x engineering students mostly received positive belonging cues from other Latina/o/x peers and faculty in engineering that counteracted the negative messages from other white peers and faculty. While some microsystems reinforced positive belonging cues, others contributed to tokenization.

Significance
Findings suggest that Latina/o/x engineering students expend large amounts of emotional energy and time to process and make meaning of negative interpersonal interactions with peers, faculty, and coworkers. They also point to the precarity of microsystems that provide positive belonging cues. Latina/o/x students relied heavily on same-race or gender peers for support. Additionally, findings suggest that Latinas are hyper-aware of their tokenization in engineering. Our findings also point to negative interactions that students are experiencing outside of the college environment through university-sponsored programs such as co-ops.

Authors

• Tonisha B. Lane, Virginia Tech

• Blanca E. Rincón, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Rene Hernandez, Virginia Tech