STEM Behind Sickle Cell: Piloting an Informal Learning Program for Underrepresented Minority Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: STEM Identity and Aspirations of Underrepresented Learners in Physical and Virtual Informal Spaces (Table 11)

Abstract

The present study investigated the effects of an informal learning program, STEM behind Sickle Cell (SBSC), on students’ motivation for sickle cell disease related STEM (SCD-STEM) learning and STEM identity. There were three key instructional components in each topical module of the program—STEM knowledge related to sickle cell, scientific literacy and epistemology, and science communication, and students learned and developed their own SCD storytelling projects at the end of the program. As showed by the pretest-posttest comparisons, participants had significantly enhanced self-relevance, task value, inference-making ability, and STEM identity with considerable effect sizes. Data on student projects and coordinator interview also confirmed a strengthened sense of relevance, motivation, and interest for learning SCD-STEM in the program.

Authors

• Ting Dai, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Lewis L. Hsu, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Angelina Grace Slager, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Kate Buller, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Diana Diaz, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Yuxuan Zhi, Alameda County Office of Education