3-218 - Context matters for STEM outcomes: Factors that help or hinder underrepresented students in K-college education

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Girls, women, Latinx, and Black students are less likely to persist in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. Using diverse samples of students from kindergarten to college, our symposium explores four different contextual facets that influence STEM motivation, persistence, and achievement among underrepresented groups: School, neighborhood and family, self-concepts and stereotypes, and mentorship. The first two talks explore longitudinally how the larger context (i.e., schools, neighborhoods, family) can contribute to Latinx students’ persistence and performance. The first talk suggests that Latinx high-schoolers are more likely to take advanced STEM courses in Latinx-majority schools than in White-majority schools (however Latinx majority schools may offer fewer STEM course offerings). Meanwhile, the second talk indicates that family and neighborhood contexts such as social capital and community strengths can be positive (or negative) influences on Latinx students’ middle school math and science achievement. The third and fourth talks explore social contexts at the individual and interpersonal level. The third talk investigates the interaction of stereotypes and self-concepts among a sample of high school students, finding that girls, Black, and Latinx students are less likely to hold self-concepts consistent with STEM stereotypes. The fourth talk explores factors that facilitate or hinder the mentor-mentee relationship among college students, offering research-backed recommendations for how mentors can better support students. By investigating these different contexts among diverse samples, our symposium offers a comprehensive view of what may help or hinder to retain and support diversity in STEM and concludes by offering school and public policy recommendations.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Christine R. Starr, University of California, Santa Cruz

Individual Presentations

• Composing STEM: The STEM Coursework of Adolescents Navigating Diverse High Schools - Non-Presenting Author: Rob Crosnoe, University of Texas at Austin; Presenting Author: Matthew Snidal, The University of Texas at Austin

• More than Academics: Family and Neighborhood Context and Mexican-Origin Children’s Achievement in STEM - Presenting Author: Natalya Zaika, Tufts University; Non-Presenting Author: Tama Leventhal, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University

• Just Like Me?: Adolescents’ Self-Concepts Moderate the Relationship Between STEM Stereotypes and Motivation - Presenting Author: Christine R. Starr, University of California, Santa Cruz; Non-Presenting Author: Campbell Leaper, University of California, Santa Cruz

• Are Undergraduates and Their Research Mentors on the Same Page? Implications for Scientist Identity - Presenting Author: Rachel D. Robnett, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Non-Presenting Author: Paul Nelson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Non-Presenting Author: Eileen Zurbriggen, University of California, Santa Cruz; Non-Presenting Author: Faye Crosby, University of California, Santa Cruz; Non-Presenting Author: Martin Chemers, University of California, Santa Cruz