The Roles of School Racial Climate and STEM Classroom Climate in Adolescents’ Gender and Racial Peer Inclusion and Attribution Decisions

• In Event: Understanding the Antecedents of Gender and Ethnic Under-representation in STEM among Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Peer inclusion plays an integral role in student’s academic trajectories (Begum, 2020). Challenges to inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses, in particular, can deter youth from pursuing STEM careers in the future (O’Brien et al., 2020; Rattan et al., 2018). Adolescents often use social identities and reasoning for peer inclusion decision-making as well as making assumptions about other students’ abilities (Rutland et al., 2010). School climate can also play a role in these decisions because inclusive school environments are associated with lower perceptions of social exclusion (Beld et al., 2019). However, less is known about how school climate relates to adolescents’ peer inclusion decisions and perceptions of peers’ abilities specifically in the context of STEM.

This study analyzed how school racial climate, people’s perceptions of interracial interactions and racial socialization within the school (Byrd, 2015), and STEM classroom climate were associated with adolescents’ (N = 294, Mage = 15.72 years, 52.3% female, 36.7% White/European-American, 32.9% Black/African American, 11.2%, Latino/Hispanic, 19.2% other) choices in two tasks: peer inclusion and attribution of ability. In the tasks, participants read a vignette about a programming project in which they needed to pick another student to join their group. Participants were presented with 6 drawings of ethnically and gender diverse students and were asked to choose who they would most likely choose to be in their group and who they thought would be best at the project, they were then asked to explain why they chose the student they picked. Participants’ perceptions of school racial climate (Byrd, 2015) and STEM classroom climate (Zullig et al., 2015) were also assessed. ANCOVAs (see Tables 1 and 2) and logistic regressions were performed, and we also examined qualitative reasoning for peer inclusion and attribution of ability choices.

Results for the peer inclusion task revealed that participants were more likely to choose a non-White peer for a STEM activity if they had lower perceptions of stereotyping at school and they were more likely to choose a female peer if they were female. Participants were more likely to use reasoning based on personal characteristics when choosing a peer, but female participants who chose a female peer were more likely to use reasoning based on gender. On the attribution task, participants were more likely to choose a non-White peer if they perceived greater STEM connectedness and they were more likely to choose a White or male peer if they had more positive relationships with their STEM teachers.

This study provided a new understanding of how school racial climate and STEM classroom climate influence adolescents’ inclusive behaviors. Students’ perceptions of school racial climate relate to adolescents’ peer inclusion decisions and their perceptions of STEM classroom climate relate to adolescents’ ability attributions. Results suggest the need for educators to focus on creating welcoming environments at both the school level and the classroom level as a way to promote equity in STEM.

Authors

• Angelina Joy, Purdue University, West Lafayette
  Presenting Author

• Channing Jamielle Mathews, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Jacqueline Cerda-Smith, North Carolina State University

• Jerica Knox, North Carolina State University

• Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University