<p>Black women’s underrepresentation in STEM disciplines remains an urgent problem of major concern in higher education institutions across the United States. The purpose of this investigation was to explore Black women’s experiences in an active learning STEM Human Centered Design course at a Predominantly White Institution. It also examined how these experiences influenced Black women’s intent to persist in STEM educational pathways. Black Feminist Thought Theoretical Framework was used to conceptualize and interpret the experiences of five Black female first year undergraduate students at a Predominantly White Institution in the Midwestern region of the United States. This qualitative case study research utilized semi structured interviews, direct observations, and documents to gather and triangulate data for this study. The findings from this study revealed that: (a) <i>Imposter Syndrome: An Enduring Internalized Question of Competency, </i>(b) <i>Undermining of Academic Abilities</i>: <i>Cross Examination of Intellect,</i> (c) <i>Lack of Diversity: A Colorless Norm,</i> (d) <i>Isolation: Intrinsic Sensitivity of Separation from Others</i> were the salient experiences facing these five undergraduate Black women. This investigation contributes to the dearth of scholarship on Black women in STEM by highlighting their undergraduate experiences in a STEM course, and describing ways to ensure their persistence towards STEM educational pathways.</p>

<p>This study investigated high-achieving and non-high-achieving students’ persistence in STEM fields using nationally representative data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 for the years 2009, 2012, 2013, 2013-2014, and 2016. The results indicated that approximately 70% of high-achieving and non-high-achieving students continued their initial STEM degrees within 3 years of college enrollment. The study revealed that the most important predictors of STEM persistence were: math proficiency level, school belonging, school engagement, school motivation, school problems, science self-efficacy, credits earned in computer sciences, GPA in STEM courses, credits earned in STEM courses, and credits earned in Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate (AP/IB) courses. Based on the results, math proficiency was the most important variable in the study for both high-achieving and non-high-achieving students. Even though credits earned in AP/IB combined were among the most important variables, they were two times more important for high-achieving students (6.86% vs. 3.37%). Regarding demographic information related variables, socioeconomic status was the most important variable among gender, ethnicity, and urbanicity in models predicting STEM persistence and had higher importance for non-high-achieving students. Furthermore, Hispanic students' proportion of persistence differed from other underrepresented populations’ persistence. Non-high-achieving Hispanic students had the highest persistence rate, similar to well-represented populations (i.e., White, Asian). Machine learning methods used in the study including random forest and artificial neural network provided good accuracy for both achievement groups. Random forest accuracy was over 82% with the Synthetic Minority Over-Sampling Technique (SMOTE) dataset, while artificial neural network accuracy was over 92%.</p>

Many students who enter a STEM track in college move out of that track before graduation (National Science Foundation, 2018). The purpose of this study was to assess whether there was a difference in STEM-related major persistence for population proportions of students actively involved in the Science Scholars program and those who were STEM-interested but not program participants. This program oriented students to the STEM program, facilitated engagement with peers and faculty, exposed students to research opportunities, and filled in potential learning gaps (Gibson et al., 2019). The questions guiding the current research included: Q1. Was there a statistically significant difference in STEM science persistence at College A when comparing Science Scholars students to STEM students who were not Science Scholars Program members? Q2. Was added support needed to encourage STEM persistence for College A STEM students? Q3. Is there a STEM persistence advantage to being in Science Scholarsversus being a STEM-interested student outside of the program? The researcher used disaggregated tally sheets to quantify the proportion of students who persisted in a STEM-related major in low, medium, and high ACT score ranges on the overall ACT Composite, as well as on the Math and Science portions of the ACT in both the STEM Scholars group and the STEM-interested group. The analysis of the program derived from the engagement theory framework that related social and academic involvement as a driver for student persistence. The basis for relationships analysis was the score ranges of each group and persistence in a STEM major after the second and third semesters of college. The results revealed that the proportion of students persisting in a STEM-related major to the second and third semesters of college was greater for those high achieving ACT test groups when they were members of the STEM Scholars program. Students who scored in the mid and low ranges of ACT test takers were not more likely to persist in the STEM Scholars group than those in the STEM-interested group. The support and engagement themes emerged from the analysis of data. Students who were socially and academically engaged and supported academically were more likely to persist in STEM-related majors.

The underrepresentation of women of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remains a critical issue. Uneven academic preparation and lack of interest have been cited as common factors associated with low participation and degree attainment rates among women of color in STEM; however, these factors do not adequately explain why women with academic achievement and interest comparable to their white, male peers pursue and attain STEM degrees at disproportionately low rates. Identity has been found to be a useful lens to understand why and how women of color pursue and attain STEM degrees and subsequent career goals. Viewing the challenges women of color face as a result of being in a "double bind"-both female and non-white -can enable scholars and practitioners alike to better understand how they navigate trajectories towards their career and other personal goals. Specifically, forms of capital that women of color access because of, and not in spite of, their identity have been found to provide means for women of color to successfully achieve their goals. This study uses ethnographic methods to explore the experiences of early-mid career Latina engineers and the forms of capital they have accessed along their trajectories through undergraduate education in engineering and in the early stages of their engineering-related careers. Findings reveal that Latinas draw upon multiple forms of science-related social and cultural capital to overcome obstacles related to being female and non-white in a male-dominated field in a U.S. context. The challenge associated with being a Latina is exacerbated in the workplace where "bro" culture is more pervasive than in college; however, an awareness of one's social identity, the "Americanness" of the gender/race gap in STEM, and a desire to make the field of engineering more welcoming for subsequent generations of women motivates study participants to persist. Specifically, women in this study draw strength from personal or inherited experience of struggle along their trajectories through engineering. They face challenges with an awareness that obstacles are part of any journey and have developed both an ability to transform obstacles into inspiration for working harder and an understanding that overcoming them is crucial both to repaying the debt of sacrifice of those who came before and paving the way for those who will come after. "Struggle" is thus a form of capital that women in my study acquired and is worthy of exploration as a distinct theoretical framework for persistence. Overall, findings from this study bear implications for individual supports and institutional transformation required to foster the success of Latinas in engineering as a distinct group as well as women of color in STEM broadly speaking. / Urban Education