Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are growing fields in both global job markets and educational spaces. The problem related to this study was the lack of understanding of how gender and ethnicity might relate to differences in the science self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and task interest of students who have participated in STEM intervention programs at the middle school level. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the extent to which there were differences between the dependent variables of science self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and task interest in U.S. middle school students based on the independent variables of gender and ethnicity after participating in a citizen science STEM intervention program. Social cognitive career theory was the theoretical framework for the study. This study was a nonexperimental comparative investigation based on survey responses from students who had participated in a water quality, citizen science STEM intervention from 2017-2019. The participating students’ school district has a history of multiple, systemic STEM learning experiences. The results of two-way MANOVA indicated that there were no statistically significant differences in career choice variables between male and female students and between non-Hispanic and Hispanic students after participating in a citizen science intervention program. This study has the potential to help students from underrepresented populations to envision success in their STEM educational and career pathways by seeing other students experience success in those areas. Educators may also be better able to design programs that address the specific needs of underrepresented student populations, which may lead to better student outcomes for those groups.

<div> <div> <div> <p>Outreach initiatives are typically framed as informal learning environments that provide an opportunity to increase the participants’ interest in science. Research on chemistry outreach has primarily focused on designing and implementing demonstrations for outreach. Recent studies indicate student organizations are at the forefront of chemistry outreach, describing their outreach practices and facilitators’ conceptual understanding of demonstrations. Although leadership has been linked to success of groups and organizations, the leadership structure of student organizations is an understudied aspect of chemistry outreach. Here, we conceptualize student organizations participating in chemistry outreach as a community of practice (CoP) with the goal of expanding the chemistry education community’s knowledge of this CoP. Specifically, we aim to characterize leadership styles within the student organization in the context of an outreach event; and, to explore how factors related to diversity and inclusion play a role in boundary processes of the student organization as a CoP. Using a case study approach, we collected multiple sources of data, including the organization’s outreach practices, an assessment of leadership style, observations, and semi-structured interviews. Results indicate leaders of the student organization, particularly those in charge of planning outreach events, displayed behaviors associated with the transactional and laissez-faire leadership styles more frequently than behaviors associated with the transformational leadership style. This study also suggested students’ prior experiences related to gender, race/ethnicity, education and other outreach events play a role in their reasons for doing chemistry outreach, how they contribute to planning of events and how they interact with the audience of outreach events. As a long-term outcome for this study, the results can be used by national organizations to inform the development of new workshops for leadership training, with the purpose of teaching practices to leaders that can bring success to their chapter or local group. </p> </div> </div> </div>

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<p>Since teachers’ referrals involve evaluation of students through sustained observation, comprehensive features of giftedness can be identified. In 2007, a project called Having Opportunities Promotes Excellence (HOPE) was launched at Purdue University with funds from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation (Gentry et al., 2015). This 3-year project aimed to help identify giftedness among low-income and ethnically diverse students and serve these students in advanced programs. To do so, the project team created the <i>HOPE Scale</i> (Gentry et al., 2015), an instrument used by teachers to assess the academic and socioemotional characteristics of gifted students. Previous results from Project HOPE served as the foundation for the current studies. This dissertation is comprised of three related research papers investigating the <i>HOPE Scale</i> as an equitable measure for identifying underrepresented students for the gifted services. Following are the purpose and research questions for each of these related studies.</p><p></p><h3><a></a><a>Study 1: Validity Evidence for the <i>HOPE Scale</i> to Identify Gifted Students from Low-Income and Multicultural Families in Korea</a> </h3><div><a></a></div><p></p><h3><a></a><a>Study 2: Exploring Individual and Classroom Characteristics on Students’ Outcome Scores from the <i>HOPE</i> Teacher Rating Scale</a></h3><div><a></a><h3><a></a><a></a><a>Study 3: The Relationship between Students’ Academic Achievement and the <i>HOPE</i> Teacher-rating Scale: Exploration to Equitably Identify Underrepresented Gifted Students</a></h3><br></div>

The identification of reliable predictors of early academic achievement is imperative for the retention and graduation of all nursing students, and particularly underrepresented minority (URM) students. Students with a high sense of academic self-efficacy exhibit greater persistence and interest in their academic performance, a premise that led to this investigation of self-efficacy as a variable affecting early academic success among baccalaureate nursing students. The purpose of this study was to (a) to determine if a significant relationship existed between academic self-efficacy and successful progression for first semester baccalaureate nursing students in general and URM students specifically, (b) determine the predictive ability of academic self-efficacy on progression, and (c) determine if ethnicity moderates the predictive effect of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy theory, which is grounded in social cognitive theory, was the framework for this study. A cross-sectional, descriptive research design was employed utilizing the College Academic Self-Efficacy Survey (CASES). Correlational analysis and logistic regression were conducted to test the hypotheses. Demographic variables were analyzed regarding their relationship to academic self-efficacy. Although statistical analysis did not support any of the proposed hypotheses, a statistically significant relationship was demonstrated between academic self-efficacy and overall GPA, which, for this population, may have implications for retention. Age and transferring from a four-year institution were significant predictors of progression for this population. Although this study was limited by its lack of generalizability and small sample size, further research related to the effects of academic self-efficacy on academic success are warranted

Racial minorities, women, and people with disabilities are underrepresented in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Attitude towards science has been shown to be a reliable predictor of science achievement. Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been shown to improve attitude towards a topic. The sample selected consisted of 113 African American high school students (68% to 32% female to male ratio) from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. A quasi-experimental research design which consisted of pre and post intervention measures of participants’ attitudes towards science was utilized in this study. Overall, Phase 1, a week-long residential camp, saw greater increases with direct respect to time or gender due to the immersive nature of the camp, whereas Phase 2, an eight week long outreach, saw a more complex interaction of the two factors. PBL was shown to be an effective method of instruction to reach African American and women populations.

The Mississippi State University leaderSTATE STEM program provides a variety of experiences for Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) high school cadets across three states: Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana, the majority from underrepresented demographic populations. LeaderSTATE STEM offers 5-day residential summer camps (N=6) for over 300 students annually. The camps utilize a variety of geosciences STEM activities to increase students' awareness of science and opportunities in geoscience careers. To evaluate the effectiveness of student attitudes towards science, the Test of Science Related Attitudes (TOSRA) instrument was used to ascertain changes in attitudes about science and society. Paired pre-post TOSRA survey results from 2014-2017 camp cycles (N= 1141 students) were analyzed for race, gender, and school correlations. Chi square analysis revealed only a scattered statistical improvement throughout the data (p = 0.05). More research is needed to determine whether the 5-day experience is too limited to result in high school students' attitudinal changes towards science, or whether the TOSRA instrument provides an appropriate assessment for the leaderSTATE STEM camps. A secondary assessment instrument was employed pre- and post-camp to ascertain the abilities of the students in their interpretation of graphically displayed data. That instrument assessed changes in the students' abilities in understanding basic data terminology and interpretation of data shown on graphs. Assessment was performed with a pre-camp - post-camp survey and analysis of change determined with a paired t-test with Cohen's d to determine effect size. A significant p value below 0.05 was determined for only one of six camps in 2016, and for three of six camps in 2017. In both years, Cohen's d effect size was small for two of six camps annually, and medium for all other camps. A follow-on weather data project was developed for, and implemented with, the students in the JROTC programs in the seven schools in the Jackson, Mississippi school district. That month-long project was an extension of topics introduced in the leaderSTATE summer camp program. Two schools performed well in both years of the project, two schools performed in the mid-range, and three schools underperformed in both years of the project.

First-generation students are frequently underrepresented minoritized (URM), low-income students (Douglas, 2019; Postsecondary National Policy Institute [PNPI], 2021). They are often highly motivated (Haney, 2020) but frequently experience unique or exacerbated challenges in post-secondary education (Moore et al., 2018; Soria et al., 2020). These challenges may continue into online spaces. In the first paper of this dissertation, we performed a scoping literature review and uniquely identified and categorized the challenges of these students in the online environment. We placed these challenges within the model of student engagement by Borup et al. (2020) to offer theoretical perspective for potentially better student support. In the second paper of this dissertation, we captured the experience of a partnership between a university and nonprofit organization, formed to improve the support of first-generation and URM undergraduate student success. Through semistructured interviews of eight university and nonprofit representatives, we found a reflection of best practices and student needs, as well as perspectives on how partnerships can collaboratively support student success. In the third paper of this dissertation, through semistructured interviews, we explored the perspectives of 12 first-generation and URM undergraduate students experiencing a unique set of supportive interventions. These student perspectives are essential to ensure not only that student support programs are optimal, but also to make certain that institutions avoid no-impact, low-impact, or even negative-impact interventions.

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This study focused on the self-efficacy and experiences described by a purposively sampled case (n = 8) of high school-aged underrepresented minority women (URMW) as they entered the medical career pipeline through their participation in a formal medical pipeline program. The study was framed by three theories: intersectionality, positionality, and self-efficacy. Research questions were analyzed qualitatively, using case study methods, and quantitatively, using a paired sample t-test. Study data revealed that participants came into the program with high levels of self-efficacy in several self-efficacy factors. Yet, participants in the pipeline program made significant improvements in their self-assertive efficacy. Analysis of other data revealed that students remained motivated and persisted in the pursuit of their aspirations in spite of challenges they encountered because of their ethnicities and gender. Also, students described a lack of engagement with science courses, indicated poor relationships with science instructors, and revealed inadequate understanding of important high science content that, along with ethnic and gendered factors, caused them to negatively position themselves in science. This study provides valuable information to K-12 science educators, medical education institutions, and policy makers concerned with extending science education and healthcare-related career opportunities to minority women.