Impact of Ethnic Studies Courses on the sense of belonging, professional identity, self-efficacy and retention of underrepresented students in STEM

该项目结合了一个旨在扩大STEM参与的研究项目和一个详细的专业发展计划，重点是促进首席研究员从专注于经验依赖可塑性的细胞和网络机制的特定主题过渡到专注于STEM教育研究。该研究项目和专业发展计划将启动一项长期研究计划，重点是将定量和定性方法相结合，以增加STEM中代表性不足的少数民族的招聘和保留。这将通过基于强大的多元统计方法的干预措施的发展和对这些学生所面临的挑战和障碍的深刻理解来实现，并通过结合学生资产模型、学习和记忆的神经生物学以及批判种族理论的理论视角进行研究。专业发展计划包括通过重点合作发展研究设计技能，参加定量和定性研究方法夏季研讨会，旁听/参加定性研究方法和关键种族理论框架课程，并参加会议，重点关注后两个领域，因为它们适用于STEM教育研究。专业发展计划的结果是使首席研究员能够完成一项创新的研究，并发展专业知识，使她能够为STEM教育领域做出重大贡献。研究将采用混合方法来评估墨西哥裔研究课程与未被充分代表的少数民族（URM）学生的归属感、科学认同感和自我效能感之间的关系。以及他们在毕业前坚持STEM专业的可能性。为了实现这一目标，研究者将完成三个目标：(1)评估墨西哥裔美国人研究课程对URM STEM学生的归属感、自我效能感和科学认同之间的关系；(2)评估墨西哥裔美国人研究课程对URM学生在STEM领域的归属感、自我效能感和科学认同的影响；(3)描述URM学生选择墨西哥裔研究课程的原因，以及这些课程对学生经历的总体影响。研究者的长期研究计划侧重于改善对发展STEM职业感兴趣的所有背景和经历的学生的成果。长期研究议程包括记录和描述STEM学生在学术道路上的经历；确定、制定和评估可负担得起的、可扩展的、可对其经历产生重大影响的干预措施；探索生物知识和学习与学生文化的交集。该项目得到了EHR核心研究：STEM教育研究能力建设（ECR:BCSER）竞赛的支持，该竞赛旨在培养个人在STEM学习和学习环境中开展高质量基础STEM教育研究的能力，扩大STEM领域的参与，以及STEM劳动力的发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The project combines a research project aimed at broadening participation in STEM with a detailed professional development plan focused on facilitating the principal investigator's transition from a subject-specific focus on the cellular and network mechanisms of experience-dependent plasticity to a focus on STEM education research. The research project and professional development plan will launch a long-term research program focused on combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to increase recruitment and retention of underrepresented minorities in STEM. This will be achieved through the development of interventions rooted in robust multivariate statistical methods and a deep understanding of the challenges and barriers these students face, examined through a theoretical lens that combines student-asset models, neurobiology pf learning and memory and critical race theory. The professional development plan includes developing research design skills through focused collaborations, attending quantitative and qualitative research methods summer workshops, auditing/taking courses on qualitative research methods and Critical Race Theory frameworks, and attending conferences that focus on these last two areas as they apply to STEM education research. The outcome of the professional development plan is to enable the principal investigator to complete an innovative research study and develop expertise that will allow her to make significant contributions to the field of STEM educationThe research will apply a mixed methods approach to assess the relationship between taking Chicano Studies courses and underrepresented minority (URM) students' sense of belonging, science identity, and self-efficacy, as well as their likelihood to persist in STEM majors until graduation. To achieve this goal, the investigator will complete three objectives: (1) Assess the relationship between taking Chicano Studies courses on the sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and science identity of URM STEM students; (2) Evaluate the impact of taking Chicano Studies courses on the sense of belonging, self-efficacy and science identity of URM students in STEM; and (3) Characterize the reasons why URM students choose to take Chicano Studies courses and the overall impact of these courses on students' experiences. The investigator's long-term research plan focuses on improving outcomes for students of all backgrounds and experiences who are interested in developing careers in STEM. The long-term research agenda includes documenting and characterizing the experiences of STEM students along the academic pathway; identifying, developing, and assessing affordable, scalable, interventions that can have significant impacts on their experiences; and exploring the intersection of biological knowledge and learning with students' cultures.The project is supported through the EHR Core Research: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR:BCSER) competition that is designed to build individuals' capacity to carry out high quality fundamental STEM education research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.