fields likescience, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). As the U.S. experiences a decline in skilledSTEM workers and a growing number of racial/ethnic minorities, it is critical that more attentionbe paid to the college success of underrepresented populations majoring in STEM. While somestrategies for increasing STEM student success have focused on social-psychological factorssuch as academic self-efficacy and resilience, little attention has been given to these factorsamong specific minority groups in STEM such as Black men. To extend the current literature,interviews with 27 Black male collegians majoring in engineering or engineering-related fieldswere analyzed through the lens of the ‘buoyant believers’ framework. Based on the model
individually and in small groups.Students spend up to six hours a day for five days working on improving their math skills. Veryseldom do students get the opportunity to concentrate all of their efforts on math during theregular semester. To that end, in an effort to describe the effect of Math Jam on participant self-efficacy (the participant’s belief in their capability to complete specific tasks or goals) a self-efficacy instrument was administered as part of the pre- and post-program surveys. Studentswere asked 18 of the 34 question Mathematics Self Efficacy Scale developed by Nancy Betz andGail Hackett to measure student self-efficacy related to math both at the very beginning of MathJam and again on the last day of the program. The questions
levels of interest in engineering, their success andcompletion rates have been low due to a number of factors including low levels of preparationfor college-level work, especially in math; lack of awareness of academic and career options;lack of financial, academic, social and cultural capital needed for success; and lack of self-efficacy (i.e., students do not believe that they can succeed in engineering). To address thesebarriers to student success, Cañada College developed and implemented a number of programs tokeep students engaged and motivated towards achieving their academic goals. Among suchprograms is the Creating Opportunities for Minorities in Engineering, Technology, and Science(COMETS) program. Funded by a four-year grant from NASA
together during various mini projects in-class and duringthe “Independent Study” lab sessions. The mentor/tutor worked with faculty members andstudents to identify topics that were considered to be difficult and reviewed them during theselabs as well. Students were also given the opportunity to study for courses that were not part ofthe SUCCEEd program.Measures of Impact, Preliminary Results and DiscussionAs a part of the SUCCEEd program, we wished to assess both student achievement and otherfactors that may contribute to student success in the program. Achievement was measured viastudents’ grades, tests and quizzes results, and project results. The college self-efficacy (CSE),which refers to the students’ belief that they can succeed in college
self-efficacy, sense of belonging, identification and identityintegration. Often, negative experiences are the result of subtle bias or schemas that all studentsbring with them into their teams, and occur despite the employment of best practices in teamformation.This paper presents a summary of a contemporary understanding of this phenomenon aspresented by several individual researchers covering the fields of stereotype threat, engineeringdesign, teamwork, motivation, and race, gender and their intersections. The content of this paperwas generated by collecting the individual responses of each researcher to a set of promptsincluding: • examples of how students can be marginalized in engineering teamwork and what governing
)changes over time. There have also been several reviews of the literature on mentoring specificto higher education42-45. Reviews by Jacobi43, Roberts45, and Crisp and Cruz44 have yieldedsimilar characterizations to those offered by D’Abate et al. and Eby et al., though all agree that itis difficult to reach a unified definition or a quantitatively validated framework, even within asingle domain such as higher education. Mentoring is, however, consistently linked to academicsuccess (e.g. increased GPA), as well as increases in self-efficacy, integration into thecommunity, retention, career goals, intention to persist and much more. While such broaddefinitions and outcomes provide important starting points for understanding mentoring inengineering
needs of underrepresented students. The project design is grounded ineducational theories including retention/integration, cumulative advantage, engagement, andconstructivism. It incorporates established best practices for working with URM students such asSTEM identity formation through experiential programs including student research andinternships, a focus on critical junctures, training of faculty and staff to enhance culturalcompetency, and building of academic integration and STEM self-efficacy. An extensiveevaluation plan designed around the project logic model will be used as the basis for projectassessment. This paper includes a description of the project, partner institutions, and first yearresearch and evaluation results.Introduction
pursuits: first year, mid-tenure (three to four years), and final year as an assistantprofessor. They determined that there exist unique challenges at each phase. First year professorscontended with the challenges of gendered and racial isolation. Mid-tenure faculty challengesconsisted of self-efficacy and lack of role clarity. Final year tenure track women that departedfrom the academe cited mismatch with their institution on the grounds of social acceptance, self-efficacy, and role clarity25. The researcher correlated social acceptance to isolation, self-efficacyto institutional fit, and role clarity to mentoring. Cultural norms in the engineering academe leadto social isolation for those that do not conform26. Tenure and Promotion
because it is linked to student success and persistence in STEM degrees30,33–39.Students’ self-efficacy in mathematics and science is also related to student success andpersistence in STEM degrees10,20,35,37,40–42.MethodsSelf-Determination TheoryI used Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory of motivation as the theoretical framework formy study. Self-determination theory takes into consideration intrinsic and extrinsicmotivations43–46. ANSEP makes public the extrinsic motives they provide to their high schoolstudents, such as scholarships, to motivate them to complete advanced mathematics and sciencecourses19. Due to ANSEP’s high levels of success at motivating high school students to takeadvanced mathematics and science course19,21,22, ANSEP
colleagues49, mastery goals have been positively associated with how astudent perceives him/her academic ability and self-efficacy. “for me I’m the kind that likes a challenge I like to be in a challenging major,… I know there is a lot of praise in doing engineering, but I don't want the praise to be because I’m a women doing engineering… I know I’m a girl but it shouldn't be Page 26.1291.12 extra amazing it should just be that oh okay you’re doing engineering that's cool but uh it helps cause in my mind yea I can do this and