Conference Session

Diversity, Inclusion, and Access

Collection

2021 Illinois-Indiana Regional Conference

Authors

Samuel Darko; Gurcan Comert; Jessica Furrer, Benedict College; Andress Carter-Sims, Benedict College; Balaji Iyangar, Benedict College

Tagged Topics

Diversity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Access

60second-semester STEM students at Benedict College. We conducted a mixed-methods study toexamine the impact of a learning community model (the Benedict College Scientific Village),fused with critical pedagogy and hands-on laboratory research, on the collegiate success andretention of minority students in the STEM disciplines (Pantiwati, 2013). By introducing thismodel to students early in their college careers, we anticipated that various psychosocial and socio-economical impediments to student learning, retention, and academic success would beminimized. We confirmed that the Scientific Village model has a significant impact on theachievement, retention, and self-efficacy of STEM students at a small, historically Black college.The model and