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Ethics Case Study Project: Broadening STEM Participation by Normalizing Immersion of Diverse Groups in Peer to Near Peer Collaborations

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Conference

2024 South East Section Meeting

Location

Marietta, Georgia

Publication Date

March 10, 2024

Start Date

March 10, 2024

End Date

March 12, 2024

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45523

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45523

Download Count

31

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Paper Authors

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Brian Aufderheide Hampton University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0001-9251-4516

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Dr. Brian Aufderheide is Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering at Hampton University. He completed his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His areas of expertise are in advanced control, design, and modeling of biomedical, chemical and biological processes.

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LaNika M. Barnes Albemarle County Public Schools (Charlottesville, Virginia)

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LaNika Barnes, a certified High School Science and Equity Resource Educator in Charlottesville, VA, holds degrees in Environmental Science and Religious Studies from North Carolina Wesleyan College. Prior to her teaching role, she served as an Academic Advisor for undergraduates and worked as a Chemist for a major pharmaceutical company. LaNika's expertise lies in STEM education, specifically biological and environmental sciences, and she excels in student support research, project management, and Culturally Responsive Teaching methods. Committed to fostering inclusive learning environments, she is passionate about empowering students and promoting educational equity.

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Otsebele E Nare Hampton University

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Otsebele Nare is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Hampton University, VA. He received his electrical engineering doctorate from Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD, in 2005. His research interests include

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Garrick E. Louis University of Virginia

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Garrick Louis is Associate Professor of Engineering Systems and Environment (ESE), and Associate Professor of Engineering & Society at the University of Virginia. His research investigates local capacity building for sustained access to infrastructure-bas

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Daniel Webster Fairley II 100 Black Men of Central Virginia

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Daniel Fairley II serves as the President of the 100 Black Men of Central Virginia and holds the position of Donor Relations Manager for the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. A dynamic community leader, Daniel orchestrates mentorship programs, manages a significant budget, and spearheads transformative initiatives. With a Master of Education and ongoing certifications, Daniel combines academic expertise with practical leadership. His commitment to community service has earned him accolades, including being selected for the Charlottesville Daily Progress's Distinguished Dozen Award in 2023 and a member of President Obama’s inaugural cohort of 100 Leaders USA at the Obama Foundation. Daniel Fairley II is a catalyst for positive change, embodying visionary leadership and a passion for creating an equitable and empowered future.

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Abstract

To successfully broaden the participation of underrepresented racially minoritized (URM) students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), students from all demographic groups must routinely work together in STEM as a cohesive community. A Mutual Benefit Approach (MBA) is a way to create longstanding partnerships between members of the community, academia, industry, and government to develop equitable opportunities for students from all demographic groups and zip codes to engage together in STEM. One of the primary objectives for MBA is to provide a continuous series of immersions in deliberately diverse STEM environments for students from K-12 up through the PhD. This will normalize STEM as a diverse experience for students and build their self-efficacy in STEM. URM students will be prepared to navigate the STEM environment in predominantly white institutions (PWIs), and White students will be prepared to engage with URM students in the PWI environment or in the environment of Minority Serving Institutions if they are enrolled there as students. The MBA also hypothesizes that peer to near-peer interactions are critical for students to progress continuously through all the levels of STEM, from K-12 to the PhD and STEM workforce. This paper discusses one example of a “normalizing immersion” – a team-based case study project in Ethics. The teams consisted of African American high school students, African American undergraduate students from a Historically Black College or University, and predominantly White graduate students from PWI university. Student teams were guided by high school teachers, university faculty members and community mentors – a holistic approach involving STEM in the context of students’ respective communities. The team-based Ethics case study project included visits and campus tours at both universities with opportunities to eat in their dining halls as well as delivering presentations on their work. The paper discusses the methodology employed in the Ethics case study project, as well as planned future work to expand the project and improve it for the next iteration. Overall, the project presentations were outstanding with equal participation of the African American high school students with their college near-peers. Identified areas of improvement include implementation of group contracts as means to synthesize peer to near-peer chemistry, and an early involvement of high school teachers. In addition, the future goal is to plan additional “normalizing immersions” in STEM beyond Ethics. As the MBA collaboration increases, our belief is that students, teachers, mentors, and faculty at the high schools and tertiary institutions will grow more fluent in interacting with each other in a diverse environment, which they would not have been able to accomplish at their respective, less diverse, institutions.

Aufderheide, B., & Barnes, L. M., & Nare, O. E., & Louis, G. E., & Fairley, D. W. (2024, March), Ethics Case Study Project: Broadening STEM Participation by Normalizing Immersion of Diverse Groups in Peer to Near Peer Collaborations Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45523

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