Promoting Undergraduate Student Self-Efficacy in Research through Participation in a Multidisciplinary Science Communication Fellowship

Kamryn G. Zachek; Anjali Mulchandani; Sydney Donohue Jobe

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED) Technical Session 2
Tagged Division: Cooperative and Experiential Education Division (CEED)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47899

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Paper Authors

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Kamryn G. Zachek University of New Mexico

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Kamryn Zachek is a junior undergraduate student at the University of New Mexico studying Economics and Philosophy. She is a Regents scholar and the student lead for the Grand Challenge Water Science Communication fellowship at UNM.

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Anjali Mulchandani University of New Mexico orcid.org/0000-0001-6529-8336

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Dr. Anjali Mulchandani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Mexico. She leads the Environmental Resource Sustainability group, which studies themes related to environmental and water resources engineering, atmospheric water harvesting, waste-to-energy technologies, and environmental remediation. Her work integrates and highlights science communication and community needs-based research. Her passions include designing hands-on learning tools and leading public outreach initiatives for STEM awareness and engagement among all levels of learners.

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Sydney Donohue Jobe University of New Mexico orcid.org/0009-0009-6920-5921 

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Sydney Donohue Jobe works as the Outreach Coordinator and Education Specialist for the Center for Water and the Environment and the Accelerating Resilience Innovations in Drylands Institute at the University of New Mexico. She holds a Master of Water Resources degree from the University of New Mexico and a B.A. in Ecology from the University of Georgia.

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Abstract

The objective of this work is to understand how a multidisciplinary undergraduate science communication fellowship impacts early-stage students' confidence and self-efficacy in research. The Grand Challenges Undergraduate Water Science Communication Fellowship was created at an R1 Hispanic-Serving University in the American Southwest in 2022 and is offered annually in the Spring. The purpose of the Fellowship is to broaden the participation of undergraduate students in research while exposing them to interdisciplinary perspectives. Students are paired with a mentor who is conducting a water-resource related study at the University and are tasked with creating a communication project based on the mentor’s work. Example communication projects include infographics, songs, paintings, posters, time-lapse graphs, 3-D models, ceramics, and animations. Projects are accompanied by an oral presentation, presented at the University’s Undergraduate Research Conference. Participating students and mentors came from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including mechanical engineering, environmental science, political science, international studies, economics, environmental engineering, and computer science. Over the course of a 14-week Spring semester, the students met with their mentors on either a bi-weekly or monthly basis to become familiar with their work and met with a cohort of their peers weekly. Cohort meetings consisted of public speaking exercises, critiques of projects, and collaborative problem solving of issues that arose in individual projects. To determine the impact of the Fellowship on student’s self-efficacy, we conducted pre- and post- participation surveys. Likert-scaled questions were organized into three content groups: confidence, identity, and ownership as a researcher. The mean responses of the cohort were compared to determine if statistical changes occurred in these factors as a result of Fellowship participation. Results showed significant increases in the cumulative confidence responses with more than one standard error increase for the group following the conclusion of the Fellowship. Responses to the confidence block of the post survey questions were also void of any “very unconfident” and “unconfident” results, which were the two most intensely negative response choices offered within the survey. These results suggest that multidisciplinary undergraduate science communication fellowships with a cohort model may increase students’ confidence and self-efficacy in research. Other qualitative successes included participating students continuing their extracurricular involvement in career-focused work following the conclusion of the program. Some students continued their participation in their mentor’s study while others were able to find new projects, internships, and work opportunities through connections made during the program. The next step for this research study is to conduct interviews with the students from prior cohorts to gain additional insight into the potential broader impact of the program on student’s confidence within academia and in preparation for their future profession. We will continue to collect survey data on future cohorts to grow our data set and get a more comprehensive look at the impacts on student self-efficacy. Those outcomes will be used to scale and tailor the program to address additional research topics across disciplines at the University.  

Citation
Format

Zachek, K. G., & Mulchandani, A., & Donohue Jobe, S. (2024, June), Promoting Undergraduate Student Self-Efficacy in Research through Participation in a Multidisciplinary Science Communication Fellowship Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/47899

TY - CPAPER
AB - The objective of this work is to understand how a multidisciplinary undergraduate science communication fellowship impacts early-stage students&#39; confidence and self-efficacy in research. The Grand Challenges Undergraduate Water Science Communication Fellowship was created at an R1 Hispanic-Serving University in the American Southwest in 2022 and is offered annually in the Spring. The purpose of the Fellowship is to broaden the participation of undergraduate students in research while exposing them to interdisciplinary perspectives. Students are paired with a mentor who is conducting a water-resource related study at the University and are tasked with creating a communication project based on the mentor’s work. Example communication projects include infographics, songs, paintings, posters, time-lapse graphs, 3-D models, ceramics, and animations. Projects are accompanied by an oral presentation, presented at the University’s Undergraduate Research Conference. Participating students and mentors came from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including mechanical engineering, environmental science, political science, international studies, economics, environmental engineering, and computer science. Over the course of a 14-week Spring semester, the students met with their mentors on either a bi-weekly or monthly basis to become familiar with their work and met with a cohort of their peers weekly. Cohort meetings consisted of public speaking exercises, critiques of projects, and collaborative problem solving of issues that arose in individual projects. To determine the impact of the Fellowship on student’s self-efficacy, we conducted pre- and post- participation surveys. Likert-scaled questions were organized into three content groups: confidence, identity, and ownership as a researcher. The mean responses of the cohort were compared to determine if statistical changes occurred in these factors as a result of Fellowship participation. Results showed significant increases in the cumulative confidence responses with more than one standard error increase for the group following the conclusion of the Fellowship. Responses to the confidence block of the post survey questions were also void of any “very unconfident” and “unconfident” results, which were the two most intensely negative response choices offered within the survey. These results suggest that multidisciplinary undergraduate science communication fellowships with a cohort model may increase students’ confidence and self-efficacy in research. Other qualitative successes included participating students continuing their extracurricular involvement in career-focused work following the conclusion of the program. Some students continued their participation in their mentor’s study while others were able to find new projects, internships, and work opportunities through connections made during the program. The next step for this research study is to conduct interviews with the students from prior cohorts to gain additional insight into the potential broader impact of the program on student’s confidence within academia and in preparation for their future profession. We will continue to collect survey data on future cohorts to grow our data set and get a more comprehensive look at the impacts on student self-efficacy. Those outcomes will be used to scale and tailor the program to address additional research topics across disciplines at the University.
AU - Kamryn G. Zachek
AU - Anjali Mulchandani
AU - Sydney Donohue Jobe
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Promoting Undergraduate Student Self-Efficacy in Research through Participation in a Multidisciplinary Science Communication Fellowship
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47899
ER -