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Experiences of a Culturally Responsive Evaluator in Analyzing Scientific Self-Efficacy and Scientific Research Proficiency as Benefits of Summer Research Participation for Underrepresented Minorities
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| Presenter(s):
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| Frances Carter, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, frances2@umbc.edu
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| Abstract:
Low participation and performance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields by underrepresented minorities are widely recognized as major problems. While interventions designed to broaden participation report that one of the key program components, participation in undergraduate research opportunities, results in enhanced student outcomes, little is known about what influences these positive relations. In the current study, an evaluator with lived experiences as a minority and a scientist embeds an undeveloped and sensitive topic with culturally responsiveness. The paper analyzes relations between summer research participation, scientific self-efficacy, and scientific research proficiency. The analysis surveys minority students from several STEM intervention programs that offer undergraduate research opportunities. Participants’ responses on scales are analyzed using factor analysis and regression difference-in-difference to estimate the hypothesized relation. Results from this study will enhance understanding of undergraduate research participation on student outcomes and provide important implications to science education, evaluation, and policy communities.
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Enhancing Minority Representation in the Sciences: Results From the Evaluation of the Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) Programs at Three Universities
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| Presenter(s):
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| Simeon Slovacek, California State University, Los Angeles, sslovac@calstatela.edu
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| Jonathan Whittinghill, California State University, Los Angeles, jwhittinghill@cslanet.calstatela.edu
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| Abstract:
Despite growth in their share of the overall US population, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders remain severely underrepresented in both science career programs and science careers. The Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) programs at the National Institutes of Health have since their inception provided funding to universities to implement strategies and interventions to increase the number of underrepresented minorities earning degrees in the sciences and pursuing research careers in the sciences. This study examines the outcomes of students supported by MORE funded programs at three large minority-serving institutions against those of a comparison group generated through propensity score matching. Results from a pilot study at one of the three universities demonstrated that students in MORE supported programs graduated with science degrees at much higher rate, and were far more likely to pursue advanced study in the sciences.
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