Another purpose of this study is to explore how students' STEM experiences hindered their success in their intended STEM pathways. High school coursework also figured prominently among the factors associated with students' choice of STEM majors. In this section, I discuss notable research suggesting that a variety of STEM structures can influence students' academic trajectories.
Noting the impact that context can have on Black students' participation in STEM learning opportunities, Figueroa et al. 2015) conducted a quantitative study with Black. Researchers in this study examined the participation of 792 black students in educational opportunities that have been linked to persistence in STEM majors. In the following paragraphs, I review salient works from the literature that illustrate that: 1) microaggressions are a regular part of many Black students' college experiences;.
Additional research that provides insight into the experiences of Black college students in targeted STEM pathways (the experiences of both students continuing into and exiting these STEM pathways) includes the work of Solorzano, Ceja, and Yosso (2000). For example, in a study on students' choice of STEM major, Wang (2013) examined influences spanning 3 of the 4 categories in my framework: pre-college influences (high school math achievement), college-academic interactions, and self- mathematics. efficacy beliefs. How undergraduate students of color—who were interested in STEM at college entry—perceive influences on their choice of a STEM or non-STEM major.
How do Black undergraduate students—who were interested in STEM at college entrance—perceive influences on their choice of a STEM or non-STEM
27. courses in high school) and more moment-to-moment experiences (eg, salient interactions in a first-semester chemistry course) somehow coalesce in students' minds and make sense to them as they choose whether will enter and continue into STEM majors. A better understanding of how these different types of influences may come together is a possible outcome of the proposed study.
How did students’ lived experiences in STEM appear to challenge their success in their intended postsecondary STEM pathways?
What are (a) salient themes that emerge across all students’ perceptions and experiences as well as (b) patterns of similarity or difference among students at a
Recall that my research questions involve exploring students' perceptions and experiences regarding their academic choice process and their intended STEM pathways. How Black undergraduate students—interested in STEM upon entering college—perceive influences on their choice of STEM or non-STEM majors. How students' life experiences in STEM fields appear to challenge their success in intended postsecondary STEM pathways.
Each transcript was coded in accordance with two primary analytic goals (corresponding to research questions 1-2, see Table 5): (1) to identify causal influences on students' choice of major (research question 1) and (2) to identify challenges in students' intended STEM pathways (research question 2). These conceptual categories informed the axial coding process in which I generated meaningful themes that addressed how values influenced students' choice of a STEM or non-STEM major (see themes listed in Table 5 ). In answering research question 2, the analysis focused on identifying challenges in students' intended STEM pathways.
Recall that the first question was: How do Black undergraduates—who were interested in STEM upon entering college—perceive the influences on their choice of a STEM or non-STEM major. I present an analysis of the data to address this first research question in the next section, titled "Examining Influences on Student Major Choice." In this section, I first reveal student-identified influences on their choice processes—student influences described as either negatively or positively influencing their persistence in their intended STEM major. I then discuss how students' values appear to influence their choice of STEM or non-STEM majors (see the subsection entitled “Student Values as Influences on the Choice Process”).
An investigation of the influences on student choice of the major influences identified by students on the choice process. Other students—all STEM dropouts—reported negative evaluations of their performance in STEM. Of the five conceptual value categories/themes, not all appeared to consistently influence the student's final choice of academic major.
In the next section, I discuss whether any patterns emerged regarding the role of these values in student choice processes at HBCUs versus the values that appeared to be more closely related to students' ultimate choice of a STEM or non-STEM major (i.e. ., flexibility and freedom, affirming skills and helping others), patterns of similarity and difference between students at both institutions emerged. An Examination of the Challenges to Success in STEM Recall that research question 2 asked: how did students live.
Several themes emerged from the students' responses to the interview questions that probed their experiences in the intended STEM fields.
Although Taylor (HBCU; STEM major), continued on her Computer Science degree, she felt behind her college peers because she had limited access to more in-depth computer classes in high school. Sophia's drive to succeed in STEM is evident in the way she made sacrifices and exercised such initiative to create a calculus club that met before starting high school. Michaela (PWI; non-STEM major) and Andre (PWI; current STEM major) both chose "honors" level high school courses (Chemistry, and Calculus, respectively) over the offered AP level courses in these subjects .
Her perceptions reveal that her introductory college chemistry course was structured in a way (eg, the fast pace) that may have precluded success for students who did not take AP Chemistry in high school. For certain students in this study, introductory courses were not primarily about building a strong foundation; rather, they emphasized that a strong foundation had already been built through privileged access to certain secondary STEM courses and possibly even to expensive supplementary instruction in high school (i.e., tutoring). Furthermore, other students who left STEM identified how pre-college inequalities played a role in the way they were able to negotiate college course expectations.
Sophia attended a high school near PWI that, while a magnet school, did not have sufficient resources to support students in a college preparatory curriculum: of all the AP exams taken by students at her school, only 7% of exams received a passing score (US News & World Report, 2017). Rather than revealing any lack of intelligence on Sophia's part, her experiences indicate that introductory STEM courses at PWI may not have adequately met the needs of diverse students, some of whom did not have equitable access to high school courses in which assessment and grading practices supported a transition to STEM in college. Overall, these students' experiences suggest that the challenges created by the expectations of introductory STEM courses may have confirmed multiple educational inequities that are too often racial in nature: (1) lack of STEM course offerings for advanced high schools; (2) taking STEM courses in high school; and (3) lack of rigor within high school STEM courses.
Consider the issue of students attending high schools that offer limited to no access to AP courses. According to various sources, black high school students are less likely to have access to these courses. 2008) estimates that while “94 percent of Asian American students attend public. Wakelyn (2009) provides another perspective on racial disparities in high school preparation by affirming that although "African-American seniors represent 14 percent of all high school students, they account for only 3.5 percent of students achieving mastery on the AP exam achieved" (p. . 3).
For example, high schools can be considered to “offer an AP program” if at least one student at that high school has taken an AP. Students from HBCUs and PWIs identified the entry expectations of the STEM course as a challenge with which they faced.
However, the barrier of inadequate access to helpful STEM support structures (e.g., supplemental instruction and advising) may pose a greater barrier to the STEM success of certain Black students due to racially unequal access to informal compensatory support structures in STEM. In the following sections, I first describe students' experiences with the barriers to a lack of useful instructional and counseling support. Students' challenging experiences with accessing STEM support highlighted a lack of helpful instruction and guidance.
Intersecting systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism) reached some students' experiences in postsecondary STEM contexts in the form of microaggressions, particularly microinsults (e.g., Sue et al., 2007). While these female students' accounts of microinsults may have been examples of racial discrimination, they also seemed undeniably sexist, at least in part: In this study, I wanted to examine Black students' academic choice processes regarding their choice of a STEM or non-STEM field. major, as well as their experiences in their intended postsecondary STEM pathways.
In particular, my results revealed some subtle ways that marginalizing structures reached into students' experiences of them. Findings from this study indicate that in some students' experiences, it appeared that faculty advisors were. While this study revealed some of the ways in which marginalizing structures affected the experiences of students of color in STEM, it also highlights the tension between (a) students' agency as they made choices about their postsecondary pathways on the one hand, and (b )
As is the case in other research on URM students in STEM, the tension between student agency and structural barriers is difficult to resolve. In an upcoming section, I provide suggestions on how STEM programs can address structural barriers (for example, how STEM could adopt a more equitable approach) and ways in which student agency can be supported (for example, by inviting students to have a voice in their learning and to express their values in STEM courses). Compared to my 31 students, other studies have obtained more than 40 participants to examine the experiences of African American STEM students (i.e., Moore, 2006).
Finally, my participants were not as diverse in some ways that could be useful in providing a broader view of the phenomenon of Black students' choices and experiences regarding intended STEM pathways. STEM faculty and other instructors could benefit from training to support their recognition of the myriad ways that intersecting systems of oppression can reach into students' experiences. Strategies to empower students in STEM could target students' “self-definition [and] self-evaluation” (Collins, 2000, p. 201).
Research Question 2 and its associated interview probes reflect the fact that the empirical and theoretical literature provides a wealth of knowledge about what likely influences some Black students' intended pathways into STEM.
