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1. Drawing on Internal Strengths and Creating Spaces for Growth: How Black Science Majors Navigate the Racial Climate at a Predominantly White Institution to Succeed

   https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.21-02-0049  

   Stanton, Julie Dangremond; Means, Darris R.; Babatola, Oluwadamilola; Osondu, Chimezie; Oni, Omowunmi; Mekonnen, Birook (March 2022, CBE—Life Sciences Education)

   Brame, Cynthia (Ed.)

   To support Black students in earning undergraduate science degrees, faculty need to understand the mechanisms that Black students use to succeed. Following an anti-deficit achievement approach, we used the community cultural wealth framework to investigate the strengths that Black undergraduates bring to their science majors. Community cultural wealth consists of capital or “knowledge, skills, abilities, and contacts” that students of color can use in their education. Through participatory action research, we studied academically successful Black science majors in the final year of their undergraduate degrees at a research-intensive predominantly white institution (PWI; n = 34). We collected data using a demographic survey and two semistructured interviews. Three themes emerged from content and thematic analysis. First, Black science majors use their capital to navigate the racial climate at a PWI. Second, Black students use internal strengths as capital to succeed in their science majors at a PWI. Third, Black science majors create virtual and physical spaces where they can share their capital and thrive at a PWI. We use our results to offer suggestions for researchers and instructors who want to take action to support the success of Black science majors. 

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2. Streamlining a community college pathway for Mississippi geologists: Progress, potential—and persistence

   Clary, R.M.; Owen Nagel, A.; & Shows, E. (February 2023, Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences)

   Tucci, M. (Ed.)

   Since 2019, online introductory physical and historical geology lecture/laboratory courses have been available to all Mississippi community college students through the Mississippi Virtual Community College consortium. Funded through an NSF IUSE GEOPAths program, the Geo-SPARCC courses begin each unit with Mississippi examples for student geographic relevance. Not only do the GLY courses fulfill a physical science requirement for students, but they also reintroduce geoscience content that most Mississippi students have not been exposed to since 8th grade. Since many geology majors accidentally learn about geoscience majors and career opportunities, an introduction to geological content at the community college level may help to recruit students to the discipline sooner. An early challenge to the Geo-SPARCC project was that the GLY courses were not widely known beyond their host institution; enrolled students further noted that their advisors enrolled them or told them to take specific courses. Additionally, early GLY student enrollment did not reflect the demographics of the Mississippi community college population, and the pandemic resulted in the forced cancellation of field excursions for 4 semesters/2 years. As the Geo-SPARCC project concludes, progress has been made: 1) Through outreach, community college advisors have been made aware of the online geology course options; 2) GLY student demographics now reflect the Mississippi community college population; and 3) Field excursion opportunities are again available for community college students. Persistence is needed by professional geologists and 4-year institutions to maintain awareness of geology course options at the community college level, and geoscience career opportunities for those who choose to pursue a geology or environmental science degree. 

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3. Persistence of African American Females in Engineering: The Mathematics Identity Factor.

   McKoy, T.L.; Beane, C.D.; Oyeteju, M.O.; Hammond, M.S.; Hargrove, S.K (January 2020, Urban education research and policy annuals)

   null (Ed.)

   To continue as global science and technological leaders, the United States is motivated to create a diverse, engineering workforce. One way of diversifying the engineering workforce is to address the disparity of women engineers. Although concerted efforts to improve retention rates of women in engineering are ongoing, women have earned only 5.6% of all undergraduate engineering degrees, with only 1% attributed to African American women (NSF, 2015b). African American women are commonly included in racial or gender-focused studies on persistence; however, few studies assess the effect of multiple identities to persistence. This exploratory study examined the relationship of persistence, measured by intent to persist, to multiple identities (social, professional, and racial) of African American female engineering students. Forward regression analyses were conducted and results indicated that the participant’s mathematical identities were more salient to them than their racial or gender identities. Also, the values these women placed on being an engineer and belonging to the group were principal aspects of their professional identity. Additionally, negative affect and stereotype threat were found significant predictors of intent to persist. 

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4. “Overview of Policies and Programs for Black Students in Engineering.”

   Brawner, Catherine; Mobley, Catherine; Brent, Rebecca; Orr, Marisa; Rucks, Maya; Waters, Cynthia (April 2019, Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity)

   In this work in progress, we use Lee and Matusovich’s model of co-curricular support (MCCS) and the recruitment aspect of the Building Engineering and Science Talent (BEST) framework to investigate the policies, programs, and activities for, and recruitment and retention of, underrepresented students at four institutions. These four colleges of engineering are in the top 15 nationally in engineering bachelors’ degrees conferred on Black students. This information will provide background for a mixed-methods study on the choice, persistence, and attrition of Black students in computer, electrical, and mechanical engineering and is a critical first step to contextualize the student experiences to be revealed in individual interviews. We use publicly available information from web-based and other resources as well as interviews with key informants on each campus to ascertain the programs that are available on each campus and categorize them using the MCCS and BEST frameworks. This study lays the groundwork for future institutional data analysis and interviews with Black students currently or formerly enrolled in computer, electrical or mechanical engineering to uncover what causes them to enroll and persist in or leave these majors. Keywords: Race/ethnicity, undergraduate programs, support programs, MIDFIELD 

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5. Self-efficacy, mindfulness, and self-compassion as predictors of math anxiety in undergraduate students

   https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2022.2054740  

   Leppma, Monica; Darrah, Marjorie (March 2022, International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology)

   Many undergraduate students avoid mathematics classes due to math anxiety. This curtails options, particularly STEM majors where workers are needed and jobs are prevalent. This study aimed to investigate whether self-efficacy, mindfulness, and self-compassion predicted math anxiety. Participants of this study were undergraduate students (N = 345) from the Mathematics Department at a large Southeastern U.S. university. There was a significant difference in math anxiety scores between students pursuing STEM and non-STEM degrees. Non-STEM majors had higher scores on a measure of math anxiety. Hierarchical multiple regression results suggested that self-efficacy and self-compassion predicted math anxiety. There was a significant correlation, but not a predictive relationship, between mindfulness and math anxiety. 

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