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1. Promoting Neurodiversity in Engineering Through Specialized Outreach Activities for Pre-college Students

   Syhara, Constance M.; Hain, Alexandra; E. Zaghi, Arash (December 2020, Journal of higher education theory and practice)

   While a large body of literature suggests that students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) possess significant creative and risk-taking potential, they remain highly underrepresented in engineering programs. High school students with ADHD have significantly lower GPAs and are over eight times more likely to drop out than their peers without ADHD, which makes them significantly less likely to enter college engineering programs. To support the development of a more diverse engineering pipeline, this work summarizes outreach efforts to high school and middle school students with ADHD with the intention of boosting self-esteem and increasing interest in engineering. 

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2. Problematizing Perceptions of STEM Potential: Differences by Cognitive Disability Status in High School and Postsecondary Educational Outcomes

   https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023121998116  

   Shifrer, Dara; Mackin Freeman, Daniel (January 2021, Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World)

   The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) potential of youth with cognitive disabilities is often dismissed through problematic perceptions of STEM ability as natural and of youth with cognitive disabilities as unable. National data on more than 15,000 adolescents from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 first suggest that, among youth with disabilities, youth with medicated attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have the highest levels of STEM achievement, and youth with learning or intellectual disabilities typically have the lowest. Undergraduates with medicated ADHD or autism appear to be more likely to major in STEM than youth without cognitive disabilities, and youth with autism have the most positive STEM attitudes. Finally, results suggest that high school STEM achievement is more salient for college enrollment than STEM-positive attitudes across youth with most disability types, whereas attitudes are more salient than achievement for choosing a STEM major. 

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3. STEM Pathways of Rural and Small-Town Students: Opportunities to Learn, Aspirations, Preparation, and College Enrollment

   https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X211027528  

   Saw, Guan K.; Agger, Charlotte A. (June 2021, Educational Researcher)

   null (Ed.)

   Using the nationally representative High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), this study documents that rural and small-town students were significantly less likely to enroll in postsecondary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree programs, compared with their suburban peers. This study also shows that schools attended by rural and small-town students offered limited access to advanced coursework and extracurricular programs in STEM and had lower STEM teaching capacity. Those opportunities to learn in STEM were linked to the widening geographic gaps in STEM academic preparation. Overall, our findings suggest that during high school rural and small-town students shifted away from STEM fields and that geographic disparities in postsecondary STEM participation were largely explained by students’ demographics and precollege STEM career aspirations and academic preparation. 

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4. Long-Term Outcomes of RET Programs on Female and Minority Student High School Graduation Rates and Undergraduate STEM Major Rates (Fundamental)

   Nichol, C.; Crawford, C. A.; Barr, C.; Cerda, I. (January 2021, ASEE Annual Conference proceedings)

   null (Ed.)

   Research Experience for Teachers (RET) programs are National Science Foundation (NSF) funded programs designed to provide K- 12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers with immersive, hands-on research experiences at Universities around the country. The NSF RET in nanotechnology encourages teachers to translate cutting-edge research into culturally relevant Project-Based Learning (PjBL) and engineering curriculum. Traditionally, the evaluation of RET programs focuses on the growth and development of teacher self-efficacy, engineering content knowledge gains, or classroom implementation of developed curriculum materials. However, reported methods for evaluating the impact of RETs on their female, minority student populations' high school graduation and undergraduate STEM major rates are limited. This study's objective was to compare RET high school student graduation rates and undergraduate STEM major rates across gender, race, and ethnicity to a comparison sample to determine the RET program's long-term impact on students' likelihood of pursuing STEM careers. The approach of collecting and analyzing the Texas Education Research Center Database (EdRC) data is a novel methodology for assessing RET programs' effectiveness on students. The EdRC is a repository of K-12 student data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and Higher Education data from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). This joint database contains demographic, course registration, graduation, standardized testing, and college major, among others, for all students that attended a K-12 public school in Texas and any college in Texas, public or private. The RET program participants at Rice University (2010 – 2018) taught numerous students, a sample size of 11,240 students. A propensity score matching generated the student comparison group within the database. Students' school campus, gender, race/ethnic status, and English proficiency status were applied to produce a graduation comparison sample size of 11,240 students of Non-RET participants. Linking the TEA database to the THECB database resulted in college STEM participants and comparison sample sizes of 4,029 students. The project team conducted a logistic regression using RET status to predict high school graduation rates as a whole and by individual variables: gender, Asian American, Black, Caucasian, and Latinx students. All models were significant at p less than 0.05, with models in favor of students RET teachers. The project team conducted a logistic regression using RET status to predict student STEM undergraduate major rates as a whole and by individual variables: Gender, Asian American, Black, Caucasian, and Latinx students. African American and Caucasian models were significant at p less than 0.05; Gender, Asian American, and Latinx models were marginally significant (0.05 less than p greater than 0.1), where RET students had higher STEM major rates than matched controls. The findings demonstrate that RET programs have a long-term positive impact on the students' high school graduation rates and undergraduate STEM major rates. As teachers who participate in the RET programs are more likely to conduct courses using PjBL strategies and incorporate real-world engineering practices, female and minority students are more likely to benefit from these practices and seek careers utilizing these skills. 

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5. Pay Attention to Inattention: Exploring ADHD Symptoms in a Sample of Underachieving Gifted Students

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986219901320  

   McCoach, D. Betsy; Siegle, Del; Rubenstein, Lisa DaVia (April 2020, Gifted Child Quarterly)

   Much has been written about the relationship of giftedness and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as the relationship between ADHD and underachievement. The present study examined whether students who were identified as gifted underachievers were more likely to manifest symptoms of ADHD, as measured by the ADHD-IV. Over half of the gifted underachievers met the screening criteria for ADHD based on teacher reports, and almost 30% of the gifted underachievers met the screening criteria for ADHD based on parent reports. Most of these students had elevated scores on the inattention scale. The prevalence of inattention was over 2 times as high as the prevalence in the norming sample using the teacher rating scales and over 5 times as high as the prevalence in the norming sample using the parent rating scales. Although parents and teachers rated students similarly on the hyperactivity scale, teachers rated students as more inattentive than parents did. However, elevated parent ratings of inattention negatively predicted students’ self-regulation, goal valuation, and self-efficacy. Self-regulation was most strongly related to inattention. We cannot know whether the gifted underachievers with high inattention scores have undiagnosed ADHD. However, our results suggest that a substantial percentage of gifted underachievers exhibit attentional problems at home, and that these attentional problems are severe enough to merit further examination. 

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