Many historically minoritized graduate students, here defined as Women, Latinx and Black/African American students, in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) experience unwelcome or even hostile ecosystems or environments. Many of the social expectations are that historically minoritized graduate students in STEM should assimilate or acclimate to the cultural, where assimilation/acclimation are defined as cultural conformation vs. social acceptance of a student authentic self/identity. They may also experience forms of continuous microaggressions and isolation. The effects of chronic external stressors, such as experiencing discrimination and social isolation, on increased mental health disorders and decreased physiological health is well known [1-3]. Yet, evidence-based practices of support systems specifically for graduate students from historically marginalized communities to reduce the effects of climates of intimidation are not common. Indeed, researchers have found that such students “would benefit if colleges and universities attempted to deconstruct climates of intimidation [4]” and it has also been shown that teaching underrepresented minority students empowerment skills can improve academic success [5].
Self-advocacy originates from the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Learning Disabilities (LD) communities for effective counseling that promotes academic success and is based on a social justice framework [6]. The underlying principle of self-advocacy is that supporting skills and knowledge development in the three areas of self-advocacy leads to a student’s long term participation and ultimately academic success in areas such as post-secondary education and STEM. The pillars of the self-advocacy program are centered on (i) Empowerment, (ii) Promoting self-awareness and (iii) Social Justice and programming in the GRaduate Education for Academically Talented Students (GREATS) is aligned and repeated along these three pillars. The current professional development program is in its third year of implementation and to date twenty-seven students have participated in the program. This work in progress paper outlines the evaluation of a self-advocacy program for historically marginalized graduate students in STEM at the University of Illinois Chicago is a minority serving institution as both an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI).
[1] S. Stansfeld and B. Candy, "Psychosocial work environment and mental health--a meta-analytic review," ed, 2006.
[2] E. M. Smith, "Ethnic minorities: Life stress, social support, and mental health issues," The Counseling Psychologist, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 537-579, 1985.
[3] D. M. Frost, K. Lehavot, and I. H. Meyer, "Minority stress and physical health among sexual minority individuals," Journal of behavioral medicine, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2015.
[4] R. T. Palmer, D. C. Maramba, and T. E. Dancy, "A Qualitative Investigation of Factors Promoting the Retention and Persistence of Students of Color in STEM," The Journal of Negro Education, vol. 80, no. 4, pp. 491-504, 2011. [Online]. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41341155.
[5] A. R. Dowden, "Implementing Self-Advocacy Training Within a Brief Psychoeducational Group to Improve the Academic Motivation of Black Adolescents," The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 118-136, 2009/04/28 2009, doi: 10.1080/01933920902791937.
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ATTITUDES TOWARD PROGRAMMING FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES IN UNDERGRADUATE TECHNOLOGYCOURSES THAT USE PAIR PROGRAMMING: A MATCHED SAMPLES APPROACH
To succeed in the 21stcentury, students need to acquire skills that are critical to the workforce such as collaboration, social skills, and technology literacy (World Economic Forum, 2016). Individuals with disabilities (D) must develop the same skills as their peers without disabilities. Unfortunately, college students with disabilities often find computing courses frustrating and are more vulnerable to lower academic self-concept, academic challenges, and disability stigma (Kim & Kutscher, 2021). Although computing disciplines often provide good job opportunities, Students with D who enrolled in computing courses are especially at risk of falling behind and dropping out of introductory programming courses (Richman et al., 2014). To address the problem, we examined the use of pair programming, a collaborative approach to programming, as a pedagogic method to improve students with disabilities’ attitudes toward programming in undergraduate computer courses. There is a need to study effective instructional approaches that can facilitate learning and improve the outcomes of students with D.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1712251
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10354782
- Editor(s):
- Carmo, M.
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The International Conference on Education and New Developments
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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