Female, Black, Latinx, Native American, low-income, and rural students remain underrepresented among computer science undergraduate degree recipients. Along with student, family, and secondary school characteristics, college organizational climate, curricula, and instructional practices shape undergraduates’ experiences that foster persistence until graduation. Our quasi-experimental project, Improving the Persistence and Success of Students from Underrepresented Populations in Computer Science (I-PASS), is designed to augment students’ persistence until they earn their computer science degree. Drawing on prior research, including Tinto's model of effective institutional actions for retention, I-PASS Scholars—all low-income, female and/or members of underserved demographics groups— receive a four-year scholarship; mentoring, tutoring, advising; and opportunities to integrate into the academic and social life of the campus. Students’ written reflections and attitude surveys suggest I-PASS's components foster their retention by, among other mechanisms, enhancing their computer science identity development and sense of belonging in the major.
IMPROVING SELF-EFFICACY OF FINANCIALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS VIA AUTONOMOUS DESIGN AND BUILD PROJECT
The attrition rate at the undergraduate level for STEM fields is a disappointing 48%, and this is even higher for low-income students. Approximately only 11% of students who identify as low-income earn an undergraduate degree within six years, while 58% of students from higher income backgrounds earn their undergraduate degree within the same timeframe. The high attrition rates coupled with the already existing low enrollment is adversely affecting the country’s economy as the supply of degreed professionals is not keeping up with demand. The academic persistence of a student is a critical factor in determining if a student decides to remain in a certain major or not. Researchers have concluded that enhancing the self-efficacy of a student results improves academic persistence which may positively influence retention. This study investigates the effect of autonomous, project-based learning on self-efficacy for 15 financially disadvantaged students. The learning experience was constructed such that all four sources of self-efficacy viz. mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological states were incorporated. Results indicate that the experience had a positive effect on the students’ perceived self-efficacy. Each student believed that these played a major role in the success of the project and that their success was very much deserved.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2030615
- PAR ID:
- 10391186
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Paper American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- ISSN:
- 0402-1215
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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