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This work presents the research methods and preliminary results from a pilot study that assesses mentoring approaches used to support racially minoritized students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. There is a national imperative to broaden participation of racially minoritized undergraduates in STEM fields as evidenced by reports and the recent calls for social justice and equity in these fields. In STEM, mentoring has been recognized as a mechanism that can help to support racially minoritized student populations (e.g., persons who identify as Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and American Indian/Alaskan Native). Yet for mentors in higher education, minimal examples exist that detail effective mentoring approaches, strategies, and competencies that support the persistence and success of minoritized mentees in STEM. In better understanding mentoring approaches, we can make visible how to better mentor these populations and help to employ more equitable mentoring participation. The research question guiding this study is: What approaches are used by mentors who help racially minoritized undergraduate mentees persist in STEM fields? Mentoring literature and two theoretical frameworks were leveraged to situate these mentoring experiences. Intersectionality theory is used to explore the role of compounding minoritized identities within the power contexts (i.e., structural, hegemonic, disciplinary, and interpersonal) of higher education. Community cultural wealth is also used as a lens to examine six forms of capital (i.e., family, social, navigational, aspirational, resistant, and linguistic) that may be used in mentoring practices with minoritized students. This paper will present the methods and findings from the pilot study, centering on the development of the team’s interview protocol. This work will provide insights about the piloting process of a larger study as well as initial emergent themes about the approaches and experiences of mentors who mentor minoritized undergraduate students in STEM.
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Coping Strategies of Minoritized Students in STEM Higher Education
Previous research shows that the inherent systemic inequities present in STEM higher education impacts minority participation negatively as evidenced by phenomena like, low sense of belonging, isolation, low self-efficacy, and attrition. Thus, minoritized populations (persons who identify as Black, Latinx, Native Alaskan, Indigenous, or Asian Pacific Islander) have had to overcome many barriers to participation in STEM higher education. In addressing this participation, some research uses deficit frameworks that assume minoritized students lack coping skills (for e.g., how to balance work and classes), and these can be provided for them, for example, through intervention programs. However, there is a general lack of understanding regarding how these students cope from an assets-based lens. This study reports on the coping strategies of 31 minoritized students, and is guided by the research questions: 1) what personal coping mechanisms do minoritized undergraduate students use to navigate STEM fields? and 2) how do mentees leverage assistance from mentors in order to navigate STEM fields? The data was examined through critical race theory and mentoring frameworks. Preliminary results indicate that the participants used various forms of coping strategies including: mentoring, academic support, avoidance/distancing, family, social support, and self-care. These findings can help provide information about mental health resources to support these students, as well as the need for intentional mentoring and advising by faculty and staff. These efforts may have broader implications towards increasing minoritized participation in STEM fields.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1942274
- PAR ID:
- 10563719
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of the Annual American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference
- Date Published:
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Portland, Oregon
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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