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1. Constructing STEM identity: An expanded structural model for STEM identity research

   https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21734  

   Dou, Remy; Cian, Heidi (November 2021, Journal of Research in Science Teaching)

   Abstract Identity development frameworks provide insight into why and to what extent individuals engage in STEM‐related activities. While studies of “STEM identity” often build off previously validated disciplinary and/or science identity frameworks, quantitative analyses of constructs that specifically measure STEM identity and its antecedents are scarce, making it challenging for researchers or practitioners to apply a measurement‐based perspective of participation in opportunities billed as “STEM.” In this study, we tested two expanded structural equation models of STEM identity development, building off extensions of science and disciplinary‐identity frameworks, that incorporated additional factors relevant to identity development: gender, ethnicity, home science support, parental education, and experiencing science talk in the home. Our models test theorized relationships between interest, sense of recognition, performance‐competence, and identity in the context of STEM with undergraduate students (N = 522) enrolled in introductory STEM courses at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Our findings support our measurement of STEM identity and its indicators, providing researchers with a predictive model associated with academic intentions across disciplinary domains in STEM. Further, our expanded model (i.e., Model I+) indicates significant contributions of participant gender, which has a larger indirect effect on STEM identity (β = 0.50) than the direct effect of STEM interest (β = 0.29), and of home support in relation to performance‐competence in academic contexts. Our model also posits a significant contribution of family science talk to sense of recognition as a STEM person, expanding our understandings of the important role of the home environment while challenging prior conceptions of science capital and habitus. We situate our results within a broader discussion regarding the validity of “STEM identity” as a concept and construct in the context of communities often marginalized in STEM fields. 

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2. Using Financial Support to Create a Learning Community Among Diverse Community College STEM Students

   Enriquez, A. G.; Lipe, C. B. (June 2012, ASEE annual conference & exposition)

   Although many California Community College students from underrepresented groups enter college with high levels of interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the majority of them drop out or change majors even before taking transfer-level courses due to a variety of reasons including financial difficulties, inadequate academic preparation, lack of family support, poor study skills, and inadequate or ineffective academic advising and mentoring. In 2009, Cañada College, a federally designated Hispanic-serving institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, received a National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) grant to develop a scholarship program for financially needy community college students intending to transfer to a four-year institution to pursue a bachelor’s degree in a STEM field. In collaboration with the College’s Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA) program – an academic, personal, and professional support structure has been designed and implemented to maximize the likelihood of success of these students. This support structure aims to create a learning community among the scholars through a combination of academic counseling and mentoring, personal enrichment and professional development opportunities, and strong academic support services. This paper describes how faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, student organizations, and partners in industry, four-year institutions, and professional organizations can be involved in creating an academic infrastructure that promotes academic excellence, leadership skills, and personal and professional growth among the diversity of financially needy STEM students in a community college. 

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3. Is the “E” in Engineering for Entrepreneurship? An Emerging Concept of Entrepreneurial Engineering Identity

   Benjamin, L. S.; & Henderson, J. A.; & Hines, E. M (January 2022, 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference)

   The topic of engineering identity is neither new nor complete in its coverage within current literature. In fact, although this body of work predates the last ten years, researchers have argued that some of the most significant burgeoning in this area has occurred in the last decade. By applying both quantitative and qualitative lenses to this inquiry, researchers have concluded that, much like a STEM identity, an engineering identity describes how students see themselves, their competence and potential for success in the academic and career context of the field. To further examine the latter component i.e. potential for academic and career success, we attend to an emerging concept of an entrepreneurial engineering identity. This preliminary work unfolded organically; the authors’ primary goal involved a larger Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study that investigated persistence and advanced degree aspirations among 20 Black male engineering undergraduate students from a variety of institutional settings. While we did not intentionally seek to examine this emerging component of engineering identity, our preliminary analysis of participants’ interview data led us down this path. What we observed was a latent phenomenon of interest among participants: these Black male engineering undergraduates recurringly articulated clear intentions for academic and career opportunities that integrated business components into their engineering realities. Kegan’s (1984, 1994) Theory of Meaning-Making provided a framework for understanding how participants perceived the development of business acumen as a strategy for ascending existing corporate/organizational structures, creating new business pathways, and promoting corporate social responsibility. Based on these findings, authors were inspired to explore the conceptual development of an entrepreneurial engineering identity and its practical application to engineering degree (re)design, student academic advisory and career planning. 

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4. The Mathematical Autobiographies of College Faculty Participating in a Quantitative Reasoning Faculty Development Program: Stories of Trauma and Triumph

   Wilder, Esther Isabelle; West, Rebecca K (November 2024, Adults learning mathematics)

   This study evaluates the mathematical autobiographies of college and university faculty in order to identity (1) barriers that hinder success in mathematics, especially among groups underrepresented in STEM, and (2) strategies to reduce existing inequalities and promote effective pedagogy in both mathematics and quantitative reasoning (QR) education. From 2013 to 2019, 61 faculty from a wide range of disciplines participated in a multidisciplinary QR faculty development program. The results of a mathematical autobiographical activity demonstrate the exercise’s utility as a pedagogical tool that both encourages students to confront their mathematical anxieties and helps instructors promote success in mathematics by responding to students’ diverse experiences. The autobiographies center on three broad themes: negative experiences with mathematics (e.g., mathematics trauma, fear of bad grades, ineffective mathematics teachers, gender bias), positive experiences (using mathematics to better understand the world, effective teachers, success in mathematics courses), and the importance of making mathematics relevant. These narratives show how both mastery goals and performance goals can serve as incentives for learning mathematics. They also demonstrate the importance of viewing mathematics achievement through a positional lens (e.g., gender) that is conditioned by both structural variables (e.g., teachers) and agency variables (e.g., growth mindset). 

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5. Is the “E” in Engineering for Entrepreneurship? An Emerging Concept of Entrepreneurial Engineering Identity

   Benjamin, L; Henderson, J A; Hines, E M (March 2022, 2022 ASEE Gulf Southwest Annual Conference)

   Benjamin, L; Henderson, J A; Hines, E M (Ed.)

   The topic of engineering identity is neither new nor complete in its coverage within current literature. In fact, although this body of work predates the last ten years, researchers have argued that some of the most significant burgeoning in this area has occurred in the last decade. By applying both quantitative and qualitative lenses to this inquiry, researchers have concluded that, much like a STEM identity, an engineering identity describes how students see themselves, their competence and potential for success in the academic and career context of the field. To further examine the latter component i.e. potential for academic and career success, we attend to an emerging concept of an entrepreneurial engineering identity. This preliminary work unfolded organically; the authors’ primary goal involved a larger Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study that investigated persistence and advanced degree aspirations among 20 Black male engineering undergraduate students from a variety of institutional settings. While we did not intentionally seek to examine this emerging component of engineering identity, our preliminary analysis of participants’ interview data led us down this path. What we observed was a latent phenomenon of interest among participants: these Black male engineering undergraduates recurringly articulated clear intentions for academic and career opportunities that integrated business components into their engineering realities. Kegan’s (1984, 1994) Theory of Meaning-Making provided a framework for understanding how participants perceived the development of business acumen as a strategy for ascending existing corporate/organizational structures, creating new business pathways, and promoting corporate social responsibility. Based on these findings, the authors were inspired to explore the conceptual development of an entrepreneurial engineering identity and its practical application to engineering degree (re)design, student academic advisory and career planning. 

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