Noé Rubén Chávez, Alexandra Race, Marisa Bowers, Susan Kane, Christopher Sistrunk
{"title":"Engaging Underrepresented Adolescents in Authentic Scientific Settings: Scientist Role Models and Improving Psychosocial Outcomes.","authors":"Noé Rubén Chávez, Alexandra Race, Marisa Bowers, Susan Kane, Christopher Sistrunk","doi":"10.15695/jstem/v2i1.18","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There is a critical need for more effective comprehensive programs to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing scientific careers. Science education often is fragmented, delivered with single-focused approaches - traditional classroom lectures, or hands-on-activities, or conducting research. The current paper examines a comprehensive biomedical research program that integrated classroom teaching, hands-on-activities, conducting a research study, and mentoring from scientists in authentic scientific settings. We assessed short-term psychosocial outcomes and long-term academic outcomes in the participants, largely underrepresented minority high school students. The psychosocial outcomes assessed pre and post program include: knowledge of science pathways, attitudes toward science, self-efficacy in science, and scientific communication skills. Post-program results showed an increasing trend for knowledge of science pathways, attitudes toward science, and self-efficacy in science. Post-program, students also reported significant increases in feeling they had role models in science. A long-term assessment was conducted examining participating students' college attendance and majoring in a STEM field. The long-term assessment showed that 77% of students were attending college, 79% were majoring in STEM, and 75% were planning to pursue additional higher education. Findings provide evidence for the short-term and long-term benefits of a comprehensive biomedical research program conducted in an authentic scientific setting.</p>","PeriodicalId":73956,"journal":{"name":"Journal of STEM outreach","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8078839/pdf/nihms-1555158.pdf","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of STEM outreach","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.15695/jstem/v2i1.18","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2019/11/11 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
There is a critical need for more effective comprehensive programs to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing scientific careers. Science education often is fragmented, delivered with single-focused approaches - traditional classroom lectures, or hands-on-activities, or conducting research. The current paper examines a comprehensive biomedical research program that integrated classroom teaching, hands-on-activities, conducting a research study, and mentoring from scientists in authentic scientific settings. We assessed short-term psychosocial outcomes and long-term academic outcomes in the participants, largely underrepresented minority high school students. The psychosocial outcomes assessed pre and post program include: knowledge of science pathways, attitudes toward science, self-efficacy in science, and scientific communication skills. Post-program results showed an increasing trend for knowledge of science pathways, attitudes toward science, and self-efficacy in science. Post-program, students also reported significant increases in feeling they had role models in science. A long-term assessment was conducted examining participating students' college attendance and majoring in a STEM field. The long-term assessment showed that 77% of students were attending college, 79% were majoring in STEM, and 75% were planning to pursue additional higher education. Findings provide evidence for the short-term and long-term benefits of a comprehensive biomedical research program conducted in an authentic scientific setting.