Browsing by Subject "Science identity"
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Item STEM(ming) up from niños to científicos(2013-05) Lu, Charles, active 2013; Saenz, Victor B.The simultaneous phenomena of a shortage in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) labor force coupled with the growing Latino population in the U.S. dictates a need for higher education institutions to ensure the success of Latino students in the STEM disciplines. Current trends indicate that Latino males are interested in pursuing a STEM major, but are attaining STEM degrees at low rates. Furthermore, prior research has shown that over half of all STEM degree pursuers change majors within the first two years and that the first few weeks of college are critical for Latino students. As such, this dissertation used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to examine the first-semester lived experience of Latino males in the STEM disciplines using a science identity framework. Overall, this study had five major findings. First, the findings from this study challenged the existing science identity framework by emphasizing competence as opposed to recognition. Second, participants considered the importance of having a supportive scientific community within their first semester. At the same time, they also highlighted the competitiveness and exclusivity of the scientific community as a major factor that drew them into pursuing a STEM major. Third, the high-achieving participants in this study stressed the importance of being innovative, thinking out of the box, and connecting patterns in approaching their subject areas. Fourth, students in this study had to negotiate their science identities with other parts of their identities, such as their racial identities, gender identities, religious identities, creative identities, and musical identities. Finally, participants in this study who were enrolled in a critical thinking seminar developed a thorough understanding about science within a broader context, and gained knowledge about how the scientific community interacts with other industries, such as business, law, and politics. Given these findings, this study expanded, challenged, and added to the existing literature about Latino men in the STEM disciplines.Item Understanding Latina adolescents' science identities : a mixed methods study of socialization practices across contexts(2014-05) Jackson, Karen Denise Moran; Suizzo, Marie-AnneResearch on differences in STEM outcomes for females and students of color has been an ongoing educational research imperative, but Latinas continue to be under-represented in high school and college science classes and majors (National Science Foundation, 2011; Riegle-Crumb & King, 2010). The aim of this study was to investigate how Latina adolescents seek to establish themselves as future scientists within their environments and how others help sustain these developing identities. I used a mixed method procedure called an exploratory sequential design that starts with a qualitative stage followed by a quantitative stage (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007). In the qualitative stage, 32 college-aged Latinas in science majors participated in focus groups with an additional 12 in interviews. Using Interactive Qualitative Analysis (Northcutt & McCoy, 2004), eight factors of science identity development were identified: home environment, teacher influences, school experiences, environmental factors, media influences, using your brain, emotions, and career planning. Participants saw the first four factors as drivers of their development, with media as an irregular contributor. These social factors were filtered through the individual factors of using your brain and emotions, with career planning as the outcome. The qualitative results were used to develop a survey given to middle school students in the next stage. The majority of the survey consisted of previously validated scales that corresponded in content to the qualitative factors. One new measure was developed to address science-related experiences. In the quantitative stage, 90 middle school Latinas from two central Texas school districts participated in the survey study. Univariate analysis showed differences in science-related experiences by demographic variables of parent occupation, parent nativity, first language spoken, and school district. Multivariate regression analysis found positive emotions about science to be the best predictor of science career related outcomes, and that emotions act as a mediator between science experiences and career outcomes. These results are discussed in light of current career theories.