Article 2021

Retaining underrepresented students in biology: Outcomes of a culturally responsive intervention on perceptions of supports and barriers

Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering
Journal · Vol. 27 · Issue 6 · pp. 1-20
Abstract

Career development provides avenues for educators to help shape academic interests, career goals and expectations, and facilitate the development of relevant skills (Lent et al., 2005). Despite literature suggesting benefits from incorporating student values into STEM course content to make lessons per-sonally meaningful (Harackiewicz et al., 2014; Vincent et al., 2012; Jones and Larke, 2003), formal career development interventions are often lacking, replaced by individual advising and mentoring (Byars-Winston et al., 2011). This study utilizes a culturally responsive intervention with the aim of improving retention of underrepresented biology students. Students’ perceptions of supports and barriers (measured by SCSBS, Lent et al., 2003; and SESBS, Lent et al., 2005) were examined before and after the intervention. Results indicate significant differences between pre-and post-test scores in the intervention group. This may suggest a change in insight, which could lead to the establishment of more realistic expectations, thus increasing student retention. © 2021 by Begell House,.

Keywords

Author Keywords

STEM biology retention African American students Career development intervention HBCU SCCT

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Department of Psychology, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, United States
Department of Biological Sciences, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN, United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
National Science Foundation, NSF
Grant: 1238778
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1238778.
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