Meaningful participation in science and engineering practices requires that students make their thinking visible to others and build on one another's ideas. But sharing ideas with others in small groups and classrooms carries social risk, particularly for students from nondominant groups and communities. In this paper, we explore how students'…

Recently, it has been argued that improving students' genomics literacy could prevent students from developing erroneous beliefs about social identity, such as the belief that racial groups differ cognitively and behaviorally because of their genes; a belief called genetic essentialism. To date, however, little research has explored if or how a…

Research in science education confirms the importance of self-efficacy in students' persistence and success in the sciences. The current study examined the role of science self-efficacy in nonspecialist, arts and communication-oriented students encountering science in a general education context. Participants (N = 275) completed a beginning- and…

We investigated the intersectional nature of race/racism and gender/sexism in broad scale inequities in physics student learning using a critical quantitative intersectionality. To provide transparency and create a nuanced picture of learning, we problematized the measurement of equity by using two competing operationalizations of equity:…

Students' declining science interest in middle school is often attributed to psychological factors like shifts of motivational values, decrease in self-efficacy, or doubts about the utility of schooling in general. This paper adds to accounts of the middle school science problem through an ethnographic, longitudinal case study of three…

Historically, most efforts to improve public knowledge of science and technology have focused on improvements in K-12 schooling, although post-secondary education and informal education have also been mentioned as important factors. Currently, little empirical data exist to determine how or when to best leverage science and technology education…

We analyze longitudinal data from students who spent their academic careers in North Carolina (NC) public secondary schools and attended NC public universities to investigate the importance of high school racial composition and opportunities to learn in secondary school for choosing a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major.…

As the nation's K-12 classrooms become increasingly more racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse, it is incumbent upon the science community to seize opportunities to attend to the rhetoric of reform, namely to enhance scientific literacy for all students. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a framework, this study examined 112 nature of…

For over a century, genetic arguments for the existence of racial inequality have been used to oppose policies that promote social equality. And, over that same time period, American biology textbooks have repeatedly discussed genetic differences between races. This experiment tests whether racial terminology in the biology curriculum causes…

In the present study, I analyze ethnographic data from a year-long study of two Advanced Placement (AP) Biology classes that enrolled students with diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. Specifically, I consider participation, positioning, and learning of newcomer Korean students in the focal classes. Building on the notion of figured…

This longitudinal study examined factors that contribute to the persistence of underrepresented racial minority (URM) undergraduates in STEM fields. The primary source of data came from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's 2004 "The Freshman Survey" (TFS) and 2008 "College Senior Survey" (CSS). The sample…

When evaluating equity, researchers often look at the "achievement gap." Privileging knowledge and skills as primary outcomes of science education misses other, more subtle, but critical, outcomes indexing inequitable science education. In this comparative ethnography, we examined what it meant to "be scientific" in two fourth-grade classes taught…

This study examined middle and high school students' perceptions of a weeklong science experience with nanotechnology and atomic force microscopy. Through an examination of student self assessments and their writing, the study allowed us to examine some of the issues that may contribute to discrepancies that are seen between European-American and…

In this study, we develop a model of science identity to make sense of the science experiences of 15 successful women of color over the course of their undergraduate and graduate studies in science and into science-related careers. In our view, science identity accounts both for how women make meaning of science experiences and how society…

Uses narrative methodology in a qualitative study to understand what becoming a scientist or engineer entails for women stereotyped as model minorities. Narratives revealed that Confucian cultural scripts shaped gender expectations even in families several generations in America. (Author/MM)