Improving Undergraduate STEM Education through Hospitableness, Justice, Status, and Identity Open Access
Hayward, Jennifer (Fall 2020)
Published
Abstract
Despite the plethora of studies on STEM persistence and the disparities within STEM since the 1990s, uneven progress has been made in substantially increasing women and underrepresented groups across STEM disciplines. The time students spend in their post-secondary education critically influences their future development as people, employees, citizens of a nation, consumers, activists, and many other identities and roles. I explore STEM students’ experiences in the classroom, their perceptions of these experiences, as well as possible implications of their experiences on their persistence. Specifically, I focus on overlooked social psychological processes (see Xie, Fang, and Shauman 2015) unfolding in STEM classrooms as potential facilitators or inhibitors of continuation in such fields.
Broadly, my dissertation research investigates the influence of classroom dynamics on students’ experiences in the classroom. More specifically, in Chapter 1 I investigate the pedagogical practices and conditions that shape the classroom climate students experience as they take their classes. In Chapter 2, I explore how students’ experience of classroom dynamics through justice and status processes shape their emotions and perceptions of competence. Finally, in Chapter 3, I turn to students’ development and solidification of a science identity, and the effects of a science identity on persistence in STEM.
The dissertation consists of three empirical papers stemming from data collected through observations and surveys in fall 2017 and fall 2018. I draw on data gathered from 137 hours of classroom observations in introductory biology and computer science classes over the Fall 2017 semester at a private university in the Southeast to provide the basis for Chapter 1 addressing classroom climate. Chapters 2 and 3 take a quantitative approach to students’ experiences in the undergraduate STEM classroom relying on survey data collected from students (n=786) in biology and computer science over the course of two fall (2017, 2018) semesters. I use this survey data to examine how perceived classroom dynamics, assessed in terms of justice and status processes, affect emotional and cognitive responses (Chapter 2) and how those responses to the classroom facilitate or inhibit the development of science identities and persistence in STEM (Chapter 3).
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
List of Tables x
List of Figures xi
List of Appendices xii
Introduction. 1
Overview of Dissertation Methodology. 2
Key Questions from Chapter 1: STEM Chilly Climate Literature. 3
Key Questions from Chapter 2: Justice and Status Processes Literature. 4
Key Questions from Chapter 3: Identity and Persistence Literature. 6
Overview of the Dissertation. 8
Works Cited. 9
Chapter 1: Looking Beyond Mitigating or Thawing the Chilly Climate: Creating a Hospitable Climate. 15
Introduction. 15
Contrasting STEM Fields: Biology and Computer Science. 17
Factors Shaping the Climate of STEM Courses 20
Institutional Factors of Class Size and Classroom Physical Layout 20
Behaviors and Pedagogical Practices of Professors 21
Positionality of Professors and Disciplinary Practices 26
Methods/Data. 28
Overview of the Observation Site. 28
Data Relevant to Research Questions 30
Data Collection Tools 33
Analysis 34
Findings 36
Institutional Power and Professor Decision Making. 36
Institutional Factors of Class Size and Classroom Physical Layout 40
Pedagogical Practices of Professors 44
Emphasis of Assessments of Competence and Information. 45
Disciplinary Practices and Science Capital 51
Discussion. 55
Impact of Factors Beyond Faculty Control 55
Impact of Faculty Decision Making. 56
General Directions for Future Research. 58
Works Cited. 61
Chapter 2: Effects of Fairness and Social Characteristics on Undergraduate STEM Students’ Emotions and Perceptions of Competence. 83
Introduction. 83
Conceptualizing Emotional and Cognitive Assessments in the Classroom.. 85
Conceptualizing Justice Processes 87
The Effects of the Justice Types on Emotions 89
The Effects of Justice Types on Competence. 92
Status Processes in Classroom Dynamics 94
Conceptualizing Status Processes and Competence. 95
The Effects of Status on Emotions 96
Methods and Data Sources 97
Sample. 98
Surveys 99
Analysis 102
Results 103
Discussion. 106
Importance of Justice Perceptions 106
Lack of Effects of Procedural Justice. 108
Strong Effects of Distributive Justice and Interpersonal Justice. 110
Role of Status Characteristics 110
Role of Emotions 111
Implications for Policy and Practice. 113
Endnotes 115
Works Cited. 116
Chapter 3: The College Classroom Experience and it’s influences on Science Identities and Persistence. 134
Introduction. 134
Identity and Identity Processes 137
STEM and Identity. 137
Symbolic Interactionist theoretical mechanisms 139
Factors Contributing to Science Identities 141
Competence. 142
Performance. 144
Recognition/Verification. 146
Emotions 147
Relationships of Science Identity on Persistence. 148
Methods and Data Sources 149
Sample. 150
Surveys 151
Analysis 154
Results 155
Science Identity. 156
Math Identity. 157
Intentions to enroll in future STEM courses 158
Discussion. 158
Endnotes 165
Works Cited. 166
Chapter 4: Conclusion. 182
Looking Beyond Mitigating or Thawing the Chilly Climate: Creating a Hospitable Climate. 183
Effects of Fairness and Social Characteristics on Undergraduate STEM Students’ Emotions and Perceptions of Competence. 183
Factors in the College Classroom that impact Students’ Science Identities and Persistence. 185
Future Research Directions 186
Works Cited. 192
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