The relationship among gender, race/ethnicity, sense of validation, science identity, science self-efficacy, persistence, and academic performance of biomedical undergraduates

2017-06-09This study sought to examine the relationships of sense of validation, science identity, and science self-efficacy to persistence and academic performance among biomedical undergraduate students. Additionally, it sought to understand how sense of validation, science identity, and science self-efficacy differ by gender, and race/ethnicity of biomedical undergraduates. While underrepresented minority students express equal interest in STEM areas of study, they are more likely to have lower GPAs (grade point averages), and are more likely to drop out compared to their peers (National Academy of Sciences, 2016). In fact, while minorities and women make up 70% of colleges students today, they receive only 45% of STEM degrees (PCAST, 2012). This is especially problematic because recent projections of the state of the biomedical workforce in the U.S. predict a shortage of nearly one million STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals in the next decade, not including health professionals and K-12 STEM teachers (PCAST, 2012). Therefore, colleges and universities must find ways to help minorities and women succeed so they experience equitable outcomes and matriculate into the STEM workforce. Guided by the work of Hurtado et al. (2015) on sense of validation, and Estrada-Hollenbeck et al. (2011) on science identity and science self-efficacy, this study attempted to understand the predictive value of sense of validation, science identity, and science self-efficacy on STEM persistence and academic performance, and also sought to examine how validation, science identity, and science self-efficacy are experienced differently by gender and race/ethnicity of biomedical undergraduate students. Using 131 biomedical undergraduates enrolled in a general biology course in the Spring of 2016 at a large, private research university this study employed a quantitative research design to investigate these relationships with the use of an online survey instrument that collected demographic information, as well as information of students’ sense of validation, science identity, science self-efficacy, intent to persist, and GPA. Using structural equation modeling, and two-way MANOVA, this study had several significant findings. Firstly, that differences in sense of validation, science identity, and science self-efficacy to exist between women and men. Primarily, that men often experience higher levels of sense of validation, science identity, and science self-efficacy compared to women. Secondly, the major findings of the study revealed by the structural equation model linked validation experiences to outcome measures including STEM persistence and academic performance through science self-efficacy, and science identity. Specifically, this model revealed that academic and interpersonal validation predict science self-efficacy, that science self-efficacy predicts science identity, and that science identity predicts both STEM persistence and academic performance. The findings of this study have implications for practitioners who are interested in retaining women and minorities in STEM. It revealed some of the underlying mechanisms that explain why interventions like structured research programs and mentorship are successful, and offers evidence that using a model of validation in the classroom and laboratory are one way to insure educational equity in STEM