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Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
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4

Learning from Today’s Students

To inform thinking about the need for future changes, experts in education research were asked to share selected data from their work on undergraduate students (see Box 4-1). In particular, the speakers were asked to consider issues related to access, inclusion, equity, and outcomes for undergraduate STEM students with a variety of backgrounds and goals. The research was conducted at different types of institutions of higher education, including Community Colleges and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). It focused on students of different racial, ethnic, cultural, and geographic backgrounds and included students sometimes referred to as “nontraditional” due to their age, their pathway into postsecondary learning, or the credential being pursued (certificates or associate’s degrees in addition to baccalaureate degrees). The speakers noted the importance of keeping in mind that many undergraduates are not between 18 and 22 years old and that a large percentage of them attend Community Colleges, not 4-year institutions.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE TECHNICIAN EDUCATION

Tyson described findings from his research on Community College associate’s degree and certificate programs for technicians conducted through a research collaboration (Targeted Research in Technician Education, or PathTech).1 PathTech’s research has examined pathways in technical

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1 Tyson based his presentation on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1501999. Additional information about PathTech LIFE and other PathTech projects is available at www.PathTechUSF.com (accessed October 8, 2021).

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×

education—programs that typically offer applied, hands-on learning designed to develop practical skills and prepare students for the workforce—using a national survey and longitudinal follow-up interviews. Advanced technology fields covered by such programs include engineering technology, energy and environmental technology, advanced manufacturing, micro-technology, and nanotechnology, Tyson explained. Because these programs provide skills and credentials for advancing careers or initiating entrepreneurial ventures, he noted, they are an alternative version of the “T” in STEM, which is different from the more theoretical technology education offered in baccalaureate degree programs. This alternative is important, he noted, because not everyone has the privilege of time to pursue a 4-year degree. The technical programs Tyson has studied allow individuals to cycle between full-time work in sub-baccalaureate jobs and full-time school.

In one study, PathTech Tampa Bay, Tyson and his colleagues conducted interviews with students, faculty, administrators, and employers in the Tampa Bay, FL, area to examine student pathways into four Community College engineering technology programs and from those programs into employment (Fletcher and Tyson, 2017a, 2017b; Smith, 2017). The students identified four motivations for entering engineering technology programs: learning, credentialing, re-skilling, and empowering.

The students who identified learning as their prime motivation, Tyson explained, had developed an interest in education through engineering technology. These students had high school diplomas or general education degrees and enjoyed working with their hands. They reported that the content of engineering technician classes were of great interest and had motivated them to pursue higher education, many for the first time.

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×

The students who were focused on earning the credentials necessary to enter the technician workforce had completed high school, and many had some college credits. They described themselves as having been good students in the past, but few had been exposed to engineering technology through school or work. Most had a stable work history in a non-STEM field, Tyson noted, but wished to enter the technician workforce. Other students—those focused on re-skilling—hope to find better and more stable work. Many had established careers in manufacturing or related fields but had been laid off or were not advancing in their careers. The fourth group, those who sought empowerment, reported that they hoped to gain the respect of others and perhaps fulfill a lifelong dream of earning a degree in higher education. Overall, said Tyson, the interviews suggested that these programs had a transformative effect on the students by improving their short-term and long-term prospects.

An ongoing national survey, PathTech Life, has been documenting multiple characteristics of Community College students in advanced technology fields (Tyson et al., 2018). The researchers have developed a database of information about 3,216 students from 96 colleges that includes academic experience, employment, motivation to enroll, program evaluation, academic goals, career goals, and demographic background. Figures 4-1 and 4-2 show some of the data collected through PathTech Life.

Image
FIGURE 4-1 Prior enrollment and degree attainment for Community College students in advanced technology fields.
SOURCE: Tyson presentation.
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Image
FIGURE 4-2 Employment status for Community College students in advanced technology fields.
SOURCE: Tyson presentation.

In a third project, PathTech Listen, researchers followed up on students who had participated in PathTech Life using interviews and a survey. A significant majority of the students were in jobs related to their field of study or had transferred to a 2- or 4-year institution to pursue further study in a STEM field. Most reported that their 2-year college programs provided them excellent preparation for their current jobs or school environment. A second set of interviews were devoted to understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the students’ careers, families, and personal lives. A third set of interviews will address the long-term goals and aspirations of the study participants as they navigate a post-COVID world.

LESSONS FROM HISPANIC-SERVING INSTITUTIONS

The implications of engaging undergraduate students in fieldwork and other student-centered approaches were the focus on Núñez’s study of geoscience and computing at HSIs. She also looked at broader contributions of HSIs to the education of students from underresourced and minoritized backgrounds. Núñez noted that fieldwork seemed to open doors for students who may have believed they could not compete with

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×

students from more advantaged backgrounds. For many students, these experiences develop a sense of self-efficacy and confidence, she noted (Núñez et al., 2021).

Núñez’s work is grounded in the multilevel intersectionality approach pioneered in Black feminist theory, which she applies in the context of STEM education (Núñez et al., 2020). One aspect of the intersectionality approach, she explained, is a focus on how a student’s multiple identities may be fluid such that particular identities may be more salient in one setting than another. She noted, for example, that a disability that does not affect a student’s capacity to engage in classroom activities could become salient during fieldwork. The approach also entails attention to institutional power domains that shape student experiences such as disparities in institutional resources and cultural and historical contexts that have influenced the disciplines students are engaging with. Geoscience, for example, has developed in the context of a history of colonization and extraction of resources by western powers (Sansone et al., 2019).

Núñez highlighted a National Academies report on Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) that highlighted strategies found to be effective at addressing the challenges many students from minoritized groups face (NASEM, 2020): (a) dynamic, multilevel, mission-driven leadership; (b) institutional responsiveness to meet students where they are; (c) supportive campus environments; (d) tailored academic and social supports; (e) mentorship and sponsorship; (f) undergraduate research experiences; and (g) “mutually beneficial” public- and private-sector partnerships.

She explained some lessons from her work on effective STEM strategies at HSIs conducted through the Computing Alliance of HSIs Network. This group, composed of more than 40 HSI department chairs, faculty, and staff who aim to raise Hispanic computing attainment, uses a variety of student-level supports such as research experiences and professional clubs (Villa et al., 2019). They also connect students with industry, engage students in peer-led learning, and take them to professional conferences in the discipline. Since 2000, this group has encouraged Hispanic students to pursue computing and increased their numbers in comparison with enrollment at institutions that do not use these strategies, Núñez observed.

Núñez closed with her thoughts about how STEM educators can continue to build the equity of STEM programs. Effective strategies, in her view, address the climate at the academic department level but also across the institution and within the discipline as a whole. At each of these levels, she added, equity requires attention to the salience of students’ multiple identities with respect to learning contexts. She called on educators to learn from what HSIs and MSIs have accomplished and not rely solely on studies conducted at well-resourced, historically White institutions that are not representative of students or institutions across the United States.

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×

CULTURAL MECHANISMS OF UNDERREPRESENTATION AND INEQUALITY

How do seemingly benign and objective cultural beliefs and practices perpetuate inequality both within the professional context of STEM and beyond? Cech identified this as the central question that can explain persistent underrepresentation for certain groups and inequality. “The way we think about what defines STEM and who defines what belongs and who belongs in STEM are vital for understanding how processes of inequality are perpetuated,” she observed.

When institutions develop processes for admitting students or hiring or promoting faculty, she explained, they have established ways of measuring excellence and competence, which she called cultural yardsticks. Cech’s sociology research has shown that these cultural yardsticks are often warped by biases and do not necessarily identify the characteristics that are actually required for success in STEM (Cech and Blair-Loy, 2021; Cech et al., 2018a). STEM leaders typically define scientific excellence in terms of abilities such as mathematical prowess and capacity for logical reasoning, but success in STEM fields also requires other capacities such as communication skills and the ability to provide mentoring or manage a lab, Cech observed. “By taking cultural yardsticks seriously as cultural constructs, we begin to see how these things are gendered, rationalized, and hetero-normative.” Her study of women in engineering majors, for example, has shown that they are less likely to remain in engineering departments when they perceive a disconnect between their own attributes and those that are valued in the field (Cech et al., 2011).

Cech found that cultural beliefs in STEM fields have a profound influence in other ways. She used the phrase “Euro-Western epistemologies” to describe the cultural rules that govern key aspects of STEM fields, which can have the effect of marginalizing and excluding some students. Decisions about what can and should be studied, how problems should be defined, and even what scientific endeavors should be funded, she explained, are cultural and social decisions. Native American students who have grown up with different epistemologies used for centuries in their cultures may, for example, experience what she described as delegitimization and erasure of those Indigenous ways of knowing when they enter the world of undergraduate STEM education (Cech et al., 2017; Cech et al., 2018b). When Native American students later decide to work in tribal communities, she noted, they often experience tension related to the disconnect and pressure to conform to Western approaches or epistemological imperialism.

In Cech’s view, addressing cultural beliefs about what counts as legitimate thinking in a STEM context is the path forward rather than attempting to ignore these influences. One response to the issues that have been

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×

raised is depoliticization, she explained, a commitment to the idea that STEM is a pure domain that can be stripped of cultural and political concerns. This view, Cech said, considers inequality and social justice as political and cultural concerns that are either “irrelevant to true or pure STEM work or even potentially dangerous to the objectivity and neutrality in STEM.” Attempting to depoliticize STEM education, she argued, silences the voices of students who experience marginalization and devaluation (Cech et al., 2018a).

Successfully diversifying STEM, Cech concluded, is not simply a matter of increasing the numerical representation of groups who have been underrepresented. In her view, true diversification requires an alteration of deeply held cultural beliefs about who counts as competent and excellent and what counts as valuable STEM work.

DISCUSSION

Following the presentations about their scholarly work, a discussion focused on the presenters’ views about the highest priority changes needed in undergraduate STEM education. For Tyson, the most important priority is to begin understanding pathways to STEM education and moving away from the pipeline model in which it is assumed that all students follow similar trajectories through school and into a career. “People are cycling through different jobs, different educational experiences, and different life experiences, and they are doing so at different times,” Tyson noted. In his view, a more inclusive model would incorporate different ways of living and different cultural models for adapting to the challenges of life and schooling.

Núñez emphasized the importance of understanding who today’s students are and meeting them where they are. That understanding will be the foundation for developing more interactive collaborative and experiential STEM learning opportunities, she noted, such as laboratory sessions scheduled in the evening rather than in the middle of the day. Cech cited the importance of expanding understanding of what STEM means, to move away from what she described as corporate notions of advancement in science. In her view, STEM learning should be aimed at developing the expertise, perspectives, and skills needed to address issues important to society.

Various participant questions led to additional comments from Cech in which she elaborated on her point regarding cultural beliefs. She explained that there are multiple ways to think about what the role of STEM fields should be in society and how these fields make contributions. She expressed concern that what is seen as integral to problem-solving in STEM and what is seen as irrelevant “are completely arbitrary and are culturally determined and defined.” Specifically, Cech expressed the hope that universities will

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×

move beyond what she called “the cultural permissibility of ignorance” to a place that values the issues and experiences of Indigenous populations.

A few participants also asked about how collaboration between 2-year and 4-year institutions can support the development of students with an array of backgrounds and needs. Tyson noted that many students, and even many programs, do not fit traditional performance measures that can be tied to state funding requirements. A student may take a course to acquire the skills needed for a promotion at work, for example, but if they do not complete degree requirements or matriculate full time, a state might consider that student a dropout. “Four-year institutions need to be more open to different ways people move back and forth between 2-year and 4-year institutions,” said Tyson. He also called for 4-year institutions to offer more credentialing programs that do not require 4 years to complete.

Núñez responded to a question about opportunities for rural students to gain exposure to STEM professions with ideas such as outreach by alumni associations. She noted that opportunities in disciplines that are rarely taught at the K–12 level such as geoscience and computer science are especially important for students from minority groups. Tyson agreed that rural students are at a disadvantage in terms of exposure to STEM fields, and that educators may be unduly influenced by the fact that in many rural areas, there are very few STEM jobs. He suggested that efforts are needed at the county, state, and federal levels to boost opportunities for STEM-related entrepreneurship in rural areas.

Planning committee member and University of Virginia faculty member Josipa Roksa summed up the panel discussion by highlighting all that research-oriented universities and elite institutions can learn from open-access institutions, MSIs, HSIs, and HBCUs regarding aspirations for STEM education if they “think about structure and culture together.” She added that “good things will not happen just because we wish to have a more diverse world in 2040,” she said. That sort of change will require “intentional, day-to-day, month-to-month, year-to-year activities that we all have to engage in.”

Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 24
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 25
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 26
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 27
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 28
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 29
Suggested Citation:"4 Learning from Today's Students." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Imagining the Future of Undergraduate STEM Education: Proceedings of a Virtual Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26314.
×
Page 30
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In November 2020, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a multi-day virtual symposium on imaging the future of undergraduate STEM education. Speakers and participants pondered the future and the past and shared their goals, priorities, and dreams for improving undergraduate STEM education. Expert speakers presented information about today's students and approaches to undergraduate STEM education, as well as the history of transformation in higher education. Thoughtful discussions explored ideas for the future, how student-centered learning experiences could be created, and what issues to consider to facilitate a successful transformation. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the symposium.

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