Self-efficacy beliefs of underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and math
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand the self-perceptions, confidence, and self-efficacy of underrepresented minorities (URMs) as they undertake Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) courses during their K-12 years in urban-public schools. Through the lens of Bandura's self-efficacy theory, this study analyzed self-efficacious behaviors as they revealed themselves in K-12 classrooms. The participants were 11th- and 12th-grade students, their parents, their STEM teachers, and their mentor. The goal was to understand what has been inhibiting the growth of URM representation in STEM majors and in STEM fields. This qualitative study was designed to understand the participants' stories and uncover personal characteristics such as grit, perseverance, and determination in the face of obstacles. The instruments used in this study were interviews, observations, and self-efficacy surveys. The findings revealed that the participants' perceptions of the students' abilities to succeed in a STEM field were all tentatively positive. The participants focused on the many obstacles already overcome by the students and used it as precedent for future success. All the student-participants shared a similar set of adult types in their lives--adults who believed not only in their STEM abilities, but also in their abilities to face obstacles, who were willing to give their time and expertise when necessary, and who shared similar experiences in terms of the lack of educational resources or of economic struggles. It was these shared experiences that strengthened the beliefs that, if the adult participants could succeed in education or succeed in spite of poverty, the student participants could succeed, as well.
- Publication:
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Ph.D. Thesis
- Pub Date:
- 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016PhDT.......138G
- Keywords:
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- Science education;Educational psychology