NEACT Central Division Meeting
Topic: Fostering student self-efficacy and science identity
The Bromfield School, Harvard MA
Join us on Saturday, 3/11 for an in-person discussion of strategies to foster student accountability and science identity of underrepresented groups in STEM by leveraging student involvement. Please register by Thursday 3/9.
Registration check-in and continental breakfast that morning will open at 9:00 am. The session will start at 9:30 am.
Presenters: Erin McQuaid and Leslie Bishop, Regis College (Weston, MA)
Increasing Student Accountability by Fostering Self-Efficacy Through Student Involvement
According to Bandura’s (1977) Self Efficacy Theory, a person with low self-efficacy does not believe that they have the ability to accomplish a task and, therefore, is not willing to pursue the task. A person with high self-efficacy does believe that they have the ability to accomplish a task and will persist to complete the task. Erin McQuaid and Leslie Bishop, members of the Spring 2022 Regis College Faculty Learning Community on equity-mindedness, will present the results of their research of fostering science self-efficacy through student involvement in the lecture and laboratory settings with the goal to increase student accountability. Afterwards they will open up a discussion of self-efficacy pertaining to the experiences of our attendees.
Fostering Science Identity of Underrepresented Groups in STEM through Student Involvement
An analysis of the perceptions of the undergraduate female STEM majors’ experiences serving as mentors, presented a reinforcement of individual science identities fostered in a supportive community of women in STEM. The goal of Erin McQuaid’s presentation is to initiate a dialogue where other opportunities of student involvement in STEM programs, such as pedagogies, research and internships, have fostered science identity of underrepresented groups in STEM. Questions to structure this discussion are:
1) What other methods of student involvement are effective in fostering science identity of underrepresented groups in STEM?
2)How do student involvement opportunities foster science identity of underrepresented groups? and
3) How can schools, including higher education institutions, initiate involvement opportunities that foster science identity for its underrepresented students?
