Student Characteristics, Pre-College, College, and Environmental Factors as Predictors of Majoring in and Earning a STEM Degree: An Analysis of Students Attending a Hispanic Serving Institution

Abstract

At a Canadian university, 177 students completed a baseline questionnaire and six monthly Web-based questionnaires about their sexual behavior and positive and negative affect. The results revealed that psychosocial maturity, attitudes toward sex, prior sexual experience, and living arrangements influenced the relationship between sex and affect. When sexual behavior was reported, the more psychosocially mature students reported more positive affect than did the less mature students. The students with more permissive attitudes toward sex also experienced more positive affect in the months when they had sex than did the students with less permissive attitudes. The students who had oral sex reported more positive affect than did the students who had intercourse, and living away from home was associated with more positive affect for the students who had sex. (58 ref)-Department of Psychology, University of Alberta. Lindgren, K. P., et al. Sexual Communication, Sexual Goals, and Students' Transition to College: Implications for Sexual Assault, Decision-Making, and Risky Behaviors. Journal of College Student Development, 2009, 50 (September-October) pp. 491-503.At a large public university in the Pacific Northwest, 29 heterosexual undergraduate students participated in focus groups about their experiences and perceptions of sexual communication and sexual goals. The men and the women agreed on many of the ways in which sexual interest is communicated, including sexual conversation, talking about values, agreeing to go somewhere private, and body language and touching. Disinterest was usually expressed through body language and other indirect forms of communication, although verbal communication was used as last resort. The women expressed a preference for indirect means of showing disinterest, even though the men reported that they often disregarded indirect forms of communication. In terms of sexual goals, the women determined how far sexual relations would go and were more likely than the men to seek long-term relationships rather than casual sex. The men always wanted sex, with or without a relationship. They described casual sex as an enjoyable challenge, while they view relationships as work to be endured. In making the transition from high school to college, the students discussed the greater physical freedom and privacy in college as increasing the accessibility of sex. (37 ref)-Department of Psychology, University of Richmond.

Engineering Education through the Latina Lens

“…Similarly, Hurtado et al (2006) found Mexican American, Puerto Rican and American Indian students take fewer mathematics, physics, and biological sciences courses, or gatekeeper courses, as compared to their White and Asian counterparts. Crisp, Nora, and Taggart (2009) found minority students more likely to drop out of such gatekeeper courses as compared to their White counterparts. Minority women have the lowest persistent rate in STEM studies, according to Smyth and McArdle (2004), which they attribute to the intersection between gender and ethnicity, or what many refer to as the "double bind".…”

“…In 2012.2% of engineering degrees were awarded to females with a mere 3.1% of these awarded to women from underrepresented minorities (National Science Foundation [NSF], 2015). The low representation of women, and Latinas specifically, has been the topic of inquiry by various organizations and institutions that have aggressively reached out to females (National Research Council, 1991;Crisp, Nora, and Taggart (2009) argue university campus cultures can be unwelcoming and competitive, which can further alienate minorities from full participation and may contribute to others resisting entrance to these possibly hostile and alienating environments.…”

Gender and Self-Efficacy in Engineering: Embracing Failure and a Growth Mindset for Female High School Students (Fundamental)

“…Pre-college, engineering programs have been shown to attract students to engineering and other STEM careers (Crisp, Amaury & Taggart, 2009;Delci, 2002;Yelamarthi & Mawasha, 2008). Our goal is for our teachers to offer varied, hands-on projects in their engineering classrooms that are practical, but also community minded, artful, or even musical.…”

A Case Study of a School District Assessment System and its Correlation with Student Performance in Physical Sciences

“…In an attempt to improve schools through stricter accountability measures, high stakes testing has been implemented throughout grades K-12 in several subject areas including science (though it is only required to be tested once in grades [9][10][11][12]. Although the law succeeded in highlighting disparities in educational achievement for traditionally underserved students, there have been negative consequences, with some studies reporting that science has suffered from a disproportionate emphasis on reading and mathematics [4,5].…”