Am I a Science Person? A Strong Science Identity Bolsters Minority Students’ Sense of Belonging and Performance in College

Abstract

Identifying as a “science person” is predictive of science success, but the mechanisms involved are not well-understood. We hypothesized that science identity predicts success because it fosters a sense of belonging in science classrooms. Thus, science identity should be particularly important for first-generation and racial-minority students, who may harbor doubts about belonging in science. Two field studies in college Introductory Biology classes ( Ns = 1368, 639) supported these hypotheses. A strong science identity predicted higher grades, particularly for minority students. Also consistent with hypotheses, Study 2 found that self-reported belonging in college mediated the relationship between science identity and performance. Furthermore, a social belonging manipulation eliminated the relationship between science identity and performance among minority students. These results support the idea that a strong science identity is particularly beneficial for minority students because it bolsters belonging in science courses. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

Variation in which key motivational and academic resources relate to academic performance disparities across introductory college courses

“…For example, Miyake et al (2010) introduced a course-specific values affirmation intervention that reduced the gender performance gap in an introductory physics course. Social belonging and mindset interventions are also proven to be effective for changing attitudes and reducing disparities (Walton & Cohen, 2011;Chen et al, 2020). More general field-specific personal values and or framing interventions may also have the potential to improve academic outcomes of women, racially/ethnically minoritized students, and first-generation students in introductory college science courses through motivational attitudes such as interest and self-efficacy (Harackiewicz & Priniski, 2018).…”

Psychology today: A project to increase diversity in psychology curriculum.

“…The feeling of belonging to one’s major is an important factor in student success and persistence (Verdín et al, 2018). Research about belonging abounds in STEM (for a minireview see Casad et al, 2021), in which it has been linked to a deluge of positive outcomes, such as persistence (Geisinger & Raman, 2013; Seymour & Hunter, 2019), academic engagement (Wilson et al, 2015), choice and surety of major (Rainey et al, 2018), and academic success (Chen et al, 2021; Strayhorn, 2011). Belonging is also discussed in the teaching of psychology literature, with findings linking it to student absences and perceived inclusivity (Howansky et al, 2021) and student satisfaction and persistence (Cohen et al, 2008).…”

Do Ecological or Molecular Biological Citizen Science Projects Affect the Perceptions of Undergraduate Students Toward Pursuing Future Citizen Science?

“…This paper is a secondary analysis of de-identified data from the required survey assignments matched to student course grade and major. Per IRB, identifying information such as name, age, year in school, and primary language were not made available, nor were known student-level factors such as gender (e.g., Eddy, Brownell, and Wenderoth 2014;Cooper and Brownell 2016;Matz et al 2017), race (e.g., Carlone and Johnson 2007;Chen et al 2021), or firstgeneration-student status (e.g., Harackiewicz et al 2014). The original survey consisted of three Likert-type items with five response options each and eight open-ended responses.…”