The Relevance of Childhood Science Talk as a Proxy for College Students’ STEM Identity at a Hispanic Serving Institution

Examining the effect of early STEM experiences as a form of STEM capital and identity capital on STEM identity: A gender study

“…Additionally, Dou et al (2019) described how K-4 informal science activities, such as engaging in STEM media and STEM talk, significantly impact STEM identity. A subsequent study confirmed the positive effects of early STEM talk with family and friends on STEM identity among Hispanic students (Dou & Cian, 2020). Finally, some studies also indicate that female students currently enrolled as STEM majors reported that they had early interest and sense of identity as a future scientist (Bieri Buschor et al, 2014;Dou & Cian, 2020).…”

Undergraduate STEM Majors on and off the Pre-Med/Health Track: A STEM Identity Perspective

“…However, we do acknowledge the powerful role that alternative significant others may exert on STEM identity, particularly parents. For instance, much research supports the suggestion that home support factors influence individuals' STEM dispositions, sense of recognition in STEM, and STEM identity (Archer et al, 2015;Dou and Cian, 2020;Gokpinar and Reiss, 2016;Pattison and Dierking, 2019). Gokpinar and Reiss (2016) position this support, for instance, in the form of visiting science centers or providing science toys or reading materials as conversion factors existing at the intersection of social and cultural factors and identity-related outcomes, such as aspiration to science careers.…”

“…The construct of identity, or how individuals perceive themselves and engage others as a particular "kind of person" (Gee, 2000, p. 99), has been implicated in research of academic performance, engagement, career choice, and persistence in STEM-related contexts in both formal and informal learning settings (e.g., Carlone and Johnson, 2007;Hazari et al, 2010;Dou et al, 2019;Morris et al, 2019;Avraamidou, 2020;Goff et al;. Identity researchers focusing on undergraduate STEM career choice and persistence have generally explored these factors without accounting for students' post-bachelor degree intentions, instead tending to study students enrolled in particular majors, such as physics (Hazari et al, 2010;Seyranian et al, 2018) or engineering (Godwin et al, 2016), or those pursuing STEM majors in general (Dou and Cian, 2020;Goff et al, 2020). Though this type of research is valuable in understanding students' self-perception within STEM broadly or within specific STEM disciplines, tendencies to define STEM populations by college major restrict the implications and utility of research beyond the major-specific context.…”

Pathways of interest and participation: How STEM‐interested youth navigate a learning ecosystem

“…Their study suggested that engagement in a science hobby provided support for youth to continue on to a STEM career as an adult. More recently, Dou and Cian (2020) explored the connection between childhood informal STEM learning experiences of Hispanic/Latino college students, their identification with STEM, and the factors that contributed to their STEM identity. They found that talking about science during childhood with close family was more relevant to STEM interest development than talking with extended family or friends and teachers.…”