Undergraduate research experiences: mentoring, awareness, and perceptions—a case study at a Hispanic-serving institution

Abstract

Background: Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been proposed as means to increase the retention and engagement of minority-and more specifically Hispanic-college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. This study explores the impact of student characteristics such as gender, classification, ethnicity, and first-generation status on UREs of STEM students through four specific constructs that current literature deem particularly important: (1) research experiences, (2) mentoring experiences, (3) awareness of research opportunities and activities, and (4) perceptions on research. These constructs are here forth referred to as Experiences, Mentoring, Awareness, and Perceptions. The study was conducted at a Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) in Texas, United States (U.S.), where the overall increase in enrollment has been driven by growth in Hispanic student numbers, reflecting the demographic shift of the state and the nation. Results: Participants were recruited to be part of a STEM open house. Thirty-five students participated in the Undergraduate Research Experiences: Mentoring, Awareness, and Perceptions Survey (URE MAPS). This exploratory case study sought to look at student characteristics such as gender, classification, ethnicity, and first-generation status as predictors of UREs. Results show that classification and ethnicity student characteristics are statistically significant predictors of UREs. Although gender and firstgeneration status regression analysis did not show statistically significant results, crosstabulations looking at correlation among variables yield interesting results. Seven percent of the female respondents responded that they "somewhat agree" with the statement that research is a lonely activity in comparison with 23% of males. The majority (60%) of all respondents who "strongly agreed" with the statement that "research is only for future scientists" were Hispanic, indicating a need to clarify such misconceptions to encourage Hispanic student participation. Most self-identified first-generation participants, of whom 80% were female, reported awareness of faculty research activities, again pointing out gender as an important factor among students' relationship with their professors. Although less than 23% of students noted current participation in mentorship, most of those did report positive impact of this relationship on their attitude and perspective toward their major.

Mentoring Structures and the Types of Support Provided to Early-Year Undergraduate Researchers

“…Student-faculty interactions can occur in multiple forms in curricular and cocurricular contexts that enable the interaction of faculty and students outside the classroom setting, providing various types of support to undergraduate students (Lopatto, 2010;Brackalorenz et al, 2017). Mentoring in UR can be a powerful context for effective student-faculty interaction (Lopatto, 2010;Amaya et al, 2018). Students who participate in UR report that the research experience creates an environment for them to engage in substantial relationships with faculty, leading to greater motivation, engagement, academic performance, and achievement (Kim and Sax, 2009;Brackalorenz et al, 2017;Garvey et al, 2018;Schreiner and Tobolowsky, 2018).…”

“…Three domains of the support provided to the participants were identified: intellectual support, personal/emotional support, and professional support. These domains represented the patterns in the data and were formulated based on previous studies (Dolan and Johnson, 2010;Aikens et al, 2016;Bradley et al, 2017;Amaya et al, 2018;Robnett et al, 2018). During the domain analysis, the coding framework was constructed by reading and rereading the data and searching for key words (i.e., domains), and the domains formed the top-level nodes.…”

Missing in Action: Gifted Black Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

“…Declining STEM interest and perceptions are influenced by students’ previous experiences, cultural values, and social interactions (Rodriguez Amaya, Betancourt, Collins, Hinojosa, & Corona, 2018). A decline in STEM interest oftentimes occurs as a result of those factors described above.…”

Analysis of Factors Associated to the Enrollment and Demand of Computing-Related Careers

“…Numerous studies address the various factors related to the preference for enrollement in undergraduate studies (Korkmaz 2015;Wright 2017;Rodríguez et al 2018;Jiang et al 2018;Kuba et al 2018;Fernandes 2018). Korkmaz (2015) mentions that multiple studies have been conducted concerning the professional aspirations of adolescents in different cultures, finding some common intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence career choice.…”