Presenters: Samara Nichols
Authors: Jose Gaspar de Alba, Samara Nichols, Rebeka Greenall
Faculty Advisor: Elizabeth Bailey
Institution: Brigham Young University
We evaluated the intersection between students’ ethnic identities and their science identity, self-efficacy, and alignment with science values paying particular attention to Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) identifying students.Social Influence Theory suggests that students’ retention in science is influenced by three major things: 1) science identity, 2) self-efficacy, and 3) alignment with science values. The patternof persons excluded because of ethnicity or race (PEERs), dropping out of STEM at significantly greater rates than non-PEERs indicates that these students do not integrate into the scientific community at the same rate as nonminority students. Two surveys, at the beginning and at the end of the semester, were distributed in 23 biology classes at five different institutions in three states, with 730 respondents. These surveys contained validated instruments that assess ethnic identity, science identity, self-efficacy, alignment with science values, belongingness, and attitudes toward the environment. Using the collected surveys, we were able to compare responses quantitatively by ethnicity and qualitatively using inductive thematic analysis. We found that NHPI students were not significantly different from non-NHPI students in science identity, and they reported higher levels of self-efficacy (p=.05) and internalization of science value (p=.05) than non-NHPI students. NHPI students also saw their ethnicity as more strengthening to their science identity than non-NHPI students (p=.05). Many NHPI students cited they felt their traditional knowledge was a different form of modern science and that their closeness to nature supported their science identity. Overall Science Identity and Ethnc Identity are complex constructs that interact differently for different students. We anticipate that as we continue going through the qualitative responses we will be able to find further patterns of strengthening and conflicting aspects of the relationship between science and ethnic identity for NHPI students.