Science identity, which individuals develop by demonstrating competence, gaining recognition as a scientist (Carlone & Johnson, 2007) and performing as a scientist, supports students' persistence in STEM (Chang, Eagan, Lin & Hurtado, 2011).
Authors Eagan, Romero and Zhong analyzed students’ science identity data from Enhance Diversity Study surveys provided at the beginning and toward the end of the first year from four BUILD institutions who admit freshmen to their program.
Those BUILD-exposed freshmen, when compared with their demographic and academic twins not involved in the program, showed stronger science identities at the end of freshman year.
The study attributes the differences in their growth to pre-college factors like high school grades and intended major, access to hands-on research and summer/academic year mentorship. Even after considering all of these factors, students' participation in the BUILD program provided an additional boost to their first-year science identity. Further investigation is needed to unpack what contributes to this boost in science identity.
Read the full publication, "BUILDing an Early Advantage: An Examination of the Role of Strategic Interventions in Developing First-Year Undergraduate Students’ Science Identity."
To learn more about the research, read a summary here.
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The Diversity Program Consortium Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA is supported by Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health / National Institutes of General Medical Sciences under award number U54GM119024.
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