The influence of racial and mathematical identities on African American male engineering transfer students

Abstract

In 2012, African American male (AAM) students made up 4% of the currently enrolled male college students in engineering according to the National Science Foundation (2012). AAM students often begin their higher education journey at community colleges. According to the 2011 American Association of Community Colleges report, 44% of African American students attend community colleges. Many community college students hope to transfer into 4-year institution to complete a baccalaureate degree. There is a desire and determination to facilitate student transfer from community colleges into 4-year institutions. That being acknowledged, it is hard to miss the deficit lens through which AAM student populations are viewed. AAM students are often portrayed as victims; blamed for their lack of success, persistence to degree, or not transferring to a 4-year institution; or portrayed as academically underprepared and require taking academic developmental courses1,2. These unsuccessful performances, project blame or fault on individual students due to delaying their academic goals attributed to economical and personal obligations. This research critically explores some pathways of AAM engineering transfer students through the conceptual lens of racial and mathematical identities. This work focuses on students who are currently enrolled at 4-year institutions and who have attended community colleges at one point in their academic careers in the pursuit of engineering degrees. Racial identity development research literature indicates that racial identity is based on an individual's perception that is shared by a common racial heritage with a particular group3,4,5,6. Research shows that African American students who have a strong racial identity are better equipped to navigate negative climates, deal with racism, and tend to have strong self-esteem7,8,9,10. Mathematical identities are constructs that look at the individual's beliefs, attitudes and feelings towards mathematics11,12,13. These identities describe the student's ability to perform mathematics and how the student's experience learning mathematics as a process where the classroom environment is treated as a broad context. Cultural models are often used to represent mathematical identity constructs, such as "math is hard" and "math is for geeks"12. These cultural models can enhance or hinder student's relationship with mathematics11,12. The theoretical significance of this work is to tighten existing literature gaps in underrepresented students at community colleges and transfer students into 4-year institutions. It also contributes to the racial and mathematical identities constructs; and provides practical significance with the potential to increase engineering enrollment in 2- and 4-year institutions, increase underrepresented participants' understanding and awareness of their own racial and mathematical identities, and inform and improve professional development of math educators in academic settings. This work consist of an exhaustive review of peer-reviewed journals and scholarly research work related to AAM engineering transfer students, with a major focus on racial and mathematical identity constructs. Major themes and sub-themes that run through these articles will be discussed in detail in this work to bring meaning and closer answers to the question of how do racial and mathematical identities shape the transfer experience of African American engineering male students who attend 4-year institutions. The author includes their own critique of this body of literature.