Work in Progress: California challenges in STEM energy education through human-centered design process: A cooperative adaptive-learning approach to academic success for underserved students

Abstract

Significant educational equity gaps exist in STEM fields for underrepresented minority (URM) students who live in the San Joaquin Valley. For this paper, URM students are defined as nonwhite and non-Asian, though it is recognized that there are subpopulations of URM students within each of these non-URM groups. Some equity gaps present themselves as differences in academic achievement between underrepresented minority URM students and non-URM students or women in STEM fields and arise due to numerous academic and social factors. Significant factors for attrition are perceptions about careers in the STEM fields, poor experiences with the academic culture and teaching pedagogy, and declining confidence due to demanding curriculum. One study shows that students without early exposure to real-world applications of their major, that give positive insight into potential careers, do not always connect with upper-classmen to use as successful peer role models. This research has shown that access to peer role models increases academic persistence [1], [2]. It has also been shown that retention of URM and women is increased through project-based learning or experiential learning pedagogies and techniques[3]-[9]. Moreover, URM students often have a limited perspective of their contributions to improving technology due to social issues such as a lack of exposure to engineering and science professions and having personal role models in their local community who are scientists or engineers. Furthermore, when URM students enter STEM fields, many fail to see the connection between their studies and real-world problems because gateway courses in current curricula fail to make that connection explicit [10]. Since 2009 national engineering enrollments have increased by 31% overall, showing an increase in URM interest in engineering fields (Figure 1) [11]. While growing numbers of URMs are enrolling in engineering programs across the country, the percentage of non-URM students has decreased as URM students are becoming more proportionally represented in this field. Over this period, URM students have seen a 3% increase in enrollment, and female engineering enrollment increased by 31% in 2018, respectively [11]. These national trends show a redistribution of the engineering student diversity with an increase in URM and Female student enrollments. These trends are being felt across the country and in particular, in the San Joaquin Valley, where some of these trends are more evident (Figure 1, Figure 2).