Study: Most Common Approach to Diversify STEM Majors Doesn’t Work
Credit: shapecharge / Getty Images- The U.S. education system invests heavily into the idea that high early science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) test scores translate into more students pursuing STEM majors and careers.
- However, a new study found that this pipeline mainly works for white, English-speaking students.
- Black and Latino/a students often experienced microaggressions at school and discouragement from pursuing STEM majors. Just because they tested high in early STEM didn’t mean they were more likely to major in STEM in college.
- The study’s co-author told BestColleges that universities should invest more into communities to educate students and families on STEM opportunities.
The most common policy framework to diversify the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is investing heavily in the early STEM pipeline. It’s the idea that early promise makes students more likely to major in STEM in college and enter the STEM workforce.
However, a new study found that the pipeline only works for white, English-speaking students, leaving out the populations it seeks to serve.
A study published in the American Journal of Education (AJE) found that the traditional pipeline theory for four-year STEM majors mainly applies to English-speaking students, except for Black students. The idea that the pipeline “leaks” students of color holds no value since the pipeline itself does not accurately capture the experiences of all groups.
AJE study co-author Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, New York University (NYU) vice dean for research and equity and associate professor of international education, told BestColleges that the pipeline is built on the idea that hard work pays off and that early test scores should theoretically predict success.
Something that benefits white students, but no other surveyed groups in New York City, according to the study’s findings.
“The story of early test scores matching into STEM in college really describes pathways of white students, which is, to me, not a surprise that these are some of the universal truths that we think because literally they just describe white kids,” Cherng said.
“Although the majority now of public school students are not white, our understanding of how students navigate school systems, all of this is still predicated on the middle-class white student experience.”
Instead, the study argues that when students of color see people like themselves represented in STEM fields, they’re more likely to pursue a STEM major in college.
Societal Expectations for Black, Latino/a, and Asian Students
The AJE study found that many Black and Latino/a, Spanish-speaking middle school students did well on test scores, but that didn’t predict their future in STEM. The opposite was true for East Asian students.
It also referenced previous research that suggested Black and Latino/a students showed the same or higher self-confidence and enjoyment of STEM as Asian American and white students despite having lower levels of academic preparedness and educational opportunity.
The AJE study also highlighted how some students attend schools with little racial/ethnic diversity and encounter unwelcoming and hostile learning environments that often embrace stereotypes that Black and Latino/a students lack the ability to excel in STEM.
Students of Color Discouraged Against STEM
The study found that hostile STEM learning environments prevent Black and Latino/a students from continuing their education in STEM fields.
STEM fields are white-dominated spaces, according to the study, and when Black and Latino/a students don’t see their races represented in STEM careers, it can be discouraging.
The study also referenced other literature that found that Black and Latino/a college students in STEM who had early success in the field were framed as “smart minority kids” and experienced microaggressions and tokenization later in their careers.
Black students encountered more disparaging comments about their abilities from school staff than Latino/a and East Asian students.
In another study that Cherng also co-authored, researchers surveyed New York City Black, Latino/a, and East Asian students and asked about their experiences in STEM and college.
Ayana, a Black student whose last name was left out of the study, told the researchers about an experience with a counselor, a sentiment other surveyed students echoed.
“I was working on the application. I was almost done in a few weeks before the applications are up, and my guidance counselor goes, you’re not gonna get into Columbia. Like there’s no point in you applying,” Ayana said.
The ‘Model Minority’ Stereotype for Asian American students
The reverse is true for East Asian students, Cherng pointed out.
East Asian students are stereotyped as the “model minority,” which the AJE study defines as “the notion that Asian Americans possess cultural traits that make them excel in STEM subjects and careers regardless of the preferences or talents of the individual.”
The AJE study found that Asian American STEM college majors felt that their success was “explained away” because of their race or that they felt pressured by teachers and peers to pursue STEM even if they were interested in other majors.
Cherng, a second-generation Taiwanese American, was also subjected to discrimination for his interest in writing.
“I won this poetry contest in the state of Maryland where I grew up, and my teacher straight up said to me, ‘It doesn’t really matter because you’re going to go into math anyways,'” Cherng told BestColleges.
“And from my own experience, I was always like, ‘My test scores in middle school and high school were great; but I am no longer in STEM right now.’ And it’s because I actually never really liked it that much, but I was pushed into it.”
Still, he said it’s not uncommon for colleagues to assume he’s in New York University’s engineering school.
STEM Identities and How to Nurture Them in Students of Color
The AJE researchers argued that emphasizing earlier and better academic preparation ignores the importance of STEM ideation: how students are socially influenced to pursue STEM.
Cherng said that this concept can be negative or positive.
One version of STEM ideation includes seeing someone who resembles a student’s identity in the field, according to Cherng. He said it’s essential to teach students in neighborhoods of color that there are individuals in STEM careers that reflect their background because they may not learn that at home.
Lauren Mims, NYU assistant professor and director of the applied physiology department, studies how the home learning ecosystem among Black families impacts children’s learning, development, and well-being — especially in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).
“My parents were my first (and the loudest) STEAM cheerleaders when I was growing up,” Mims told BestColleges. “Some of my fondest childhood memories are creating oobleck to learn about solids and liquids in the kitchen and visiting the library to check out nonfiction books about Black women in STEAM.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, her team collaborated with Black entrepreneur Eunique Jones Gibson to launch Brilliant Joy in a Box, a project where 100 families (296 children) making under $30,000 a year in a Midwestern city received Black history home learning boxes.
Each box had materials about a Black history moment or icon, including astronaut Mae Jemison, entrepreneur and cookie creator Wally Amos, and historically Black colleges and universities.
The team encouraged families to engage in the material together. They looked at hundreds of hours of video of math and science learning and found lots of rich conversations.
Cherng identified Mims’ project as an example of STEM ideation done right.
Universities Challenging STEM Stereotypes and Building Early Ideation
Another path to STEM ideation is to educate kids that STEM careers are broader than astronauts, doctors, and engineers.
Cherng said a child of an immigrant may not learn there’s more to STEM careers than being a NASA scientist. In contrast, a child of white parents may grow up learning they can be a pharmacy technician, an X-ray technician, or they can pursue other STEM careers.
Cherng said that universities don’t systematically reach out to K-12 schools that often. He calls for more financial support for summer college programs and other community outreach initiatives.
“There are faculty in every university that will have some engagement with local communities, but how much does the university actually invest, literally, monetarily? Do they have summer programs that are free for K-12 students? Most universities will have summer programs, but they’re completely not free,” Cherng said.
“They’re incredibly for profit, which, ironically, they often call pathway programs … It’s a pathway for rich kids to get into your university.”
Cherng said if students are starting to build STEM ideations in college, it’s already too late because STEM majors have many rigorous prerequisites.
Cherng hopes that politicians and government leaders will look at this study and see that early test scores don’t translate to STEM careers. He said states will change the math curriculum to fix leaks in the pipeline, but if the goal is to boost test scores, it is mainly helping white students.
“It’s not saying that test scores absolutely don’t matter, but there are going to be more white kids that go into STEM than Black and Latinx kids by proportion,” Cherng told BestColleges.