ERIC Number: EJ1457520
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1571-0068
EISSN: EISSN-1573-1774
Critical Mentorship in Undergraduate Research Experience BUILDs Science Identity and Self-Efficacy
Sungmin Moon; Shu-Sha Angie Guan; Jose H. Vargas; Judith C. P. Lin; Patchareeya Kwan; Carrie L. Saetermoe; Gilberto Flores; Gabriela Chavira
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, v23 n2 p321-341 2025
In 2014, the NIH Diversity Program Consortium (DPC) launched an initiative to implement and evaluate novel interventions at a variety of academic institutions across the country to engage undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds in biomedically-related research. The local intervention examined in the current study provides Critical Race Theory (CRT)-informed mentoring, more broadly called critical mentoring, for its participants. We examined the relationship between critical mentoring and student outcomes. In this study, student outcomes consisted of three components: (a) mentor satisfaction, (b) science identity, and (c) science self-efficacy. To determine student outcomes, we used the 2020 Student Annual Follow-up Survey (SAFS). We found that participants in the intervention program reported higher levels of critical mentoring than non-intervention participants and critical mentoring was, in turn, predictive of higher. mentorship satisfaction, science identity, and science self-efficacy. This finding implies that the CRT-informed intervention was more effective by developing an environment in which high-quality, critical mentors influenced students' sense of science identity and self-efficacy. Additionally, we also found that intervention participants reported higher science identity and science self-efficacy than non-intervention participants, which suggests that the intervention cultivated science identity and self-efficacy in other ways outside of critical mentorship as well. The current study highlights how participation in an intervention program can increase science identity and self-efficacy, two factors predictive of science career intentions. The connection between critical mentoring practices and increased science identity and self-efficacy underscores the significance of culturally and racially relevant social support in science education.
Descriptors: Undergraduate Students, Science Education, Biomedicine, Critical Race Theory, Student Diversity, Mentors, Science Interests, Scientific Attitudes, Scientific Research, Science Achievement, Self Concept, Self Efficacy, Program Effectiveness, Culturally Relevant Education, STEM Careers
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH) (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: RL5GM118975