FACILITATING SCIENCE IDENTITY AND PROMOTING INCLUSIVITY IN GEOSCIENCE THROUGH EXEMPLARS: A LONGITUDINAL HIGH-SCHOOL INTERVENTION IN NEWARK, NJ

During college, high proportions of proficient underrepresented minority (URM) students are not retained in STEM majors, resulting in the loss of qualified talent. One solution is to recruit and retain more URM students to geoscience and STEM fields. Although most interventions focus on college students, the present one focuses on URM high school students. The intervention is a 4-week Geoscience Summer Scholars Institute in applied geosciences. URM high school students from Newark, NJ are exposed to careers in the geosciences through field trips, hands-on activities, a research project and presentations by URM professionals from the Newark area. Four Newark Public School teachers assisted by ten URM college students also from Newark ran the program. This early-stage, geoscience intervention allows students to develop an interest in science prior to college with the underlying goal of pursuing a geoscience career. In line with research on exposure to STEM exemplars, students are given opportunities to interact with a diverse community of science professionals, teachers, undergraduate mentors, and like-minded peers. According to stereotype inoculation model, the common identities shared by the URM high-school students and mentors should facilitate science identity. Results indicate that two cohorts of students (N = 77) from the summers of 2018 and 2019 exhibit increased science identity, interest in science, science self-efficacy, and plans to pursue a career in science. Further analyses reveal that positive relationships with undergraduate peer mentors underlie increases in science identity. URM undergraduate mentors represent influential in-group role models, because they demonstrate that someone from a similar background can achieve success in STEM. This subjective identification allows high-school students to imagine themselves following a similar career trajectory. Promoting early URM student interest in geoscience can increase STEM diversity as well as US scientific and economic prosperity.