THE IMPACTS OF STEREOTYPE THREAT ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN GEOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

Historically marginalized groups face significant barriers to participation and success in the geosciences. One particular issue is stereotype threat, a widely studied social psychological concept that seeks to understand how situational factors can contribute to systematic differences in performance ability. The theory proposes that the fear of confirming negative stereotypes as characteristic of oneself or one’s group may cause underperformance on tests of ability. A test with demographic stereotype-based questions included either before (n=94) or after (n=89) a series of academic questions was administered to undergraduate geological sciences and geological engineering students. Preliminary data indicates differences in academic achievement between the two groups, though results are inconclusive and further data collection is required. Proposed methods for a second round of data collection will be presented, addressing the limitations of previously collected data, including small sample sizes and lack of demographic data collection of the cohort overall. We posit that students who receive demographic stereotype-based questions before an academic test will perform worse than those who receive stereotype-based questions after the same academic test. It is also hypothesized that students with marginalized intersectional identities will be most affected by stereotype threat. However, factors including overall student demographic information of the program, the year of study the student is in, the demographics of teaching staff, and the overall culture of the university may contribute to differing effects of stereotype threat. Further research on this topic is imperative to improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in university geoscience programs in North America.