PERSISTENCE IN GEOSCIENCE FROM PSYCHOSOCIAL PREDICTORS OF BLACK STUDENTS AT A HBCU

Psychosocial predictors of science persistence are assessments designed to tap changes in students’ science self-efficacy, science identity, science career expectations, and perceptions of belongingness to the science community after participating in a program. Here we present analysis of data collected from summer participation of seventeen STEM majors in the summers of 2022-2024. Students responded to the same items on the pre-survey and the post-survey using a scale that ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Wilcoxon Matched-Paired Signed Ranks Tests were conducted to examine changes in students’ responses from pre-survey to post-survey. Although gains on items within all of the scales did not reach statistical significance, when pre-survey and post-survey differed, the differences in items in three scales (science self-efficacy, science identity, and belongingness to science community) were in the hoped-for direction. Students self-reported Geoscience Skills between pre-survey and post-survey show they gained in all 15 survey items although gains varied significantly - highest reported gains were in geophysical techniques they learnt during the summer program such as Using Seismic Analysis Code (SAC) software, designing a resistivity survey; the lower reported gains were in skills regarding identifying rocks and minerals and understanding of plate boundaries. Students self-reported changes in professional skills-retrospectively reflecting before and after program, 13 skill items two showed no gains communicating effectively with others and problem solving, neutral on keeping a detailed lab/field notebook, maximum gain in organizing and interpreting data and calibrating instruments needed for measurements. Students self-reported changes in persistence in science pre-survey responses are relatively high for all questions, leaving less room for growth (e.g., a ceiling effect), particularly for the self-efficacy and career expectations questions. Importantly, growth in key areas of science identity and belonging to the science community are seen in the data. The data collected match with students from the earlier years graduating on time and finding employment in STEM fields and one student graduating with a biology degree from FVSU successfully transferring to a graduate program in geophysics.