Matching Items (2)
Filtering by
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
This study examined opportunities for enhancing transfer outcomes for community college students through summer research opportunities at a university. It emphasizes the significance of academic capital, derived from Bourdieu's cultural capital theory, in facilitating successful transfers. By offering ten-week paid summer research opportunities at a university for community college students, the study aims to identify practices supporting transfer abilities and addressing disparities in social mobility. The concept of academic capital encompasses easing financial concerns, enhancing support networks, and ensuring access to relevant information for students from low-income backgrounds. The research findings highlight the positive impact of research internships on students' academic capital, transfer readiness, and faculty perceptions. The study addresses three key research questions: (1) Academic capital increase: Analyzing changes in community college students' academic capital post participation in summer research projects; (2) Student transfer perceptions: Examining how summer research opportunities influence community college students' perceptions of transferring to four-year programs; (3) Faculty views on student success: Investigating faculty mentors' perceptions of community college student interns succeeding in baccalaureate programs. The findings underscore increases in academic capital, improved student perceptions of transfer capacity, and positive faculty views of community college student researchers. Despite challenges like payment delays and legal status issues affecting student participation, the study highlights the importance of providing support and opportunities for community college students to enhance their academic capital and improve transfer readiness. The research emphasizes the need for tailored transitional supports and strategic infrastructure changes to ensure successful transfers from two-year to four-year programs, ultimately aiming to uplift social mobility for diverse learners and advance educational and industry goals.
ContributorsNolan Chavez, Holly E (Author) / Dorn, Sherman (Thesis advisor) / Hesse, Maria (Committee member) / Prince, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Similar-identity role models, including instructors, can benefit science undergraduates by enhancing their self-efficacy and sense of belonging. However, for students to have similar-identity role models based on identities that can be hidden, instructors need to disclose their identities. For concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs) – identities that can be hidden and carry negative stereotypes – the impersonal and apolitical culture cultivated in many science disciplines likely makes instructor CSI disclosure unlikely. This dissertation comprises five studies I conducted to assess the presence of instructor role models with CSIs in undergraduate science classrooms and evaluate the impact on undergraduates of instructor CSI disclosure. I find that science instructors report CSIs at lower rates than undergraduates and typically keep these identities concealed. Additionally, I find that women instructors are more likely to disclose their CSIs to students compared to men. To assess the impact of instructor CSI disclosure on undergraduates, I report on findings from a descriptive exploratory study and a controlled field experiment in which an instructor reveals an LGBTQ+ identity. Undergraduates, especially those who also identify as LGBTQ+, benefit from instructor LGBTQ+ disclosure. Additionally, the majority of undergraduate participants agree that an instructor revealing an LGBTQ+ identity during class is appropriate. Together, the results presented in this dissertation highlight the current lack of instructor role models with CSIs and provide evidence of student benefits that may encourage instructors to reveal CSIs to undergraduates and subsequently provide much-needed role models. I hope this work can spark self-reflection among instructors to consider revealing CSIs to students and challenge the assumption that science environments should be devoid of personal identities.
ContributorsBusch, Carly Anne (Author) / Cooper, Katelyn (Thesis advisor) / Brownell, Sara (Thesis advisor) / Collins, James (Committee member) / Zheng, Yi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024