2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 53: Engagement in Practice: Strengthening Student’s STEM Identity Through Service

Presented at Community Engagement Division Poster Session - Exploring the Transformative Power of Service, Engagement, and Research

This Engagement in Practice paper studies STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related volunteering activities in collaboration with community partners to assess its impact on STEM identity (the ability to see oneself as a STEM professional) and self-efficacy. Service through volunteering has been shown to be correlated with growth in social behavior and academic aptitude. These activities have the potential to promote an individual’s growth and belonging to the profession. Although found beneficial, there are limited studies that address the impact of STEM volunteering on STEM identity and STEM efficacy (the belief in one’s ability to succeed in STEM). The current research is focused on STEM volunteering as opposed to service learning (service tied to a course curriculum). Our hypothesis is students who are engaged in STEM-related services increase their STEM identity and STEM efficacy, and the impact is dependent on the length and recurrence of the service provided. To test these hypotheses, we piloted standalone short-term (days), medium-term (2 weeks), and long-term or continuous (months) STEM-related service projects. Service projects are either internal to Wilbur Wright College or in collaboration with community organizations. We used pre- and post-belonging surveys and case study interviews to assess the impact of volunteering on STEM identity and self-efficacy. Long-term service projects are in progress and assessment will be performed at the end of the projects. Preliminary results from the short-term and medium-term service projects indicate an increase in STEM efficacy and belongingness to the STEM community. Participants also expressed interest in future volunteering activities. In the future, we will be expanding the research with more community partners and analysis will compare the impact on STEM identity and self-efficacy from all three terms. Long-term service will also be compared to multiple short-term services to determine if the length of the volunteering activities has a cumulative impact on STEM identity and self-efficacy.

Authors

Selvin Yovani Tobar [biography]

Selvin Tobar is completing his Associate in Engineering Science (AES) at City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College in the class of 2023. Selvin is admitted to Wright as an Engineering Pathway student in Fall 2022 and will pursue his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Fall 2023.
Bara Maisara Zalloum [biography]

Bara Zalloum completed Associates in Engineering Science (AES) at the City Colleges of Chicago Wilbur Wright College in the Engineering Pathways Program. He is pursuing a BS in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in Fall of 2022. Bara was the President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and the Membership Director of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) at Wilbur Wright Student Chapters. He was a volunteer math tutor, a near-peer mentor and a research assistant within the National Science Foundation's "Building Bridges into Engineering and Computer Science" research grant under the Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program.
Anna N. Le
Yessenia Nicacio-Rosales [biography]

Yessenia Nicacio-Rosales is completing her Associate in Engineering Science (AES) at City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College in the summer of 2023. Yessenia was admitted to Wright as an Engineering Pathway student in Fall 2021, and will pursue her bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in Fall 2023.
Dr. Doris J. Espiritu Wilbur Wright College- One of the City Colleges of Chicago [biography]

Doris Espiritu is the Senior Advisor to Provost, Dean of the Center of Excellence for Engineering and Computer Science, and Professor of Chemistry at City Colleges of Chicago-Wilbur Wright College. Doris Espiritu is one of the first National Science Foundation’s research awardees under the Hispanic- Serving Institutions (HSI) Program. She pioneered Engineering at Wright and had grown the Engineering program enrollment by 1500% within four years. Doris founded six student chapters of national organizations including the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and nine times Outstanding Chapter Awardee, the American Chemical Society-Wright College Chapter. Doris promotes collaboration between K-12 schools, other community colleges, 4-year institutions, non-profit
organizations, and industries. Doris’ current research is to design and implement practices that develop Community of Practice (CoP), Professional Identity, and Self-Efficacy to increase diversity in Engineering and Computer Science and to streamline transfer from community colleges to 4-year institutions

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