Building Undergraduate Professional Identity and Persistence in the Pharmaceutical Sciences through Inquiry-Team-Based Lab Courses

Abstract

<b>Abstract ID 16397</b> <b>Poster Board 188</b> <b>Hypothesis:</b> One of the strongest predictors of student persistence in the pharmaceutical sciences is the formation of a professional identity as a pharmacologist. However, underrepresented 1st generation and minoritized students face additional challenges of opportunity gaps and identity threat that prevents them from having the socialization to the authentic pharmacologist experiences that are vital for developing a pharmacologist professional identity. While laboratory courses are often the formative experiences for undergraduates9 identity formation, traditionally designed lab courses often don9t explicitly socialize students to authentic inquiry-based pharmacologist experiences nor provide the psychological safety necessary for underrepresented students to fully engage in team-based learning. The research team hypothesizes that professional identity formation may be promoted in undergraduate students by implementing an authentic inquiry-team-based learning (ITBL) STEM laboratory course design. <b>Methods:</b> The pharmaceutical sciences laboratory course was redesigned with inquiry-team-based principals of authentic student discovery, explicit team roles, psychologically safe engagement, and reflection on individual responsibilities to the research team. Undergraduate juniors and seniors enrolled in the ITBL-based pharmaceutical science lab course or an otherwise comparative traditionally-designed biology lab course were compared for traits predictive of persistence in the sciences using the experimentally validated Persistence in the Sciences (PITS) survey and an open-ended question asking them to recount a moment that validated or questioned their science identity. Univariate analyses and a codebook validated for initial interrater reliability based on Cohen’s Kappa determined the effect of ITBL STEM lab course design on factors that may impact underrepresented students’ indicators of professional identity formation. <b>Results:</b> Students taking an ITBL-based pharmaceutical sciences lab course demonstrated an improved sense of professional identity compared to students in the traditionally designed biology lab. With exception of non-white males, ITBL lab students demonstrated significantly higher subsection PITS scores in Project Ownership-Emotion while white students had higher Project Ownership-Content and non-white female students reported higher Science Identity. Interestingly, both first-generation and continuous generation students demonstrated enhanced Project Ownership-Content and Project Ownership-Emotion, but only continuous generation students demonstrated enhanced Science Identity and Networking in the ITBL lab. Students cited multiple mechanisms such as validating science identity through gaining confidence in individualistic laboratory performance, collaborating through learning barriers and fostering confidence and societal impact in a future career in pharmacy. <b>Conclusion:</b> The pharmaceutical sciences ITBL lab offered a collaborative, growth-promoting environment with experiments that are authentic to perspective pharmacologists, which resulted in students reporting higher persistence in the sciences scores indicative of feeling like a pharmacologist such as project ownership content/emotion, science identity, and networking across various student demographics.