Abstract
We combined tenets of learning communities and place-based learning to develop an innovative first-year program for STEM students. Using a quasi-experimental design, we found that participants in the place-based learning community had a stronger sense of belonging, improved academic performance, and increased first-year persistence relative to a matched reference group. We also showed that participation narrowed equity gaps in first-year outcomes for students underrepresented in the sciences. A sense of place arises not just from a location, but from interrelationships between people and the natural world, and these results suggest organizing learning around place can promote inclusive student success.
Highlights
American higher education is fraught with inequity
Since 27 students declined to self-report one or more demographic variable, they were removed from further analysis, yielding data for 270 students included in analyses, which corresponded to 18.1% of incoming first-time STEM students over these three years (1489, from which 96 were removed due to missing variables)
While some programs aimed at closing equity gaps focus explicitly on underrepresented students, the place-based learning, the demographics of participants in our opt-in program differed modestly from the full pool of first-year STEM students, mainly in the proportion of students that were college ready in math
Summary
College completion rates in the US continue to be tied disproportionately to race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and family history in higher education. Disproportional degree attainment creates a less diverse professional STEM workforce and small numbers of minoritized people in leadership positions, perpetuating the societal inequities that cause these issues (Gordon, 1986; Gándara, 1999). Closing these equity gaps is essential for improving science by bringing in a wider range of voices and viewpoints, it is a moral imperative (Hale, 2004; National Academy of Sciences, 2011; Riggs, 2018). Broader institutional reforms are urgently needed to disrupt the status quo and fundamentally alter how campuses welcome and support all STEM students (Graham, Frederick, Byars-Winston, Hunter, & Handelsman, 2013; Mack, Winter, & Soto, 2019; Olson & Riordan, 2012)
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