Ocean Discovery Institute’s Model for Empowering Underrepresented Students in STEM: Community-Based, Continuous Belief

Abstract

Across the United States, there is increasing concern about the poor performance of American students in science and our country’s position as a world leader in innovation (National Science Board, 2022). Furthermore, young people are inequitably prepared to fulfill our nation's workforce needs as educational resources and achievement disparities are magnified in youth from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who live in poverty (National Science Board, 2022). Science test scores for students of color who reside in low socioeconomic status communities lag far behind those of Caucasian students and students from more affluent areas (Irwin et al., 2022). These students are also less likely to pursue the higher education necessary for science- and technology-based careers (Fry et al., 2021). As a result, the United States’ scientific workforce does not reflect the population of the nation as a whole; for example, Hispanic individuals represent 18.9% of the US population, but only 8% of jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields (Fry et al., 2021). The Ocean Discovery Institute, a 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1999 to address this problem. Here, we describe Ocean Discovery’s unique model for empowering underrepresented students. It includes (1) embedding students within the community served, (2) reaching all students in a single cluster of schools (a “school-shed”), and (3) a program structure that emphasizes science identity (“belief”) and reinforces it through intentional mentorship.