Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.
Department of Physics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2022 Mar 23;17(3):e0264861. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264861. eCollection 2022.
In this paper, we report ethnicity trends in student participation and experience in high school science and engineering fair (SEFs). SEF participation showed significant ethnic diversity. For survey students, the approximate distribution was Asian-32%; Black-11%; Hispanic-20%; White-33%; Other-3%. Comparing the SEF level at which students competed from school to district to region to state levels, we observed that black students made up only 4.5% of the students who participated in SEF beyond the school level, whereas students from other ethnic groups were more equally represented at all levels. The lower percentage of Black students resulted from a combination of lower overall participation in SEF and lower percentage of those students who did participate to advance to SEFs beyond the school level. Students who advanced to SEFs beyond the school level frequently received help from scientists, coaching for the interview, and were not required to participate in SEF. Black students received the least help from scientists, were least likely to receive coaching for the interview, and were most likely to be required to participate in SEF. They also were most likely to receive no help from parents, teachers, or scientists. Asian and Hispanic students (63.8% and 56.8%) indicated a greater interest in careers in science and engineering (S&E) compared to Black and White students (43.7% & 50.7%). In addition to career interest, the most important experiences that correlated with students who indicated that SEF increased their interests in S&E were getting help from the internet, books and magazines; getting help fine tuning the report; and overcoming obstacles by doing more background research, making a timeline, and perseverance. Black students did not report a positive effect of any of these strategies but experienced time pressure as more of an obstacle than did other students. Our findings identify a wide range of student experiences associated with positive SEF outcomes that could be enhanced for all students but especially Black students. More involvement of scientists in helping students who participate in SEFs would be particularly valuable.
本文报告了学生参与和体验高中科学与工程博览会（SEF）的种族趋势。SEF 参与显示出显著的种族多样性。对于调查学生，大致分布为亚裔-32%；黑人-11%；西班牙裔-20%；白人-33%；其他-3%。比较学生从学校到地区到地区到州级参加 SEF 的水平，我们观察到，黑人学生在超越学校级别的 SEF 中仅占 4.5%，而来自其他族裔群体的学生在各级别的代表性更为均衡。黑人学生的比例较低是由于他们整体上参与 SEF 的比例较低，以及参与到超越学校级别的 SEF 的学生比例较低。那些在超越学校级别的 SEF 中取得进步的学生经常得到科学家的帮助、面试辅导，并且不需要参加 SEF。黑人学生从科学家那里得到的帮助最少，最不可能接受面试辅导，最有可能被要求参加 SEF。他们也最不可能得到父母、教师或科学家的帮助。亚裔和西班牙裔学生（63.8%和 56.8%）表示对科学和工程职业（S&E）的兴趣比黑人学生（43.7%）和白人学生（50.7%）更大。除了职业兴趣外，与那些表示 SEF 增加了他们对 S&E 兴趣的学生相关的最重要的经历是，从互联网、书籍和杂志中获得帮助；获得帮助微调报告；并通过进行更多的背景研究、制定时间表和坚持不懈来克服障碍。黑人学生没有报告任何这些策略的积极影响，但与其他学生相比，他们认为时间压力是一个更大的障碍。我们的研究结果确定了与积极的 SEF 结果相关的广泛的学生体验，这些体验可以为所有学生，尤其是黑人学生提供增强。科学家更多地参与帮助参加 SEF 的学生将特别有价值。
