INCREASING CONFIDENCE TO IMPLEMENT CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING PRACTICES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: INVESTIGATING THE IMPACTS OF A BOOK STUDY FOR STEM EDUCATORS

In recent years, both the number of jobs and the rates of pay for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations has continued to increase, while disproportionalities by gender and race in these areas persist. These disproportionalities can be traced back to opportunity gaps in college. Transforming STEM education in higher education in culturally responsive ways is imperative to increasing representation and opportunities for historically underrepresented students. One way of doing so may be through professional development through book clubs. This study explored the impact of involving engineering faculty members in understanding and applying culturally responsive teaching through participation in self-guided learning activities, discussions, and a book club reading of Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students, by Zaretta Hammond [Hammond, Z. (2014). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press]. This study found that participating in these modules and the book study produced statistically significant (p < 0.05) positive gains in culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy for university engineering faculty members. This collaboration across content areas suggests positive teaching and learning impacts in bringing a traditionally K-12 education-oriented text into STEM education at the college level.