A Community-Based, Culturally Engaging STEM Learning Environment and Its Impact on Students’ Psychosocial Attributes at a Rural Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI)

Using the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model, this qualitative study examined development of psychosocial attributes (i.e., sense of belonging, science identity, and self-efficacy) among 1st-year life science undergraduate students who participated in integrated and culturally engaging research activities at New Mexico Highlands University, a rural Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Research activities were part of a project called SomosSTEM [We are STEM], which included four major components: 1) course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) that are laboratory modules integrated into introductory life science classes; 2) summer Bridge Science Challenge Academy for 1st-year students; 3) full summer internship program; and 4) Community Voices lecture series. We found the integrated nature of SomosSTEM represents an engaging learning environment that positively impacted students' perceptions of their development of psychosocial attributes. This paper's significance is it outlines specific, integrated activities that are also community-based and culturally engaging. We discuss community-based and culturally engaging learning environments as a viable solution to the problem of individualistic and exclusionary learning environments.