Educational Experiences and Their Influence on Developing STEM Identities in Students

This dissertation includes three papers, Encouraging Future Engineers: A Look at Undergraduate Research Opportunities, Making Math Matter: Exploring the Influence of Relevance on Student Math Attitudes, and Exploring Science Identities in Upper Elementary Classrooms, addressing questions of STEM identity across both student developmental levels and different STEM domains. These papers explored educational experiences and their influence on students’ engineering identity and engineering career aspirations in undergraduate students (paper 1), math attitudes in adolescent students (paper 2), and science identity during late childhood (paper 3). Educational and psychological factors that may influence students’ STEM identity development were explored to better understand ways in which we can foster STEM identity in students and particularly in those that have been typically marginalized in STEM spaces. This work also aimed to expand the literature by exploring these concepts earlier in education, prioritize student voice, and consider educational implications for STEM classrooms in the U.S. Across this work, themes emerged when exploring student development, the cognitive and psychological constructs that contribute to STEM identity and attitudes, and implications for educational practices. The results from these studies highlight the importance of hands-on experiences that match students' perceptions of what scientists do in the field. Additionally, fostering experiences that promote students' self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and science curiosity are important for building a students' STEM identity. Implications for educational practices were explored.