Building undergraduate STEM identity, confidence and skills through prosocial research: the community air research experience

The Community Air Research Experience (CARE) was a National Science Foundation funded project led by Loyola University Chicago in collaboration with Colorado State University, the Edgewater Environmental Coalition, and the Southeast Environmental Task Force. CARE established a geosciences learning ecosystem aimed at building undergraduate students’ STEM interest, research skills, and familiarity with geosciences careers. Through CARE, 16 students, including several with social identities that are underrepresented in STEM fields, participated in a research-intensive learning community in two cohorts, one in 2022 and the other in 2023. CARE students conducted research on air pollution in the Chicago metropolitan region. A key premise of the CARE educational model was that faculty could increase students’ interests and competencies in the Geosciences by engaging them in research activities on issues that directly affect local communities. We examined this premise using evidence gathered through direct observation, student-produced artifacts, pre/post questionnaires, and interviews. Five programmatic elements contributed to undergraduates’ increased STEM identity, confidence, and skills: authentic research experience, sustained mentorship, career capital, cohort building, and community engagement. Collaboration with community-based environmental organizations was an especially powerful motivator for students’ STEM interests. As a STEM education model, CARE reinforces extant knowledge of high impact teaching and learning that promotes undergraduates’ STEM identity. We also expand that knowledge by offering recommendations addressing practical dilemmas that arise when engaging undergraduates in research on air quality or other environmental issues (e.g., water, soil) in collaboration with community partners.