Assessing African-American and Latino Middle School Student Engagement and Motivation to Persist in STEM Domains

Abstract

This study used a quasi experimental design to compare two groups of African American and Latino middle school students' pre- and post engagement after exposure to one of two STEM-related opportunities to learn: one with culturally relevant pedagogy anchored by elements of cognitive apprenticeship; the other without. African-American and Latino middle school students (n=121) recruited from 29 of the lowest performing middle schools in a large urban school district participated. Results indicated no statistically significant change in pre- or post levels of engagement as a result of the different instructional formats. Students exposed to STEM using culturally relevant pedagogy maintained and slightly improved math performance weeks after the program ended; the later group showed a sharp decline in math achievement after the program ended. While it is inconclusive which elements of culturally relevant pedagogy, or cognitive apprenticeship directly affected student math outcomes, this study sets the stage for continued empirical research on how the culture of the learning environment can be adjusted to support minority student engagement and persistence in STEM domains.