Factores que determinan el éxito académico de los estudiantes en las áreas de ciencia, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas (STEM)

Resumen

STEM literacy fosters the development of competencies and skills needed to enhance citizens' active participation. However, barriers associated with ethnicity, racial group, and gender limit equal access to STEM education required for the XXI Century. To reduce educational disparities and "patched the STEM pipeline," governments have developed different initiatives to support underrepresented students with educational interventions and research training programs. Research training programs offer students an authentic educational experience that enables them to learn STEM disciplinary knowledge and skills while working under the mentorship, thus fostering the integration of the student to the scientific community and promoting their retentionin different STEM fields. Even though the literature supports the creation and funding of research programs in underrepresented students, the empirical studies that support students' gains andanalyze the factors that promote Hispanic students' academic and professional success in STEM are scarce. Within this context, using mixed-method research, the general objective of the following dissertation was to identify factors that facilitate Hispanic students' persistence and success in STEM careers. Specifically, we integrated an exploratory sequential design following the instrument development model that recommends the implementation of two strands; the first one incorporated a qualitative approach followed by a quantitative phase. During the qualitative phase of the study, we interviewed five faculty members that direct research programs. Seven factors emerged from the content analysis and were used to develop a questionnaire. We evaluated the instrument psychometric properties with an expert panel and an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis during the quantitative phase...