TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultural identity central to Native American persistence in science
AU - Chow-Garcia, Nizhoni
AU - Lee, Naomi
AU - Svihla, Vanessa
AU - Sohn, Claira
AU - Willie, Scott
AU - Holsti, Maija
AU - Wandinger-Ness, Angela
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all of those involved in advancing the training and education of Native American students in science and in particular, the many research mentors that worked directly with the students. From the NIH, we would like to specifically identify the current and past NIH Native Scholars, Dr. Katherine Roche (NINDS Training Director), all the staff for the NINDS summer internship program (Dr. Rita Devine, Ms. Mary Kiganda, Ms. Vivian Yang, Mr. Chris Patterson) and Dr. Walter Koroshetz, Director of NINDS, and Dr. Dorothy Castille, Health Science Administrator (NIMHD). From UNM, we thank Ms. Loretta Esquibel for providing support for the CURE program. We gratefully acknowledge the teachers and counselors at Santa Fe Indian School, and the Native American Community Academy for recommending their students to the UNM CURE. We would also like to thank Dr. Raj (Vallabh) Shah and the Zuni Tribal Council members for encouraging student participation in the 2018 CURE and Zuni internship program focused on cancer research. Finally, from NARI, we thank all the staff, dedicated mentors, and tribal advisors.
Funding Information:
Funding for study design and data collection was supported by the NIH grant 5K12GM088021-08 while Lee was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of New Mexico. Travel to collect interviews at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society national conference in Denver, CO, was supported by the Native Investigator Development Program [NIH/NIA P30AG015292]. The participants in the programs were supported by the Division of Intramural Research and the Office of the Director at the NINDS (NINDS students), NIH grants NHLBI R25HL108828 and NIDDK R25DK109894 (NARI), and the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities’ Continuing Umbrella of Research Experiences-CURE at UNM [NIH/NCI P30CA118100 supplements (10S2)]. Manuscript preparation and submission supported Lee (NCI U54CA143925 and NIMHD 1U54MD012388-01); Willie and Holsti (NHLBI R25HL108828 and NIDDK R25DK109894); Wandinger-Ness (NIGMS K12GM088021 and NCI P30CA118100).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/6
Y1 - 2022/6
N2 - Native Americans are the least represented population in science fields. In recent years, undergraduate and graduate level summer research programs that aimed to increase the number of Native Americans in science have made some progress. As new programs are designed, key characteristics that address science self-efficacy and science identity and provide supports for Native American students’ commitment to a scientific career should be considered. In this study, we used sequential mixed methods to investigate the potential of culturally tailored internship programs on Native American persistence in science. We analyzed surveys (n = 47) and interviews (n = 4) with Native American students to understand their perceptions of themselves in relation to science research and how summer research experiences might develop science identities. Based on regression modeling, science identity, but not science self-efficacy, predicted intent to persist in science. In turn, science self-efficacy and Native American identity predicted science identity, and this suggests cultural identity is central to Native American persistence in science. In interviews, students’ comments reinforced these findings and shed light on students’ reasoning about the kinds of science experiences they sought; specifically, they chose to participate in culturally tailored internships because these programs provided a sense of belonging to the scientific community that did not conflict with their cultural identities. Based on our analysis, we propose an Indigenous science internship model and recommend that agencies target funding for culturally tailored programs from high school through early-investigator levels as well as provide inclusive programmatic and mentoring guidelines.
AB - Native Americans are the least represented population in science fields. In recent years, undergraduate and graduate level summer research programs that aimed to increase the number of Native Americans in science have made some progress. As new programs are designed, key characteristics that address science self-efficacy and science identity and provide supports for Native American students’ commitment to a scientific career should be considered. In this study, we used sequential mixed methods to investigate the potential of culturally tailored internship programs on Native American persistence in science. We analyzed surveys (n = 47) and interviews (n = 4) with Native American students to understand their perceptions of themselves in relation to science research and how summer research experiences might develop science identities. Based on regression modeling, science identity, but not science self-efficacy, predicted intent to persist in science. In turn, science self-efficacy and Native American identity predicted science identity, and this suggests cultural identity is central to Native American persistence in science. In interviews, students’ comments reinforced these findings and shed light on students’ reasoning about the kinds of science experiences they sought; specifically, they chose to participate in culturally tailored internships because these programs provided a sense of belonging to the scientific community that did not conflict with their cultural identities. Based on our analysis, we propose an Indigenous science internship model and recommend that agencies target funding for culturally tailored programs from high school through early-investigator levels as well as provide inclusive programmatic and mentoring guidelines.
KW - Cultural identity
KW - Indigenous
KW - Mentoring
KW - Science identity
KW - Summer internship
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123884326&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85123884326&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11422-021-10071-7
DO - 10.1007/s11422-021-10071-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123884326
SN - 1871-1502
VL - 17
SP - 557
EP - 588
JO - Cultural Studies of Science Education
JF - Cultural Studies of Science Education
IS - 2
ER -