Presenting Author:

Janet Rocha, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator:

Clyde Yancy, M.D.

Department:

Medical Social Sciences

Keywords:

high school program, access and opportunity, enrichment education, collaborative partnership, empowerment, future leader... [Read full text] high school program, access and opportunity, enrichment education, collaborative partnership, empowerment, future leaders, underrepresented minorities, closing the gap, healthcare professions [Shorten text]

Location:

Third Floor, Feinberg Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital

E11 - Education

STEM-Ming the Barriers to Opportunity Through Science & Research Projects for High School Students

BACKGROUND According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, African Americans and Latinos make up 30 percent of the general U.S. population. Yet, only 10 percent of U.S. physicians are underrepresented minorities (URM): 5 percent is represented by each aforementioned group. Similarly, 3.3 percent (65 of 2000) of the NM Hospital’s physician (MDs) are URM, while 17 percent (28 of 163) of the 2016 entering class are part of the University’s URM medical student population. However, for fiscal year ‘18, the incoming residency class for NU FSM will be comprised of 20 percent URM physicians. Given the persistent disparities, Northwestern Medicine (Northwestern Memorial HealthCare and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine) joined forces with George Westinghouse College Prep, a Chicago Public High School located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. Collaboratively, launched a transformative high school program, known as the Northwestern Medicine® Scholars at Westinghouse College Prep. In its seventh year, this partnership aims to address the underrepresentation in STEM and health related-majors in medicine and careers in biomedical sciences among particular demographic groups, mostly women and certain racial/ethnic minority groups. Thus, providing high school research opportunities is critical for STEM-M persistence among URM students. METHODS The Summer Intensive is the main component of a multifaceted program, which is designed to implement a science and research curriculum. Data collection consisted of weekly assessment surveys, student assignments, observations and in-depth qualitative interviews with eighteen scholars. We drew upon self-efficacy theory to better understand the scholars’ experiences with their research projects. The research design is a qualitative exploratory case study, assessing successes and improvements, on the unique learning opportunities afforded by this medium of high school research and science curriculum. We aim to address the following research question: In what ways does participation in a locally tailored research and science focused project provide opportunities for success in URM high school students? FINDINGS Our findings confirm the benefits of high school research/science involvement. Our scholars expressed the process and completion of a literature review (research paper) as both rewarding and challenging. Four major struggles emerged from their research papers, and a B-average was the overall earned grade. Mastery experiences prove particularly powerful when individuals overcome obstacles or succeed on challenging tasks. Overall, scholars gained self-confidence in addition to an array of skills, as a result of their involvement with high school research. CONCLUSIONS As we learned, in this study, students benefited from high school research involvement. More research opportunities should be made available to high school students from under-sourced communities. These type of opportunities are not readily available to students who will be the first in their families to purse a college degree. First-generation college students face significant challenges including: limited access to information about the college experience and are at-risk for lower GPAs in college. The current NM Scholars Program address this need by providing supplemental support, guidance and science-based resources that promote college readiness and preparation in STEM-M.