The Forgotten Many

Limited economic resources and geographic challenges can lead rural schools in areas experiencing poverty to deprioritize gifted education. However, for the wellbeing of individual students and their communities, investing in quality rural gifted education is crucial. In this chapter, the authors discuss some of the challenges to providing equitable gifted programming to students in rural areas and present approaches to meeting those challenges (e.g., cluster grouping, mentoring). They then describe a large-scale federally-funded research project, Promoting PLACE in Rural Schools, which demonstrated methods districts can use to bolster gifted education programming. With 14 rural districts in high-poverty areas of the southeastern United States, researchers worked with teachers and school leaders to establish universal screening processes for identifying giftedness using local norms, to teach students the value of a growth mindset in reducing stereotype threat, and to train teachers on using a place-based curriculum to provide more impactful language arts instruction to gifted rural students.

Weight-based stereotype threat in the workplace: consequences for employees with overweight or obesity

Background/Objectives Employees with overweight or obesity are often stereotyped as lazy, unmotivated, and less competent than employees with normal weight. As a consequence, employees with overweight or obesity are susceptible to stereotype threat, or the concern about confirming, or being reduced to, a stereotype about their group. This survey study examined whether employees with overweight or obesity experience stereotype threat in the workplace, whether it is associated with their perceived ability to meet their work demands (i.e., work ability), and whether high levels of knowledge about one’s self (i.e., authentic self-awareness) can offset a potential negative association. Subjects/Methods Using a correlational study design, survey data were collected from N = 758 full-time employees at three measurement points across 3 months. Employees’ average body mass index (BMI) was 26.36 kg/m² (SD = 5.45); 34% of participants were employees with overweight (BMI between 25 and <30), and 18% of participants were employees with obesity (BMI > 30). Results Employees with higher weight and higher BMI reported more weight-based stereotype threat (rs between 0.17 and 0.19, p < 0.001). Employees who experienced higher levels of weight-based stereotype threat reported lower work ability, while controlling for weight, height, and subjective weight (β = −0.27, p < 0.001). Authentic self-awareness moderated the relationship between weight-based stereotype threat and work ability (β = 0.14, p < 0.001), such that the relationship between stereotype threat and work ability was negative among employees with low authentic self-awareness (β = −0.25, p < 0.001), and non-significant among employees with high authentic self-awareness (β = 0.08, p = 0.315). Conclusions The findings of this study contribute to the literature by showing that weight-based stereotype threat is negatively associated with employees’ perceived ability to meet their work demands, particularly among those employees with low authentic self-awareness.

Merging dualities: How convergence points in art and science can (re)engage women with the STEM field

How can the interweaving of knowledge silos help to engage girls who are becoming disinterested in science? This study describes how convergence points in research practices within the fields of art and science can mitigate gender stereotypes associated with the STEM field. A case study of four women working at the intersection of art and science revealed common aspects of their practices: an appreciation of the natural world, a sense of aesthetics, a drawing practice and a reliance on meaningful research questions, suggesting that these can act as bridges between both fields of study. Keywords: Arts; Education; Art-science; STEM; STEAM; Leaky pipeline; Gender; Motivation; Stereotype threat; Self-efficacy; Transdisciplinarity; Nature; Drawing; Aesthetics. Résumé : Comment l’interrelation des réservoirs de connaissance peut-elle contribuer à motiver les jeunes femmes qui se désintéressent de la science ? Cette étude relate comment les points de convergence des diverses pratiques de recherche dans le domaine des arts et de la science peuvent atténuer les stéréotypes de genre associés à la filière STIM. L’étude du cas de quatre femmes œuvrant au point de convergence de l’art et de la science a mis en évidence les aspects communs de leurs pratiques : l’appréciation du monde naturel, un sens de l’esthétique, une pratique du dessin et l’utilisation de questions de recherche pertinentes, ce qui laisse supposer certains ponts entre ces deux domaines d’étude. Mots-clés : arts, éducation, science et art, STIM, STIAM, tuyau percé, genre, motivation, menace du stéréotype, auto-efficacité, transdisciplinarité, nature, dessin, esthétique.

Promoting a Sense of Belonging Among Underrepresented Medical Students Through Cross-Cultural Programming

Background and Hypothesis: Despite improvements in recruiting trainees from underrepresented backgrounds, there is a paucity in programming designed to enhance underrepresented in medicine (URM) students’ sense of belonging and well-being. In addition to academic stressors, URM students may experience discrimination and stereotype threat, all of which contribute to burnout. Although Indiana University School of Medicine is one of the largest and more diverse medical schools in the country, URM students continue to experience disconnectedness from peers, mentors, and faculty from URM backgrounds due to the regional campus model. To address the complex challenges URM students face, the Cross-Cultural Student Success Retreat (CCSSR) was created. We hypothesize that URM students will feel an increased sense of belonging through participation in the retreat. Project Methods: The CCSSR was developed in partnership between Medical Student Education and the Office of Diversity Affairs as a response to concerns of isolation and burnout among URM students. The program is designed to be cohort style where day-long events take place twice an academic year to engage students with minority faculty and activities designed to promote sense of belonging, retention, and success. The retreat is broken into four sessions; self-discovery, self-efficacy, bias/perception, and well-being. Each of the sessions includes a presentation, discussion, and activity. Results: The retreat was found to be a success, with positive responses received from 36 participants across each session. Outcomes included an increased awareness of personal biases and prejudices, heightened sense of belonging among peers, and a feeling of empowerment to make their environment more inclusive. Conclusion and Potential Impact: The positive outcomes of the retreat strongly suggest a need to implement long and short-terms programs catering specifically to the success of URM students. Ultimately, addressing the specific challenges faced by URM students will decrease rates of burnout and isolation among this population.

From Imagined to In-Practice and Performed STEM Identities: Measuring the Impact of a Latina STEM Fellowship on the Educational Trajectories of Latina High School Students

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational camps and fellowships that specifically target underrepresented populations in STEM fields, such as Latinas, have become more common place across the United States. In this article, we analyze multimodal ways of representing, opportunities, and role-models present at these camps, which together assemble an environment that uplifts participants with greater knowledge about possible STEM educational/career pathways and develops within participants an identity as future STEM professionals. We place identity and the power of imagination front and center in our study and through a multimodal systemic functional linguistics approach (Przymus et al., 2020), we analyze the experience of six Latina high school students and document all meaning-making textual interactions that moved these Latina STEM Fellowship (LSF) participants from imagined to in- practice and performed STEM identities. Results indicate that participants are deeply aware of the stereotype threat and identity contingencies that face Latinas in STEM careers, but that interacting with other high school Latina peers and with accomplished Latina scientists at the LSF worked to counteract these challenges and discourses of deficit.

Examining Stereotype Threat in Neuropsychological Testing: A Usability and User Experience Pilot Study

Stereotype threat is defined as the situational predicament when people feel at risk of conforming to social stereotypes. Correspondingly, stereotype threat may negatively impair a persons’ working memory and cognitive abilities during neuropsychological tests due to hyper awareness of negative stereotypes. Moreover, it is critical to test the usability and the user experience of application-based neuropsychological assessments within diverse aging adult populations. In this pilot study, verbal expressions of feeling pressure to succeed, within a diverse population of young adults, were examined while taking an application-based neuropsychological assessment. Data was collected from 15 self-identified respondents (i.e., 7 Latinx, 5 Asian, 3 Bi-racial). Before beginning the assessment, 8 out of 15 participants exhibited self-handicapping behaviors such as offering explanations of mental exhaustion due to work and lack of sleep. Literature suggests these expressions are related to the onset of anxiety prior to taking cognitive tests, and contribute to potentially offering an excuse in anticipation of poor performance. Additionally, 3 out of 15 participants noted that even though the tasks were simple, they felt unintelligent because they did not complete the tasks to their best abilities (e.g., “I felt stupid. It was simple”). Findings from this pilot support the negative impact stereotype threats have on feelings of inadequacy and increase of anxiety levels among ethnic minorities in testing settings. Further emphases on examining the usability and user experience of application-based tests are needed, particularly within a diverse population of aging adults to facilitate more culturally competent neuropsychological testing experiences.