Educational Robotics for Creating Effective Computer Science Learning for All

President Obama's initiative, “computer science for all,” has been a rallying slogan for promoting computer science in K-12 education. Although the participation of people of color in computer science (CS) has increased in the past several years, it is still drastically low and does not reflect the real picture of our society. This chapter explores how educational robotics as a learning tool can inspire underrepresented minorities including females and students of color to become interested in CS. Supported by Papert's constructionism theory, educational robotics effectively facilitates students' learning of various concepts in CS and STEM. Educational robotics is a learning tool which inspires students' interest in learning. It provides a learning environment that promotes students' learning of various CS concepts and computational thinking skills. Although robots naturally spark students' interests, to make it most effective, teachers are required effortfully to create learning opportunities that are authentic and meaningful for individual students.

Anatomy of the Beginning of the Housing Boom Across U.S. Metropolitan Areas

We provide novel estimates of the location, timing, magnitude, and determinants of the start of the last U.S. housing boom. The last housing cycle cannot be interpreted as a single, national event, as different markets began to boom across a decade-long period, some of them multiple times. A fundamental factor, income of prospective buyers, can account for half of the initial jump in price growth, while expansion of purchases by underrepresented minorities cannot. The start of the boom also was financed conventionally, not by subprime mortgages. The latter's share did rise sharply over time, but only after a multi-year lag.

The Role of Mentoring in Promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in STEM Education and Research

Mentoring success is derived from active and respectful listening and the willingness to learn and accept opportunities for personal growth. Mentoring shapes every trainee and their career path in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Productive mentoring relationships cultivate rapport, stimulate moments of introspection, and provide constructive feedback. Effective mentoring in STEM allows trainees, especially underrepresented minorities (URMs), to flourish in welcoming and supportive environments. However, URM trainees often experience inadequate mentoring due to their mentors inexperience with URM groups, poor mentorship training, or a lack of understanding of their mentees journey. To promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM education and research, it is essential for mentors and mentees to work together with creativity, authenticity, and networking. In this workshop, we will focus on mentees perspective on how mentors can enhance their training, professional and career development, and improve their focus. We analyzed data on feedback obtained from students interested in pursuing graduate education who attended a recent workshop. Our results show that despite low initial expectations for the workshop, many students were satisfied with the knowledge they learned. The future of increasing the URM representation in STEM lies in providing adequate community support and mentorship throughout the careers of URM professionals.

Connecting Grandparent Caregivers Through Telemental Health During COVID-19

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, children and their caregivers throughout the world are experiencing unprecedented long-term social isolation. For too many, especially grandparent-headed families, underrepresented minorities, and those living in poverty, this precipitates and exacerbates mental health conditions including anxiety and depression. Despite these families’ increased needs for mental health services during the pandemic, professionals often lack experience and expertise in telemental health, which is a safe and effective way to provide these services. In this symposium, we will present a telemental health model for working with grandparent-headed families that draws upon Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), an evidence-based approach focusing on strengths. This SFBT-based telemental health training program prepares mental health professionals to implement this safe and innovative intervention, enabling them to effectively serve isolated and marginalized grandparent caregivers and their families when providing in-person services is not possible.

Presence and Power: Teams with Hierarchical Representation of Underrepresented Minorities are More Attractive

Across four studies (N = 1,555) we find that individuals perceive teams with hierarchical representation (i.e., minority employees represented throughout their hierarchy) as more attractive than equally diverse teams that lack hierarchical representation. Teams with hierarchical representation are perceived as more diverse and as having superior team functioning (Study 1). Furthermore, the effect of hierarchical representation on team attractiveness did not differ between racial minority and majority participants (Studies 2-3), suggesting that attitudes about race among racial majority members might have evolved since a previous study found only racial minorities to be concerned with hierarchical representation. Additionally, diverse teams without hierarchical representation are perceived as no more attractive than hierarchical teams with objectively lower diversity (Study 3) and non-hierarchical teams without diversity (Study 4). These studies highlight the importance of minority representation across every echelon of a hierarchy rather than only at lower levels.

Understanding Differences in Underrepresented Minorities and First-Generation Student Perceptions in the Introductory Biology Classroom

We used quantitative methods to better understand the perceptions of students in an introductory biology course (Biology 101) at a small, liberal arts college (SLAC) that is also a primarily white institution (PWI). In pre/post surveys, we asked students questions related to their attitudes and beliefs about their professor, classmates, and Biology 101.