Culturally responsive teaching can protect STEM identity among underrepresented students

Abstract While the disparity is narrowing, Hispanic/Latinx students remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Prior research has shown that STEM identity is an important predictor of a sense of belonging and persistence for underrepresented minorities in STEM. Guided by social identity theory, the present study examined how culturally responsive teaching practices (CRTP) interact with negative ingroup stereotype endorsement and ethnic identification to predict STEM identification among a sample of 349 Hispanic/Latinx undergraduates across 12 Hispanic-Serving Institutions on the West Coast of the United States. Results indicated significant positive main effects of CRTP and ethnic identity on STEM identity. Additionally, CRTP moderated the relationship between students’ ethnic and STEM identities; ethnic identity was positively related to STEM identity among students reporting average or high perceived CRTP in their undergraduate courses, but not among those reporting low CRTP. Negative ingroup stereotype endorsement was negatively related to STEM identity at the bivariate level, but the association was no longer significant in the interaction model including CRTP and ethnic identity. Overall, these findings suggest that CRTP could be an identity-relevant contextual factor in which underrepresented students’ ethnic and STEM identities are more strongly aligned.