What are effective strategies for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students in STEM fields?

This has to be tackled in schools and as early as possible. There is huge merit in finding role models that students can relate to and ensuring that they can speak to students, answer questions and inspire them to think about their duties. We also need to ensure that STEM and roles and education relates to what students care about - that may be the environment and the planet - and that they can see a route as to how they personally impact this in their futures.

Over the years I have realised that there are few STEM outreach programs, especially in developing countries and even among underrepresented groups. I would recommend the following; Outreach Programs: Develop outreach programs that target underrepresented communities in schools and communities. These can include STEM summer camps, workshops, and mentorship programs. Mentorship Programs: Establish mentorship programs where underrepresented students can connect with more experienced peers, faculty, or industry professionals for guidance and support. Inclusive Curriculum: Ensure that the curriculum is inclusive and addresses the needs and interests of underrepresented students. This can include using diverse case studies and examples.

Creating a positive and diverse environment can heavily impact your students. One of the simplest ways is to include diverse scientists in your classroom decoration and in your teaching and presentations. Children are easily influenced by what they see and representation matters.

Offer scholarships and mentorship for underrepresented students to recruit. Create inclusive environments, diverse faculty, and support systems to retain them in STEM fields.

Naming and articulating the lack of diversity breaks ice and invites discussion about how people identify sense of belonging and what people need to feel belonging. This is important for students belonging to groups that have been excluded and for students who have never experienced this type of exclusion.

Fostering self-determination in career and knowledge development involves endorsing decentralized mentoring networks. Non-profits like Score exemplify this by providing a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to select mentors based on their unique needs and goals, rather than just shared backgrounds. This approach is particularly valuable in STEM fields, connecting professionals with diverse specialists driven by genuine interest and merit, not predefined paths. This merit-based model cultivates authentic, self-selected mentoring relationships, ensuring students are guided by practitioners who truly resonate with their aspirations, enriching their developmental journey.

Traditionally, in STEAM History lessons were used to provide role models and tell about their struggles that could be shared by students on some level. But in STEM, history has been reduced into brief introductions of most important characters like Einstein. This type of presentation dehumanizes those great people, while making them gods in their field, such that it becomes really unimaginable for students to even consider following their footsteps.

I love asking students “how do you want to impact the world? Or “what problem do you want to solve?” By beginning with what is most important to them, and then connecting it to potential career paths that can lead them to pursuing this purpose, you can expose students to more opportunities and options they might not have previously seen.

Introduce lessons that demonstrate the real-world applications of STEM beyond the traditional careers like doctors and nurses. One of my favorite lessons involved investigating a criminal case, where the students played the role of an entomologist. Encourage creativity and use innovative approaches to ignite children's imagination, exposing them to STEM in fresh and exciting ways.

STEM concentrates so much on theory that practice is forgotten. Again the Arts part of the original STEAM education model is the missing part. Curiosity, enthusiasm, and commitment can only be learned in Arts classes where you could learn details about paint drying process and what can you do with that paint while it's drying. In STEM this exploration has been replaced with mindless repetition and obedience. There is no curiosity or enthusiasm in obedience, and thus there is no commitment that would come from the student.

I have had multiple students say that the examples and discussions in class are not relatable. One student told me she could not participate in the casual conversations in calculus because she had never worked on cars and all the other students were chatting about fixing their cars to improve velocity and acceleration. This casual conversation then became the example used by the instructor, further excluding my student. This holds for algebra and geometry as well - use as many examples from students' lives and from other classes to develop a deeper understanding of the content.

It's been a global trend for decades, to reduce education funds. This has reduced STEAM education to STEM and now even STEM education doesn't have enough resources to provide students with opportunity. Also educational facilities don't teach anything new anymore, because traditional patenting and other information security practices are hiding more information than universities have ever held before, leaving producers of new educational material on the mercy of tech giants who don't want to part with their secrets in fear of enabling competition. So it seems to me, that "powers that be" don't want people to have proper education nor opportunities. Education system needs more money and a new system for intellectual property rights.

Expanding access and opportunity is like levelling the playing field by providing equal access to education and job opportunities regardless of their background. This involves reducing barriers, promoting inclusivity, and ensuring all individuals to have a fair chance to succeed. It's about creating a society where everyone, regardless of their background, can reach their full potential.

An efficacious strategy for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students in STEM intertwines respect for individual self-determination with free-market solutions. For instance, IBM’s P-TECH (Pathways in Technology Early College High School) and ABB's Robotics STEM Education model showcase direct industry-education partnerships, providing youth, especially from marginalized communities, with specific career skills and training. Here, students embark on an educational journey, empowered with tailored, industry-relevant knowledge and certifications. This approach skillfully recognizes potential socio-economic barriers, seeding a future where STEM fields blossom from varied, individualist pursuits.

Making Instructional decisions based on data is key to breaking the systemic exclusion of marginalized groups from STEM fields. When using data to make decisions, I approach the question as "What do I need to change to allow this student to succeed" with the understanding that students can do this work. Lack of pre-requisite knowledge is not the students' fault.

Exposure. Students need to experience STEM activities at an early age and continue to have exposure throughout their educational journey. Opportunities are only realized through first hand experience. It is also crucial for teachers to actively recognize underrepresented populations when they notice potential.