Science Identity's Influence on Community College Students' Engagement, Persistence, and Performance in Biology

In the United States (U.S.), student engagement, persistence, and academic performance levels in college science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs have been unsatisfactory over the last decade. Low student engagement, persistence, and academic performance in STEM disciplines have been identified as major obstacles to U.S. economic goals and U.S. science education objectives. The central and salient science identity a college student claims can influence his engagement, persistence, and academic achievement in college science. While science identity studies have been conducted on four-year college populations there is a gap in the literature concerning community college students' science identity and science performance. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between community college students claimed science identities and engagement, persistence, and academic performance. A census sample of 264 community college students enrolled in biology during the summer of 2015 was used to study this relationship. Science identity and engagement levels were calculated using the Science Identity Centrality Scale and the Biology Motivation Questionnaire II, respectively. Persistence and final grade data were collected from institutional and instructor records. Engagement significantly correlated to, r =.534, p = .01, and varied by science identity, p < .001. Percent final grade also varied by science identity (p < .005), but this relationship was weaker (r = .208, p = .01). Results for science identity and engagement and final grade were consistent with the identity literature. Persistence did not vary by science identity in this student sample (chi2 =2.815, p = .421). This result was inconsistent with the literature on science identity and persistence. Quantitative results from this study present a mixed picture of science identity status at the community college level. It is suggested, based on the findings, that community college curriculum workers in biology consider student's science identity in terms of improving engagement and final grade, but not persistence. Additionally, as results were mixed, it is recommended that this study be repeated to examine these relationships further.