DOI: 10.7291/d1dm3p
title: Field courses narrow demographic achievement gaps in ecology and evolutionary biology

description: Disparities remain in the representation of marginalized students in STEM.
 Classroom-based experiential learning opportunities can increase student
 confidence and academic success; however, the effectiveness of extending
 learning to outdoor settings is unknown. Our objectives were to examine 1)
 demographic gaps in ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) major
 completion, college graduation, and GPAs for students who did and did not
 enroll in field courses, 2) whether under-represented demographic groups
 were less likely to enroll in field courses, and 3) whether
 under-represented demographic groups were more likely to feel increased
 competency in science-related tasks (hereafter, self-efficacy) after
 participating in field courses. We compared the relationships among
 academic success measures and demographic data (race/ethnicity,
 socioeconomic status, first-generation, and gender) for UC Santa Cruz
 undergraduate students admitted between 2008 and 2019 who participated in
 field courses (N=941 students) and who did not (N=28,215 students).
 Additionally, we administered longitudinal surveys to evaluate
 self-efficacy gains during field-based versus classroom-based courses
 (N=570 students). We found no differences in the proportion of students
 matriculating at the university as undecided, proposed EEB, or proposed
 other majors across demographic groups. However, five years later,
 under-represented students were significantly less likely to graduate with
 EEB degrees, indicating retention rather than recruitment drives
 disparities in representation. This retention gap is partly due to a lower
 rate of college completion and partly through attrition to other majors.
 Although under-represented students were less likely to enroll in field
 courses, field courses were associated with higher self-efficacy gains,
 higher college graduation rates, higher EEB major retention, and higher
 GPAs at graduation. All demographic groups experienced significant
 increases in self-efficacy during field-based but not lecture-based
 courses. Together, our findings suggest that increasing the number of
 field courses and actively facilitating access to students from
 under-represented groups can be a powerful tool for increasing STEM
 diversity.
description: To evaluate self-efficacy gains during field courses, we
 administered longitudinal surveys in a subset of three courses between
 Fall 2016 and Spring 2019: (a) BIOE 20C, a gateway ecology and
 evolutionary biology lecture course (N=81); (b) BIOE 82, a 2-unit,
 lower-division field course that is intended to provide early field
 immersion and introduce natural history information and field research
 opportunities to students (N=194), and (c) CEC, an immersive 19-unit upper
 division field course that engages students in student-directed research
 projects (N=295). While BIOE 20C and BIOE 82 are courses offered at UCSC,
 CEC is a UC system-wide course that enrolls students from all UC campuses.
 We administered paired pre- (first week of the academic quarter) and post-
 (last week of the academic quarter) surveys. Each student was asked to
 rate their confidence on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Strongly Disagree,
 2=Disagree, 3=Neither Agree Nor Disagree, 4=Agree, 5=Strongly Agree) for
 each of six questions: i) I am familiar with the flora, fauna, and
 ecosystems of California; ii) I have strong experimental design skills;
 iii) I have strong oral presentation skills; iv) I know how to conduct
 field research projects from start to finish; v) I am interested in
 pursuing a career in science; vi) I am interested in pursuing a graduate
 degree. To quantify how the demographics of
 field courses have changed over time, we extracted historical
 demographic composition data from field courses taught between 2008 and
 2019 (N=1,239 students;
 courses BIO75, BIO82, BIO128L, BIO151, BIO159,
 BIO161), and the gateway lecture course for EEB majors
 (N=11,589 students;
 BIO20C). Field courses were included if more than 50% of
 course hours were spent in the field rather than in the classroom and if
 the course had been taught for at least 4 years.