– Upon entering the experience, community college students identified themselves as lacking self-efficacy to conduct research and participate in a meaningful way in the research process, either indicating they were “not ready” or were in some way inferior to the individuals that they would be working with at the University of California at Berkeley.
– The students overall reported measurable gains in engineering self-efficacy from the summer research experience.
– Results show that while all domains were important for improving self-efficacy, vicarious experience and social persuasion were equally as important as mastery experience.
– Across domain areas, mentoring and a collaborative environment were factors that emerged as critical to positively influencing student self-efficacy.
– Results from this study document how self-efficacy of community college students majoring in STEM fields can be improved over time with consistent guidance and opportunities to demonstrate skills and knowledge they have gained in a supportive environment.
* What is important to improve self-efficacy for STEM community college students.