ABSTRACT
Background
Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, can have lasting impacts on a community
Purpose
This research evaluated how participation in an STEM education intervention after an ecological disaster affected students’ persistence, resilience, and STEM identity
Sample
Hurricane Florence impacted college students (N = 50) were recruited
Design and Methods
Participants completed pre-test, post-test and daily diary measures before, during and after they completed an intervention where they collected forestry data in their home hurricane-impacted communities
Results
Participants reported higher STEM identity following the intervention learning experience. Daily interest and enjoyment in science was higher on days when they reported more positive experiences. For resilience, for male students, but not female students, the learning opportunity fostered resilience. Male students reported higher STEM identity on days when they reported more positive learning experiences
Conclusion
These findings highlight the benefit of STEM education learning opportunities, particular for disaster-impacted students.
Availability of Supporting Data
Supporting data can be provided upon request to the first author.
Authors’ Contributions
KLM, MK, DO and DE designed the study and trained the students prior to the intervention, MK and MC implemented the intervention, KLM surveyed participants, prepared the data file, developed the hypotheses, conducted the analyses and drafted the paper, AJ assisted in preparing the datafile and conducting the analyses. All authors read and helped to edit the manuscript.
Acknowledgments
We thank the participants, the community members who assisted the students during the intervention and the undergraduate research assistants to assisted in cleaning the datafile.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).