Study highlights importance of encouraging academic self-concepts for STEM students’ development

Published: February 17, 2012

CLEMSON, S.C. — Understanding and encouraging academic self-concepts of African-American male STEM students may lead to better time-management strategies, improved grades, and confidence and success in the classroom, according to a recent study.

Titled “The Relationship Between Academic Self-Concept and Career Self-Efficacy Among African-American Males in STEM Disciplines at Two Historically Black Colleges and Universities: An Exploratory Study,” the study examines the relationship between academic beliefs and career orientations for African-American male students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.

Lamont A. Flowers, executive director of the Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education at Clemson University, co-authored the study. It was published as a chapter in “Beyond Stock Stories and Folktales: African Americans’ Paths To STEM Fields.”

“The purpose of this research is to explore strategies for increasing the number of underrepresented students who pursue and complete degrees in science and engineering,” Flowers says.

The study’s findings also imply that individual-level achievement may be of central interest for enhancing the development of underrepresented STEM students.

Flowers co-authored the study with James L. Moore III, director of the Todd A. Bell National Resource Center on the African American Male at The Ohio State University; Lawrence O. Flowers, assistant professor of microbiology at Fayetteville State University; and Morris J. Clarke, assistant chairman of the life sciences department at Winston-Salem State University. The book, part of the Diversity in Higher Education series, was released for publication in 2011 and is available through Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.

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The Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education
The Charles H. Houston Center for the Study of the Black Experience in Education is located in the Eugene T. Moore School of Education at Clemson University. Established in 1988, it is the only research center housed at one of the nation's top research universities that is designed to disseminate empirical information and address issues pertaining to the educational experiences and outcomes of African Americans at all levels of the educational system throughout the United States. For more information about the Charles H. Houston Center’s research and programs, visit our website at http://www.clemson.edu/houston.