The work in this dissertation aims to support a more equitable science education culture that better supports students who have historically and continue to be inequitably pushed out of science. Our equity-oriented and anti-deficit research agenda led us to study community college and transfer students as well as their self-efficacy and self-efficacy experiences. This dissertation opens by overviewing the state of STEM education and explaining how research approaches often frame students in deficit ways. Chapter 1 introduces the author's researcher positionality and relevant literature to her research approaches. The author's research agenda prioritizes supporting marginalized students in STEM through studying the construct of self-efficacy. After reviewing the research framing, Chapter 2 introduces relevant literature about self-efficacy and two-year college (TYC) transfer student experiences. Chapter 2 ends by addressing how the author's research positionality aligns with and impacts the ways she researches self-efficacy and TYC transfer students. Afterwards, each body chapter (Chapters 3, 4, and 5) opens with a transition situating it in the broader story of the dissertation. Chapter 3 opens by reminding readers of the reasons for our qualitative approach to studying self-efficacy. Then, it describes the development of a qualitative codebook for self-efficacy. Chapter 4 opens by explaining our shift to a narrative analysis case study of a single transfer student. This chapter ultimately diverged from self-efficacy, and Chapter 4 will discuss the reasons and the results of that narrative analysis, stating that supporting characters were instrumental in a transfer student’s success story. The chapter ends with implications for universities to learn from TYCs. The dissertation transitions to Chapter 5 by broadening out from a single student’s case study to a positively impactful course experience at a TYC for STEM students intending to transfer. This chapter describes design considerations learned from the course as well as opportunities the course provided for student self-efficacy experiences. Chapter 6 discusses the story across all three body chapters as situated in the research framing and concludes the dissertation.
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