Recruiting underrepresented minority undergraduates to research science: An investigation of the curriculum of a minority program.

Minority programs in undergraduate science education have sought to remedy the continuing underrepresentations of ethnic/racial minorities in the sciences for more than thirty years. Researchers agree on the lack of understanding on the work minority programs do, yet few studies set out to examine what minority programs teach in practice. My interpretive study describes and analyzes the enacted curriculum of a selective minority program in undergraduate science education. Using a research seminar called Journal Club as the case, I show that rather than solely focusing the curriculum on academic knowledge and skills, the program teaches students cultural competencies as research scientists, as well as, and distinctly, as underrepresented minority scientists. The former involves a hands-off learning environment in which students develop and experiment with habits, skills, and styles research scientists employ when presenting and discussing research articles by performing the role of research scientist. The latter involves recruiting students to a commitment to ethnic/racial solidarity and success in science as leading research scientists. The significance of the curriculum taught is the embedded recognition that to want to become a research scientist, students need not only academic but also cultural competencies that allow them to interpret, comfortably act in and respond to the world of science secure that they too are or may become competent members in it. At the same time, I question the program's narrow definition of success of becoming or being a leading research scientist. While recognizing the urgency to remedy the continued and particularly severe ethnic/racial underrepresentations in these positions, I submit that it is unjustifiable to place the burden of remedying such underrepresentations on a few high-achieving students in a minority program, as they, as any students, should have the freedom to explore and choose careers that befit their inclinations.