Design STEM roles and environments that facilitate fulfillment of both communal and agentic goals to support Indigenous students' persistence¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (5 for, 1 against) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article recommends that STEM programs and environments be designed so students can pursue both communal goals (giving back to community, helping others) and agentic goals (achievement, recognition), because both affordance types predicted persistence intentions and agentic incongruity undermined belonging. The authors write that "roles or environments that facilitate the fulfillment of communal and agentic goals are likely to be optimal." For Indigenous students specifically, communal opportunities such as contributing to their communities carry particular cultural weight.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Environments must actually provide opportunities to satisfy both communal and agentic goals, since perceived affordances—not just endorsements—drove persistence intentions

Constraints¶

• The article cautions that its sample came exclusively from AISES members with baseline STEM commitment, limiting generalization to Indigenous students outside that organization

Target Learners¶

• Indigenous STEM undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs

Target Learning Goals¶

• STEM career persistence
• belonging in STEM fields

Affordances¶

• Goal Congruity Theory Indigenous Stem

Claims¶

• Agentic goal incongruity negatively predicts Indigenous students' persistence intentions indirectly through reduced sense of belonging [+W]
• Perceived communal goal affordances in STEM roles positively predict later persistence intentions among Indigenous STEM students, controlling for baseline [+W]
• Indigenous STEM students endorse communal goals more strongly than agentic goals, but perceive similar levels of communal and agentic affordances in STEM [+W]
• Communal goal incongruity shows a significant negative indirect effect on persistence intentions through belonging, though weaker than expected [+W]
• Goal affordances, goal incongruity, and belonging show no association with global life satisfaction among Indigenous STEM students [-W]
• No significant gender differences in communal or agentic goal affordances, endorsements, or incongruity among Indigenous STEM students [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Yu Fanyi, Nyanamba Juliet M., Anderson Brittany, DeerInWater Kathy, Estrada Mica, Hosoda K. Kanoho, Maldonado Natalia, Smith Tiffany, Flores Lilibeth, & Hernandez Paul R. (2025). Navigating Science Pathways: Belonging Mediates the Impact of Goal Congruity on Persistence (but Not Life Satisfaction) Among Indigenous Students. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000967