Reflective journeys: African American community college STEM students' perceptions on equity and access

The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain an understanding of African American community college STEM students? perceptions on equity and access and to identify their use of reflective practices as they pursue their goals to persist and transfer to a 4-year university to major in STEM. In this qualitative study, the researcher interviewed thriving African American community college STEM students in order to uncover their reflective strategies for academic success and their ability to persist while in pursuit of their goals. To address the disproportionately low numbers of African American students who declare STEM majors, educators can benefit from gathering pertinent information from high achieving African American STEM scholars. By utilizing this anti-deficit/positive deviance approach, this study attempts to disclose possible action items that other faculty can implement to increase overall student involvement in STEM. The researcher collected data from individual interviews, a focus group, and documented evidence/transcripts in order to triangulate the information gathered (Merriam, 2009).