Socio‐Cognitive Considerations to Broaden Participation and Support Student Success in STEM

What can educators do to enhance the success and retention of all students with an interest in pursuing STEM pathways? In recent years, calls from multiple federal entities to improve undergraduate STEM education have mainly emphasized cognitive teaching techniques that are applicable in many learning environments. Taking into consideration the many contexts in which educators engage with students, as well as the social nature of learning, certain socio‐cognitive elements such as self‐efficacy, sense of belonging, and science identity may also be important to monitor in learning environments. What educators can do to assess these elements in their classrooms, how to translate and implement lessons from social psychology research, and further, what educators might adapt in their learning environments based on these findings will be discussed.