The NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Metagenomics Education Partnership Project (MEPP) engages in community-linked citizen science, focusing on metagenomic analyses of water samples in Western New York with underserved high school students. As part of this project, students participated in sequencing and analyzing a microbial genome, culminating in presenting their findings at a capstone event during the academic year. To assess the impact of the project on students, we analyzed de-identified student survey responses collected during 2022-2023. We conducted a comparison of science self-efficacy between participating and non-participating students, by employing full structural equation modeling (SEM) with a robust estimator and missing treatment method. Moreover, we investigated potential differential effects, considering student ethnicity/race and gender as moderators. Our findings indicate a positive influence of MEPP on student science self-efficacy, with no discernible differential effect based on ethnicity/race. In essence, participating students demonstrated higher levels of student science self-efficacy compared to their non-participating counterparts, irrespective of gender and race. These results have implications in enhancing student outcomes through NIH SEPA programs.

Keywords: STEM, Diversity, NIH, SEM.