Fig. 5

Confounding factors and student performance. a Gender. Female n = 61, Male n = 48. b Age. Teenagers n = 68, 20+ years old n = 41. c Type of institution in which students were enrolled. Private n = 42, Public n = 67. d Education level of the students. Precollege n = 27, College n = 82. e Previous experience in non-competitive outreach programs. First time in an outreach program n = 77, Returning student n = 32. f Department of residence. Santa Cruz n = 48. Elsewhere n = 61. g After school work. Doesn’t work n = 88; Works n = 8. h Degree wanted. Bachelors n = 5; Masters n = 8; Doctorate n = 82. i English skill level. Basic n = 15; Intermediate n = 46; Advanced n = 34. j Family education. No siblings with a college degree n = 41; At least one sibling with a college degree n = 55; No parent with a college degree n = 19; At least one parent with a college degree n = 77. k Perceived education quality. Satisfied n = 53; Not satisfied n = 43. l Academic success in biology. High achiever n = 65; Low achievement = 11; No previous course n = 20. m Confidence in science performance. Insecure n = 6; Neutral n = 9; Confident n = 81. n Exposure to STEM professionals. Little exposure n = 8; Some exposure n = 47. A lot of exposure n = 41. o Type of learner. Visual learner n = 68; Verbal learner n = 28. Bars represent mean ± SD. Paired t-test within group, unpaired t-test across groups; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. C.D. college degree