Black Students Show High STEM Aptitude But Low Interest, Report Finds

Black students demonstrate a high aptitude in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, the 2024 Black Students and STEM Report has found.

However, limited career exposure may contribute to a lack of interest in STEM subjects.

High Aptitude, Low Interest

The report is a collaboration between YouScience and Black Girls Do STEM. It analyzed data from 328,000 Black U.S. middle and high school students, utilizing YouScience’s Aptitude and Career Discovery tool. 

Despite demonstrating strong potential for in-demand STEM careers, a significant career exposure gap hinders their pursuit of these opportunities.

The findings are illuminating: there exists a 75% exposure gap in Advanced Manufacturing, 57% in Health Science, 56% in Finance, 53% in Architecture & Construction, and a 51% gap in Computers & Technology. 

Unexplored STEM career paths

The report states that although Black students have a high aptitude for STEM-related careers, they lack interest, which is likely due to a lack of Black individuals currently represented in these careers.

In computers and tech, in particular, the student aptitude was 52,046; however, student interest was only 25,434.

Such gaps, measuring the discrepancy between a student’s aptitudes and interests, highlight unexplored career paths well-suited to their abilities.

“For years, I’ve seen Black and Latinx students drop out of computer science courses because they don’t believe they can succeed,” said Jehron Petty, Founder & CEO of ColorStac, in the report.

“At ColorStack, we want to reverse that trend by engineering confidence in these students.”

Significantly, the report sheds light on gender disparities within these gaps. 

It found that Black female students show higher aptitude than interest in several fields, notably 88% in Advanced Manufacturing and 73% in Computers & Technology.

Improving STEM exposure

To address these gaps, YouScience and Black Girls Do STEM are collaborating with initiatives like donating 160 YouScience tool licenses to Black Girls Do STEM for the 2024-25 academic year.

This aims to foster personalized educational and career exploration for Black students.

“As a Black woman in STEM, I have seen first-hand the lack of representation for women, especially Black women, in these in-demand career fields,” said Cynthia Chapple, Founder and CEO of Black Girls Do STEM.

“Working with YouScience has confirmed that notion by truly showcasing the possibilities for our students based on their unique, individual aptitudes.”