Empirical profiling of high-school bilingual students’ perceptions of STEM learning environment

Background Bilingual students in the United States often face systemic barriers to STEM learning, including linguistic obstacles, under-resourced learning environments, and culturally unresponsive instruction. Understanding students’ perceptions of their STEM learning experiences and environments is important because it shapes, or even predicts, their engagement, motivation, and achievement. Little is empirically known about how bilingual students perceive their STEM learning environments.Purpose To address this gap, the study aimed to (1) identify the latent factors underlying bilingual students’ perceptions of their STEM learning environments, (2) classify students into distinct engagement profiles based on these latent factors, and (3) examine how these profiles relate to students’ demographic backgrounds, including grade level, gender, and ethnicity.Sample Participants were 1,105 bilingual students from nine high schools in an independent school district in the southwestern United States. The sample was diverse in terms of grade level (9th–12th grade), gender, and ethnic background.Design and Methods The survey was developed and piloted to gather comprehensive data on students’ STEM learning experiences. Exploratory factor analysis identified latent factors of student perceptions, followed by k-means cluster analysis to group students by engagement patterns. Cluster membership was analyzed in relation to students’ demographic variables using chi-square tests of independence.Results Four latent factors emerged: (1) Pedagogical Effectiveness of Technology/Engineering Teachers, (2) Pedagogical Effectiveness of Science, Math, and All Teachers, (3) College Aspirations, Parent Support, and Self-Efficacy in Learning, and (4) STEM Learning Resources and School Climate. The cluster analysis revealed four engagement profiles. Approximately 73 65% of students belonged to disengaged or under-supported clusters, while 35% were highly engaged and well-supported. The cluster membership varied across students’ backgrounds.Conclusion Findings highlight the need for targeted educational supports that address the varied engagement patterns of bilingual students in STEM education. Supporting bilingual students requires a multifaceted approach involving instructional responsiveness, improved school resources, and strengthened home-school partnerships.