STEM IMPACT
STEM IMPACT
With approximately 40 percent of STEM majors switching to another academic field in college , Dr . Joseph Ferrare , assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation in the UK College of Education , wants to know why , and what can be done to address bias or teaching practices that may discourage students from persevering in STEM . He is co-principal investigator for the Talking About Leaving Revisited research project , which is funded by the National Science Foundation and Alfred P . Sloan Foundation grant proposal , working alongside colleagues from the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the University of Colorado Boulder .
Q : How did you get connected with the “ leaving ” project ?
JJF : I became connected to the Talking About Leaving Revisited ( TALR ) project through my graduate research assistantship at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research ( WCER ), University of Wisconsin-Madison . As a graduate student , I served on two research projects whose objectives were to enhance education attainment overall and in STEM fields in particular . Through my contributions to these projects , I was invited to co-author a joint National Science Foundation / Alfred P . Sloan Foundation grant proposal with colleagues from WCER and University of Colorado Boulder . One of the UC Boulder collaborators is Elaine Seymour , who was a principal investigator of the original Talking About Leaving project from the early 1990s . Elaine and her co-author , Nancy Hewitt , wrote a very influential book from this original project , “ Talking About Leaving : Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences .” This book has had — and continues to have — a major impact on STEM education policy . In particular , their findings related to women and students of color in STEM have helped set the agenda for a greater emphasis on equity in the STEM disciplines and professions .
Q : What is the study objective ?
JJF : The primary objective of the TALR project is to gain a deeper understanding of why approximately 40 percent of students who declare a STEM major end up leaving these fields to pursue other academic majors , and to learn what impact these decisions have on students ’ likelihood of bachelor ’ s degree completion . In particular , we are interested in the experiences of women and students of color who have historically been excluded from these majors and professions .
Changing one ’ s major is common across all areas of study . It becomes a problem , however , when a student is driven out because of systematic bias related to social inequities such as gender bias or poor instructional practices . Women and students of color who initially major in physical science , engineering , or computer science tend to leave at substantially higher rates than men and white students , and this trend is unique relative to other majors . There are also notable differences by socio-economic status . This suggests there may be a systematic bias operating through STEM majors , and it is our objective to learn more about this process through the TALR project .
Q : Why do students choose to leave STEM as a major ?
Ferrare
JJF : Some students leave STEM majors based on misalignment in interest and effort . ( The minimum required effort in STEM tends to be much higher than other majors .) However , research has also shown that some students leave because of negative social and cultural experiences in these majors . Imagine , for example , entering an engineering classroom and being one of only a few women in the room . A handful of students thrive in these conditions because they find it motivating to be a gender or racial minority in a high-status environment . More often , though , these experiences lead to issues of stereotype threat ( i . e ., fear of conforming to stereotypes ), increased stress and a general sense that one does not belong . All of these processes are known to be predictors of lower performance .
Finally , research suggests that students also leave because of negative experiences they encounter in so-called gateway courses . These experiences emerge from inadequate teaching practices , norm-referenced grading ( i . e ., grading on a curve ) and incoherent curricular organization and pacing .
It is important to note there are many other factors that can influence a student ’ s decision to switch . The issues referenced above are among the more common factors identified in the research , but in practice there are typically multiple factors that interact to influence a student ’ s educational trajectory . As researchers , our primary objective is to identify patterns and then to determine if these patterns can be influenced through policy and practice . In a nutshell , this is what we hope to do through the TALR project .
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