Motivation Differences in First-Semester Organic Chemistry: A Comparison between First-Time-in-College Students and Transfer Students

Abstract

Transfer students are a growing population at four-year higher education institutions, especially in STEM degree programs. Though much work has explored the broad transfer student experience, the experience of these students within specific courses is understudied. Furthermore, knowledge of how transfer students approach STEM courses and their affective experience is lacking. We report, herein, on the motivation differences between first-time-in-college students, Florida community college transfer students, and transfer students from non-Florida community college institutions in the first semester of an introductory organic chemistry course. We use the Academic Motivation Scale-Chemistry, an assessment previously used in multiple general chemistry and organic chemistry course contexts including at our study site, to measure motivation. We found a lack of evidence for a difference between motivation for all admission types, even though there are persistent differences between these groups' course performances. This finding challenges the assumption that transfer students are less or differently motivated than their peers. A goal of reporting this work is to place emphasis on the importance of faculty members knowing the students enrolled in their courses particularly beyond gender or race/ethnicity demographics, exploring the unique learning experiences of students in their courses, and how faculty members play an important role in the success of students in their courses beyond content learning.