Sources of gender differences in competency beliefs and retention in an introductorypremedicalscience course

Abstract

Gender disparities in retention in pathways to science continue to vary widely by course. Undergraduates intending to study prehealth and premedicine often represent a majority of students enrolled in introductory science courses, contribute to a large number of eventual science degree earners, and are a population that typically includes a high number of women. However, gender differences in attrition, grades, and attitudes persist

“I am here because I wanted to shine”: how poetry can be used to better understand undergraduate students’ first-year chemistry or related course experiences

“…It is widely accepted that undergraduate student persistence in STEM disciplines is linked to factors shaped by both their background and their experiences. Student outcomes in STEM-related majors have been associated with gender identity, racial identity/ethnicity, and parental educational level (Dika and D'Amico, 2016;Estrada et al, 2016;Mau, 2016;Witherspoon and Schunn, 2021), and factors that can affect students' experiences include implicit bias (Fadeyi et al, 2020), student sense of disciplinary belonging (Lewis et al, 2017;Witherspoon and Schunn, 2021), competency beliefs (Witherspoon and Schunn, 2021), stereotype threat (Steele and Aronson, 1995;Totonchi et al, 2021), and academic preparation (Chloe and Yonghong Jade, 2017).…”

“…Often, studies conducted to understand student experiences and/or such factors within chemistry and more broadly in STEM involve the analysis of quantitative student survey or institutional data (Villafane et al, 2014;Dika and D'Amico, 2016;Mau, 2016;Witherspoon and Schunn, 2021) or qualitative data from focus groups or interviews (Chloe and Yonghong Jade, 2017;Elbulok-Charcape et al, 2021). However, another way to understand student experiences and potentially even mitigate some of these factors could be through the incorporation of student writing assignments into the courses.…”