Student and high-school characteristics related to completing a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) major in college

LeBeau, Brandon; Harwell, Michael R.; Monson, Debra; Dupuis, Danielle; Medhanie, Amanuel; Post, Thomas R.

doi:10.1080/02635143.2012.659178

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…those who are the frst members of their families to atend college), and those from low-income backgrounds leave STEM felds at higher rates than do their counterparts (Anderson & Kim, 2006;Grifth, 2010;Hill, Corbet & Rose, 2010;Kokkelenberg & Sinha, 2010;Shaw & Barbut, 2010). In additon, STEM atriton occurs more frequently among students with weaker academic backgrounds (LeBeau, Harwell, Monson, Dupuis, Medhanie & Post, 2012;Méndez, Buskirk, Lohr & Haag, 2008;Whalen & Shelley, 2010). There is also evidence linking STEM atriton to such attudinal factors as motvaton, confdence, and beliefs about one's capacity to learn STEM subjects: students who are less motvated to study STEM, lack confdence in their abilites to complete STEM programs, and have low self-efcacy towards STEM learning tend to leave STEM felds at higher rates than do their counterparts (Burtner, 2005;Wang, Eccles & Kenny, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

STEM attrition among high-performing college students: Scope and potential causes

Chen

2015

J. Technol. Sci. Educ.

160

163

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Postsecondary educaton plays a critcal role in building a strong workforce in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematcs (STEM) felds. The U.S. postsecondary educaton system, however, frequently loses many potental STEM graduates through atriton. An increasing porton of STEM leavers are top performers who might have made valuable additons to the STEM workforce had they stayed in STEM felds. Using data from the 2004/09 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/09), this study tracks a cohort of U.S. beginning bachelor's degree students over 6 years, providing a close look at STEM atriton among a group of high-performing college students. Capitalizing on the transcript data collected through BPS:04/09, this study also examines STEM coursetaking, detailing how partcipaton and performance in undergraduate STEM coursework are associated with students' departure from STEM felds. The study fnds that about a quarter of high-performing beginning bachelor's degree students entered STEM felds (i.e., declared a STEM major) during their enrollment between 2003 and 2009, and about a third of these entrants had lef STEM felds by spring 2009. The results of multnomial probit regression analysis indicate that students' intensity of STEM coursework in the frst year and their performance in STEM courses may have played an important role in their decisions to switch majors out of STEM felds.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

STEM attrition among high-performing college students: Scope and potential causes

Chen

2015

J. Technol. Sci. Educ.

160

163

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“…The reasons that cause students to leave or drop out of stem majors have been studied fairly extensively (campbell, jolly, hoey, & perlman, 2002; crisp, nora, & taggart, 2009, shernoff & hoogstra, 2001; tan, 2002). the research generally agrees that high school preparation is the most important factor in a student's success as a stem major (campbell et al, 2002;cole & espinoza, 2008;leBeau et al, 2012;tyson, lee, Borman, & Hanson, 2007). Other predictors of success in a STEM field are a student's research experiences and mastery of math and science material (maltese & tai, 2011; singer, hilton, & schweingruber, 2005).…”

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confidence: 94%

Does Personality Matter?: Applying Holland’s Typology to Analyze Students’ Self-Selection into Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics Majors

Chen¹,

Simpson²

2015

The Journal of Higher Education

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This study utilized John Holland's personality typology and the Social Cognitive CareerTheory (SCCT) to examine the factors that may affect students' self-selection into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Results indicated that gender, race/ethnicity, high school achievement, and personality type were statistically significant factors in increasing or decreasing a student's odds of enrolling in a STEM major. Specifically, students with a strong investigative personality were more likely to enroll in STEM majors, while those with a strong artistic personality or enterprising personality were less likely to do so. Males with a strong social personality also tended not to choose STEM majors, though social personality had a positive effect on whether females chose STEM majors. Implications of the findings for policymakers, educators, and administrators were explored.Although the United states is fully entrenched in the knowledge age, it is quickly losing its competitive edge in a global society dependent on individuals with highly developed mathematical and scientific competencies. A recent report by georgetown University's center on education and the workforce estimated that jobs related to science,

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“…This dissertation will also establish STEM Readiness Benchmarks on the IAs in order to provide students with a more accurate picture of their current preparedness for college coursework required for STEM majors. Research findings suggest that being more prepared may help decrease STEM attrition (e.g., Chen, 2013;LeBeau et al, 2012;Westrick, 2015). Therefore, similar to the IAs' CRBs established by Fina (2014), these STEM benchmarks will allow for remediation if students are interested in STEM careers, but do not currently meet the new benchmarks.…”

Section: Stem Readinessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In general, researchers have found that both males and females are more likely to major in STEM if they have higher levels of interest (ACT, 2014b;Tai, Liu, Maltese, & Fan, 2006) and higher levels of high school achievement as measured by courses taken, grade point average, and standardized test scores (e.g., LeBeau et al, 2012;Wang, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, leaving college without a degree has been associated with poor performance in college and higher levels of withdrawn or failed STEM classes (Chen, 2013). Alternately, successful STEM majors tend to demonstrate higher levels of precollege academic achievement as measured by standardized tests and high school grade point average (e.g., Chen, 2013;LeBeau et al, 2012;Westrick, 2015).…”

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Predicting college readiness in STEM

Rickels¹

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for reviewing chapters and providing helpful feedback along the way. Finally, thank you to my family and friends for their love and support throughout this journey. A very special thanks to Anthony for your support, beginning with providing feedback on my first ideas for the dissertation to editing the final drafts. Thank you for debating details that no one else would have understood or cared about. I am forever grateful for your never-ending support and encouragement. I truly could not have done this without you. In addition, thank you to the many friends I have made during my time in graduate school, especially Rebecca, Lauren, Angelica, Charles, Aaron, Wei Cheng, Joleen, and Barbara. Last, but certainly not least, thank you to my mom for instilling a love of learning, for always believing in me, and for making me believe that I was capable of accomplishing my dreams.

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Student and high-school characteristics related to completing a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) major in college

Cited by 20 publications

References 9 publications

STEM attrition among high-performing college students: Scope and potential causes

STEM attrition among high-performing college students: Scope and potential causes

Does Personality Matter?: Applying Holland’s Typology to Analyze Students’ Self-Selection into Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics Majors

Predicting college readiness in STEM

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