What do we know about explanations for drop out/opt out among young people from STM higher education programmes?

Ulriksen, Lars; Madsen, Lene Møller; Holmegaard, Henriette Tolstrup

doi:10.1080/03057267.2010.504549

Cited by 133 publications

(113 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…The first-year experiences presented in the analysis tend to confirm the expectations of a fixed and de-contextualised teaching that is sometimes difficult to make sense of. A review on research on non-completion in STEM higher education, found that retention and non-completion to a large extent are related to the students' overall learning experiences at their first-year programmes and that identity appears to be important in both recruitment and retention (Ulriksen, Madsen, & Holmegaard, 2010). This suggests that the choosers who hoped to make room for identity work are at risk of opting out.…”

Section: Choosers and Non-choosersmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Choose or Not to Choose Science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme

Holmegaard

Madsen

Ulriksen

2012

International Journal of Science Education

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124

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In the literature, there is a general concern that a less number of students choose to study science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). This paper presents results from a Danish longitudinal study which examines students' choice of whether or not to continue studying STEM after upper-secondary school. In particular, this study focuses on students who held an STEM subject as one of their favourite subjects at secondary educational level, but who chose not to study STEM at the tertiary level. This paper explores how students' perceptions of STEM relate to their identity work. The data used, primarily consist of interviews with 38 students at the end of upper-secondary school. The analysis explores the students' expectations of what higher education STEM might be like. These expectations are contrasted with the first-year experiences of 18 of the 38 students who eventually entered a higher education STEM programme. The results show that the students who did not choose STEM, perceived STEM as stable, rigid and fixed, and, hence, too narrow a platform for developing and constructing desirable identities. The experiences of those students who actually entered a STEM programme turned out to be similar to these expectations. However, many choosers would also prefer their studies as less rigid and fixed. If the institutions could adjust to the form and content of the courses, it might both meet the interests of choosers and non-choosers and thereby both increase recruitment and retention at STEM higher education programmes.

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Section: Choosers and Non-choosersmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Choose or Not to Choose Science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme

Holmegaard

Madsen

Ulriksen

2012

International Journal of Science Education

Self Cite

124

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“…Over the last two decades, there has been an increased focus on identity research in science education. Studies have included learners from different age groups; from primary school [12], secondary or high school [1,2,[13][14][15], to higher education [16][17][18][19] and into employment [20,21]. Research findings pertaining to how people identify with science have also increasingly been taken up by science education policy and practice.…”

Section: Introduction: Identification With Science and Its Potential mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sciencey Girls: Discourses Supporting Working-Class Girls to Identify with Science

Godec

2018

Education Sciences

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Abstract:Women from working class and some ethnic minority backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in science, particularly in areas such as physical sciences and engineering. Many find it difficult to see science as something that is "for them", which then has implications for their learning and participation in science. In this paper, I discuss findings from a U.K.-based qualitative study with 15 working-class girls, aged 11 to 13, from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Data were collected over the course of one academic year, through interviews and discussion groups with the girls and interviews with their science teachers, and analysed through a post-structural gender lens. The paper foregrounds five science-identifying girls, who negotiated their identification and engagement with science through the following discursive strategies: (i) rendering gender invisible, (ii) drawing attention to the presence of women in science, (iii) reframing "science people" as caring and nurturing, and (iv) cultural discourses of desirability of science. The findings contribute to the understanding of how working class girls-who are often "othered" and constructed as "unintelligible" within the dominant discursive regime of prototypical science-find identification with science possible. The paper discusses the affordances and challenges of each discursive strategy.

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“…However, recent research moves away from looking for reasons for dropout in the students alone. In order to understand why some students leave and others stay in higher education STEM, dropout must be approached as an interaction between the students and the culture of the study programme they enter (Johannsen, 2012;Ulriksen, Madsen, & Holmegaard, 2010). Moreover the students leaving and the students staying cannot be approached as two distinct groups.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing Cost and Value: Scandinavian Students’ First Year Experiences of Encountering Science and Technology Higher Education

Jensen

Henriksen

Holmegaard

et al. 2018

NorDiNa

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. Her research centers around understanding students' identity-work in science. She has published on students' choices of and transition into higher education science, students' drop out and first year experiences. Currently she work on defining the concept academic integration to understand how students gain a sense of belonging in science.Moreover she is involved in research that explores STEM-students' transition into first employment.Lene Møller Madsen is an Associate Professor in science education at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen. She holds a PhD in geography and has published on the development of spatial thinking skills, students' meeting with teaching in geography and how institutional cultures interact with researchers' perceptions of fieldwork.She is involved in a number of research projects concerning student's academic integration within higher education, noncompletion and gender issues in science, as well as educational choices.Lars Ulriksen is a Professor in higher education teaching and learning at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has been leading the Danish part of the IRIS project on retention and gender issues. His research areas include the transition of students into higher-education and the meeting of the students' prior knowledge and experiences with the culture and the curriculum of the programmes. He has developed the notion of the implied student and together with the Danish co-authors of this article published on student retention, transition and educational choices.[4] 14(1), 2018 Balancing Cost and Value: Scandinavian Students' First Year Experiences of Encountering Science and Technology Higher Education AbstractThis paper investigates the experiences of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) during their first year in higher education, based on 874 Danish and 1314 Norwegian students' responses to an online questionnaire. Rather than focusing on averages, we compare the experiences of two distinct groups of students: those who rated their overall study situation as better than expected (the satisfied group) and those who rated it as worse than expected (the dissatisfied group). Although the satisfied group were more positive to many aspects of their study situation, the dissatisfied group were also relatively positive to many aspects. All respondents expressed that the study cost more time and effort than anticipated, but only for some students (notably the satisfied group) was this high cost counterbalanced by a high value in terms of subject interest and social integration. Implications are discussed in terms of future research directions and how educational institutions can improve students' meeting with higher education.

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What do we know about explanations for drop out/opt out among young people from STM higher education programmes?

Cited by 133 publications

References 44 publications

To Choose or Not to Choose Science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme

To Choose or Not to Choose Science: Constructions of desirable identities among young people considering a STEM higher education programme

Sciencey Girls: Discourses Supporting Working-Class Girls to Identify with Science

Balancing Cost and Value: Scandinavian Students’ First Year Experiences of Encountering Science and Technology Higher Education

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