– The authors found that white men were most likely to report a sense of belonging whereas women of color were the least likely.
– Representation within one’s STEM sub-discipline, namely biology versus the physical sciences, impacts sense of belonging for women.
– Four key factors were found to contribute to sense of belonging for all students interviewed: interpersonal relationships, perceived competence, personal interest, and science identity.
– The authors findings indicate that students who remain in STEM majors report a greater sense of belonging than those who leave STEM.
– Students from underrepresented groups are less likely to
feel they belong.
– Both race and gender moderate the experiences that impact sense of belonging for science students.
– Women of color reported the feeling a sense of belonging less frequently than any demographic group.
– Lack of belonging reported by men is primarily experienced by men of color
Current Selections
ClearRace and gender differences in how sense of belonging influences decisions to major in STEM
Building Better Bridges into STEM: A Synthesis of 25 Years of Literature on STEM Summer Bridge Programs
– The authors identify 14 distinct bridge program goals that can be organized into three categories: academic success goals, psychosocial goals, and department-level goals.
– Academic success goals include: Remediation- Providing Students with Foundational Knowledge in a STEM Domain, Improving Student Content Knowledge in a Discipline, Maximizing Student GPA, Increasing Student Retention, and Increasing Student Graduation Rate from College.
– Psychosocial goals include: Increasing Interest in the Major, Improving Student Sense of Belonging, Increasing Student Sense of Preparedness, Increasing Student Self-Efficacy, Networking with Students, and Networking with Faculty.
– Department-level goals include Recruiting Students to the Major and Enhancing Diversity in the Major
– The authors’ recommendations include: encouraging bridge developers and evaluators to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, reporting unsuccessful iterations to help develop more successful future programs, reporting more information about the details of implementing bridge programs (including costs and resources, recruitment and selection, size, curriculum development, and follow-up information), and aligning bridge goals with measured outcomes.
The Roots of STEM Achievement: An Analysis of Persistence and Attainment in STEM Majors
1. What factors predict that incoming STEM majors who graduate will attain a STEM degree?
2. What elements affect incoming STEM majors’ persistence in college?
3. What variables influence non-STEM majors who graduate college to switch to and attain a degree in a STEM field?
4. What factors motivate undecided majors to declare and graduate with a STEM degree?
State Affirmative Action Bans and STEM Degree Completions
Investigates the effect of affirmative action bans on aggregate STEM degree completion across the US. Banning affirmative action may do more than shift minority students pursuing STEM from more selective colleges to less selective colleges. Minority students may also switch majors while
enrolling in the same institution, as well as attend community colleges or pursue other career
options.
Choice of Majors: Are Women Really Different from Men?
– High school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses.
– Women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues.
– Women are more likely to switch out of male-dominated STEM majors in response to poor performance compared to men.
– It takes multiple signals of lack of fit into a major (low grades, gender composition of class, and external stereotyping signals) to impel female students to switch majors.
Laying the Tracks for Successful Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education: What Can We Learn from Comparisons of Immigrant-Native Achievement in the USA?
This paper examines the immigrant-native achievement gap in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college in the USA.
Can learning communities boost success of women and minorities in STEM? Evidence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
– Author finds no statistically significant effects on academic outcomes for ESG enrollees generally, but women who participate in the program have higher GPAs and complete more credits of coursework.
– Minority students are more likely to major in math, computer science, or electrical engineering after participating in the ESG program.
– Though quite noisy, the results are suggestive that women and minorities in STEM may benefit from learning communities.
– Author finds evidence that female instructors are particularly beneficial for female students at MIT. However, the magnitude of the estimates suggests that the gender-mix of ESG instructors cannot account for most of the academic effects the author observes for female students.
STEM Pathways: Examining Persistence in Rigorous Math and Science Course Taking
What proportion of the STEM-interested students enroll in STEM-related career academies? Are there differences in course taking patterns among STEM-interested students who do or do not enroll in such academies? How do the course taking patterns of STEM-interested students in Florida compare with other students in the USA?
Decomposing the Racial Gap in STEM Major Attrition: A Course-Level Investigation
This paper examines differences in STEM retention between minority and non-minority
undergraduate students. It examines the role of ability in the switching decision and timing, they estimate STEM and non-STEM ability, and then compare the joint distribution of students who switch out of STEM versus STEM stayers.
Early Experiences and Integration in the Persistence of First-Generation College Students in STEM and Non-STEM Majors
To what extent are demographic and academic background, commitment and support, early experiences and integration, and ï¬rst semester academic outcomes related to the persistence of First generation college students (FGCSs) based on major in physical sciences, engineering, math, and computer sciences (PEMC-STEM), other-STEM, and non-STEM)?.
STEM Field Persistence: The Impact of Engagement on Postsecondary STEM Persistence for Underrepresented Minority Students
1) Do the BPS:04/09 data support that underrepresented minority students leave STEM fields? 2) Does the BPS:04/09 demonstrate differential engagement for underrepresented minority students in STEM fields? 3) Do the differing engagement behaviors contribute to STEM attrition of underrepresented minorities?
Exploring the Foundations of the Future STEM Workforce: K-12 Indicators of Postsecondary STEM Success
- What K-12 indicators predict postsecondary STEM success?
- To what extent do K-12 indicators of postsecondary STEM success differ for Hispanic and non-Hispanic students?
Characteristics of US Students That Pursued a STEM Major and Factors That Predicted Their Persistence in Degree Completion
1) What are the characteristics of students’ who declared a STEM major? 2)What are the characteristics of students who completed a STEM major? 3)What factors influence students who persisted to complete a STEM major?
Examining STEM Bachelor's Degree Completion for Students with Differing Propensities at College Entry
1) What aspects of students’ demographic, socioeconomic, and academic backgrounds influence selecting a STEM major during the first year of college? 2) To what extent do students’ first year propensities toward a STEM education moderate the influence that first year financial aid and declaring a STEM major, as well as academic performance and integration in the academic and social environments have on STEM degree completion?
Effects of Student Body Racial and Ethnic Demographics on Community College Student Persistence: A Correlational Inferential Study
1) What is the effect of racial and ethnic community college student body composition on student persistence? 2) Does the racial and ethnic composition of a community college’s student body have differential effects on the persistence of students from different racial and ethnic groups? 3) What is the effect of racial and ethnic student body composition on student academic and social engagement?
Expectancy-Value Models of the STEM Persistence Plans of Ninth-Grade, High-Ability Students: A Comparison Between Black, Hispanic, and White Students
Examine the relationships of demographic and expectancy-value variables with STEM persistence status.
What Matters in College for Retaining Aspiring Scientists and Engineers from Underrepresented Racial Groups
Among students who started college with an interest in majoring in a STEM field, does a student’s race contribute significantly to the chances that he or she will follow through on these intentions? If so, are the effects of race moderated by high school academic preparation and/or key college experiences? If there are racial disparities in persistence rates after controlling for pre-college student characteristics, what are the college factors that contribute to the persistence of under represented racial minority (URM) students? What college experiences and institutional characteristics significantly predict the likelihood that a URM student will follow through on his or her intentions to pursue a degree in STEM?
Persistence and Performance for Latino Community College Students in STEM Majors
1) Do coaching intervention models in STEM courses contribute to student semester-to-semester persistence for Latino community college students who participate in these courses, when compared to students who don’t participate? 2) Do Latino community college students who participate in college STEM courses with coaching intervention models perform better, as measured by final course GPA, when compared to students who do not participate?
Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Childhood Investments on Postsecondary Attainment and Degree Completion
Does having a small class size in K through 3rd have an impact on postsecondary outcomes?
High School Economic Composition and College Persistence
The authors examine variation in college persistence according to the economic composition of high schools, which serves as a proxy for unmeasured high school attributes that are conductive to postsecondary success.
Professional Role Confidence and Gendered Persistence in Engineering
This study examines behavioral and intentional persistence among students who enter an engineering major in college.
Influences of Faculty Validation on Community College STEM Students' Persistence and Success
1) What is the relationship between demographic variables and validation scores for community college STEM students? 2) What is the relationship between demographic variables and academic success and persistence for community college STEM students? 3) What is the influence of validation scores on academic success and persistence based on continued enrollment for community college STEM students?
Race, Gender, and Measures of Success in Engineering Education
To examine Engineering majors by race and gender and examine multiple metrics for “success.”
Is Science Me? High School Students' Identities, Participation and Aspirations in Science, Engineering, and Medicine
To explore why some who were once very interested in science, engineering, or medicine (SEM) majors or careers decided to leave the pipeline in high school while others persisted.
Who succeeds in STEM studies? An analysis of Binghamton University undergraduate students
Who is more likely to enter and graduate with a STEM major?
The Role of Peers and Grades in Determining Major Persistence in the Sciences
This paper examines the determinants of entering and then persisting in physical and life science majors. Also, it investigates the impact of one’s peers on major persistence.
The effect of instructor race and gender on student persistence in STEM fields
To see if the race or gender of the instructor effects persistence of initial STEM majors in a STEM field after the first semester and first year.
Attrition in STEM Fields at a Liberal Arts College: The Importance of Grades and Pre-Collegiate Preferences
To quantify the important factors responsible for the high attrition rates in STEM majors, particularly in relation to gender.
What do we know about explanations for dropout/opt out among young people from STM higher education programmes?
To explore whether research on retention and non-completion in higher education, and in STM programmes in particular, has produced findings that can identify a direction forward for HE institutions and programmes to take measures to reduce the number of students leaving their chosen HE programme
Tracking Financial Aid and Persistence of Women, Minority, and Needy Students in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics
1) What are the persistence patterns of the special student populations compared to other populations in the same institutional setting? 2) Are the special student populations financing higher education differently than the comparison groups? 3) Are there significant differences in the persistence patterns of SEM and SEM student populations based on the type of aid received? 4) Have the amounts and types of aid received by the special student populations changed over time compared to other student populations?
Persistence in Science of High-Ability Minority Students: Results of a Longitudinal Study
The purpose of this study was to construct a comprehensive model to investigate why some high-ability minority students follow through with their plans to become scientists and engineers, while others with the same plans do not.
A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention. III. Gender Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes
Why did the women in the study- whose qualifications were arguably better than those of the men when they entered the chemical engineering curriculum- earn lower grades in chemical engineering courses and exhibit progressively lower confidence levels and expectations of themselves as they advanced through the curriculum?