The Relationships Among High School STEM Learning Experiences and Students’ Intent to Declare and Declaration of a STEM Major in College

  1. African American students took a much smaller percent of honors STEM-related classes during high school. They took algebra 1, algebra 2, physical sciences, and biology later. They also took physics less frequently than White students.
  2. 34.9% of male students took physics in high school while only 20.4% of females took this subject.
  3. Taking physics in high school and having coursework and/or experience in other STEM-related activities had a positive significant relationship with students’ intent to major in STEM.
  4. The number of years biology was taken in high school is the only high school experience of inspiration/ reinforcement/ preparation to help explain the gap in intent to major in STEM between White and African American students.
  5. The proportion of honors STEM-related classes taken, attending a school that offered a math and science focus, and number of years of biology taken during high school have significant associations with White students’ intent to major in STEM, whereas they do not have a meaningful relationship with African American students’ intentions to major in STEM.
  6. The proportion of STEM-related honors courses taken during high school is only directly related to African American students’ odds of declaring a major in biology.
  7. The greater a students’ intent to major in STEM, the greater the odds that they will declare a STEM major in college.
  8. Findings suggest that STEM experiences of inspiration/ reinforcement/ preparation during high school interact with demographic variables to moderate students’ interest in STEM.
  9. Taking physics and intending to major in STEM during high school are the variables most closely associated with students’ choice of STEM as a major. In addition, taking physics is especially important for young women’s odds of declaration of STEM.
  10. Findings suggest several policy recommendations: Provide a variety of high school learning STEM experiences that will link and augment students’ interest in STEM; change the way physics is presented to female students; utilizing curricula and pedagogy that focus on ways that physics is personally relevant may increase the number of young women who take the course in high school; increase the quality of the STEM-related academic preparation of students; particular attention should be given to underrepresented subgroups of students; increase the offering of math and science-focused program at schools; and increase the availability of more STEM-related co- and extracurricular experiences available to youth.
  11. Taking particular courses in high school and intending to major in STEM increase the likelihood of enrolling in STEM.