Abstract
Low student enrollment and high attrition rates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education are major challenges in higher education. Many STEM entrants end-up switching their majors to non-STEM fields, perform poorly relative to their peers in other programs, and/or drop out of college without earning any academic qualification. Therefore, it is important to examine strategies for reducing attrition in STEM programs. This paper reviews the major factors impeding student interest, success, and persistence in STEM programs, and current institutional practices aimed at addressing these issues. Suggested institutional strategies to improve persistence in STEM programs and their implications that are discussed in this paper include: provision of orientation programs, adoption of early warning systems, Mathematics review sessions, creation of student learning communities, professional development of faculty, as well as collaborative and outreach programs. It is hoped that this review will encourage debate toward solving the major challenges facing STEM education.
Highlights
1.1 The Problem and Its MagnitudeIn this age and era of scientific triumph where even five-year-olds are controlled by technology but do operate and maneuver technological equipment such as video games, telephones, etc., it is an irony that the fields that make life so exciting, convenient and “cool” are the same fields that are least attractive to student career pursuits
How come students are not flooding into these fields to become the “Einsteins” of tomorrow or inventors of the generation of video games, or the computer “wizards”? Even more puzzling is the fact that all this is happening during a time in history when jobs in technical fields requiring STEM skills are quite abundant
A narrative literature review approach was used to describe the current state of STEM education in the United States
Summary
In this age and era of scientific triumph where even five-year-olds are controlled by technology but do operate and maneuver technological equipment such as video games, telephones, etc., it is an irony that the fields that make life so exciting, convenient and “cool” are the same fields that are least attractive to student career pursuits. Morrison et al (2011) reported that in the US, almost 600,000 technical positions in the manufacturing sectors remain open due to shortage of candidates with STEM skills. The number of students with interest in STEM remains substantially low (Chen & Soldner, 2013). This seems to defy logic, given that the single most common concern students express before deciding on a major is their hes.ccsenet.org
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