The pandemic learning shock that wasn't: STEM major choice resilience during COVID-19

Background Women remain under-represented in high-paying STEM majors. This study seeks to advance understanding of the factors related to students’ decisions to choose STEM majors, with particular attention to gender differences. Prior research has largely examined high school students’ perceptions of math interest and math utility in relation to later STEM enrollment, yielding mixed findings and limited insight into the actual values students consider when selecting a major. This study analyzes college students’ retrospective reflections on their major-selection motivations. This study also examines under-explored factors, such as perceived difficulty of math, exposure to math-teacher gender bias in ninth grade, and use of college career-planning services, while also investigating self-perceptions of math ability to address inconsistencies in previous findings. Using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, this study compares women in STEM and non-STEM majors and contrasts the factors related to women’s decisions to choose STEM majors with those of men. Results Self-perception of high math ability, perceived low difficulty of math, and prioritizing a high-income job predict the decision to choose a STEM major for both women and men. The impact of high-income job potential is stronger for women, while job availability significantly predicts STEM choice only among men. Factors such as exposure to math-teacher gender bias in ninth grade, use of college career-planning services, and reasons for choosing a major—such as enjoying courses in a major, doing well in courses in a major, work–life balance, contribution to society, and job availability—are not associated with STEM major choice for either gender. Conclusions These results align with prior research, emphasizing the role of self-confidence in math and the perception of math as a manageable subject in fostering interest in STEM among both women and men. The results also challenge conventional wisdom by revealing that women in STEM value high-income potential as much as—or even more than—men, rather than prioritizing work–life balance or contribution to society in choosing their majors. Future research should longitudinally examine the impact of exposure to math-teacher gender bias and the use of career services on women’s STEM major choices.

This paper describes a summit on Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape organized by a committee of the National Research Council (NRC) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and held at the Carnegie Institution for Science on December 15, 2011. This summit followed a similar event organized by Dr. Jill Biden, spouse of the Vice President, and held at the White House in October 2010, which sought to bring national attention to the changing missions and purposes of community colleges in contemporary American society.1 The NRC/NAE event built on the White House summit, while focusing on the changing roles of community colleges in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. An in-depth summary of the summit was prepared by the NRC and NAE for publication in late Spring 2012 by the National Academies Press (NRC and National Academy of Engineering, 2012 ). This paper provides a synopsis of that report, which is available at www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13399, and emphasizes how we can use the report to improve STEM education for our students, but also how much progress still needs to be made to realize this ideal.

Motherhood induces a drastic, sometimes long-lasting, change in internal state and behavior in many female animals. How a change in reproductive state or the discrete event of mating modulates specific female behaviors is still incompletely understood. Using calcium imaging of the whole brain of Drosophila females, we find that mating does not induce a global change in brain activity. Instead, mating modulates the pheromone response of dopaminergic neurons innervating the fly’s learning and memory center, the mushroom body (MB). Using the mating-induced increased attraction to the odor of important nutrients, polyamines, we show that disruption of the female fly’s ability to smell, for instance the pheromone cVA, during mating leads to a reduction in polyamine preference for days later indicating that the odor environment at mating lastingly influences female perception and choice behavior. Moreover, dopaminergic neurons including innervation of the β’1 compartment are sufficient to induce the lasting behavioral increase in polyamine preference. We further show that MB output neurons (MBON) of the β’1 compartment are activated by pheromone odor and their activity during mating bidirectionally modulates preference behavior in mated and virgin females. Their activity is not required, however, for the expression of polyamine attraction. Instead, inhibition of another type of MBON innervating the β’2 compartment enables expression of high odor attraction. In addition, the response of a lateral horn (LH) neuron, AD1b2, which output is required for the expression of polyamine attraction, shows a modulated polyamine response after mating. Taken together, our data in the fly suggests that mating-related sensory experience regulates female odor perception and expression of choice behavior through a dopamine-gated learning circuit.

Determining the effects of computer science education at the secondary level on STEM major choices in postsecondary institutions in the United States

Rural students account for almost 20% of the US K-12 students, but rural context varies from state to state. This study uses a statewide longitudinal sample (N = 3,119) to analyze college enrollment and STEM major choice patterns of Montana’s public high school students in the academic years of 2013-2017. The binary logistic regressions showed that Montanan students are more likely to enroll into a 4-year institution than a 2-year institution. Also, students enrolled at a 4-year institution are more likely to consider STEM majors than students at a 2-year institution. Although high school GPA and ACT STEM scores are strong predictors for both college enrollment and STEM major choice, findings for race/ethnicity, gender, and free or reduced-price lunch status varied across the two outcomes. Specifically, race/ethnicity contributes to variation in college enrollment, but not STEM major choice. Similarly, free or reduced-price lunch status in high school is predictive of college enrollment, but not for STEM major choice. Although there was no difference in college enrollment type for gender, male students are more likely to select a STEM major, and this trend occurs at a rate of three times higher at a 4-year institution versus a 2-year institution. Our findings provide additional nuances of rural students, contributing to the understanding of their college enrollment and STEM major choices in the context of Montana - a large geographic, low populous state - which has received less attention than urban and high-density states.

Purpose of the studyPrevious literature has examined the relationship between high school students’ postsecondary STEM major choices and their prior interest and perceived ability in mathematics. Yet, we have limited understanding of whether and how perceived ability and interest in science and mathematics jointly affect students’ STEM major choices.ResultsUsing the most recent nationally representative longitudinal cohort of U.S. secondary school students, we examine the degree to which students’ perceived mathematical and scientific abilities and interests predict their STEM major choices, employing logistic regression and a series of interaction analyses. We find that while both mathematics and science perceived ability positively influence STEM major selection, academic interest in these subjects is a weaker predictor. Moreover, across a series of analyses, we observe a significant gender gap—whereby women are less than half as likely to select STEM majors—as well as nuanced distinctions by self-identified race. The relationships among perceived ability, interest, and STEM major choice are not found to meaningfully vary by race nor consistently by gender. However, perceived ability has a more positive effect for men than women who are pursuing Computing/Engineering majors and a more positive effect for women than men who are pursuing other STEM majors, including less applied Social/Behavioral, Natural, and Other Sciences.ImplicationsThese findings suggest potential opportunities to enhance their perceived mathematical and scientific abilities in high school, positioning them to potentially enter STEM fields. School sites with more resources to support the ambitions of STEM students of all backgrounds may be better positioned to reduce postsecondary disparities in STEM fields. Given existing opportunity gaps and resource differentials among schools, corresponding recommendations are suggested.

Since the 1980s the United States has faced growing disinterest and high attrition from STEM majors. Over the same period, foreign-born enrollment in U.S. higher education has increased steadily. This paper examines whether foreign-born peers affect the likelihood American college students graduate with a STEM major. Using administrative student records from a large public university in California, we exploit idiosyncratic variation in the share of foreign peers across introductory math courses taught by the same professor over time. Results indicate that a 1 standard deviation increase in foreign peers reduces the likelihood native-born students graduate with STEM majors by 3 percentage points – equivalent to 3.7 native students displaced for 9 additional foreign students in an average course. STEM displacement is offset by an increased likelihood of choosing Social Science majors. However, the earnings prospects of displaced students are minimally affected as they appear to be choosing Social Science majors with equally high earning power. We demonstrate that comparative advantage and linguistic dissonance may operate as underlying mechanisms.

Despite the growing evidence of informational interventions on college and major choices, we know little about how such light-touch interventions affect the gender gap in STEM majors. Linking survey data to administrative records of Chinese college applicants, we conducted a large-scale randomized experiment to examine the STEM gender gap in the major preference beliefs, application behaviors, and admissions outcomes. We find that female students are less likely to prefer, apply to, and enroll in STEM majors, particularly Engineering majors. In a school-level cluster randomized controlled trial, we provided treated students with major-specific wage information. Students’ major preferences are easily malleable that 39% of treated students updated their preferences after receiving the wage informational intervention. The wage informational intervention has no statistically significant impacts on female students’ STEM-related major applications and admissions. In contrast, those male students in rural areas who likely lack such information are largely shifted into STEM majors as a result of the intervention. We provide supporting evidence of heterogeneous major preferences for extrinsic incentives: even among those students who are most likely to be affected by the wage information (prefer high paying majors and lack the wage information), female students are less responsive to the informational intervention.

Despite calls for improved data-collection efforts tracking transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, there have been no reports of TGNC continuation in STEM majors at the university level. Using national, longitudinal data from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, we analyzed the experiences of 20,910 students who indicated an initial intent to major in a STEM field and found that TGNC students (n = 117) continue in STEM majors at a rate ∼10% lower than their cisgender peers. This gap persists despite TGNC students’ high levels of academic ability and academic self-confidence. Through multilevel regression modeling, we found this difference is not explained by experiences that have predicted the likelihood of cisgender students leaving STEM. The only significant predictor of STEM attrition for TGNC students in our model was whether they sought personal counseling; TGNC students who more frequently sought personal counseling were 21% less likely to remain in STEM majors. Overall, TGNC students leave STEM at rates similar to or higher than other minoritized groups, building the case for a multifaced, intersectional approach to addressing diversity and equity in the preparation of the future STEM workforce.

Despite a push from the government, academia, and industry to increase the number of STEM-educated professionals in the United States, the number of college students pursuing STEM majors and completing STEM degrees is inadequate. One of the causes of low retention in STEM is the impostor phenomenon, a feeling of fraudulence experienced in high-achieving individuals. The subjects of Clance and Imes's (1978) initial research on the impostor phenomenon involved mostly Caucasian women in graduate school, and there is little research on the impostor phenomenon focused on minority students. Therefore, the current study expanded on the research by focusing on how the impostor phenomenon and academic self-efficacy affect the likelihood of persistence in STEM in a group of African-American female undergraduate students. The study used quantitative non-experimental correlational design and cross-sectional surveys for data collection. A total of 113 African-American female undergraduate STEM students from two public universities in North Carolina completed a combined survey, which was comprised of the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, the Academic Milestones Self-Efficacy Scale, and demographic information. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were performed to search for relationships between the impostor phenomenon, academic self-efficacy, and the likelihood of persistence in STEM majors. Results showed a significant negative relationship between the impostor phenomenon and academic self-efficacy, and a statistically significant predictive relationship between academic self-efficacy and the likelihood of persistence in STEM. Recommendations included research on the impostor phenomenon and other variables and STEM-focused programming.

The current study examined how participation in an undergraduate research experience (URE) that provides a counterspace affects sociocognitive factors (science self-efficacy, science identity, and academic self-concept) and how they, in turn, may shape science career intention in a sample of STEM undergraduate students. STEM majors from a public university in California completed surveys from 2017 to 2020 and rated their science identity, science self-efficacy, academic self-concept, and their intention to pursue a science-related research career. Structural equation modeling shows that URE participants reported higher (a) science self-efficacy, (b) science identity, and (c) academic self-concept relative to students who did not participate in the URE. While there was an indirect effect of science self-efficacy on science career intention mediated by science identity, higher science self-efficacy and academic self-concept were negatively associated with the intention to pursue a science career. MANOVA results suggest that URE participants fared better than non-URE students in all outcomes across all sub-groups. These results highlight the importance of an identity-focused UREs and the counterspace it fosters among STEM majors from diverse backgrounds.

Even though boys and girls in childhood perform similarly in math and spatial thinking, after puberty fewer young women pursue majors that emphasize abilities such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in college. If postpubertal feminization contributes to a lower likelihood of choosing STEM majors, then young women who enter puberty early should be the least likely to pursue those majors later in their education. In this study, we investigate the association between age at menarche and the choice of STEM major. We surveyed 150 undergraduate women from a variety of majors in a large, public university and created logistic regression models to estimate their likelihood of choosing a STEM major. We found that early-maturing girls are less likely to enter STEM majors. We posit that the earlier a young woman enters puberty, the earlier and more extensively she is affected by the “leaky pipeline.”

Despite some gains, women continue to be underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Using a national longitudinal dataset of 690 participants born in 1991, we tested whether spatial skills, measured in middle childhood, would help explain this gender gap. We modeled the relation between 4th-grade spatial skills and STEM majors while simultaneously accounting for competing cognitive and motivational mechanisms. Strong spatial skills in 4th grade directly increased the likelihood of choosing STEM college majors, above and beyond math achievement and motivation, verbal achievement and motivation, and family background. Additionally, 4th-grade spatial skills indirectly predicted STEM major choice via math achievement and motivation in the intervening years. Further, our findings suggest that gender differences in 4th-grade spatial skills contribute to women's underrepresentation in STEM majors. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Using a national longitudinal dataset, we found 4th-grade spatial skills directly predicted STEM college major choice after accounting for multiple cognitive and motivational mechanisms. Strong spatial skills in 4th grade also elevated STEM major choice via enhanced math achievement and motivation in the intervening years. Gender differences in 4th-grade spatial skills contributed to women's underrepresentation in STEM college majors.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the undergraduates' and lecturers' perspectives on the implementation of online learning and to compare perspectives between private and public universities. Materials and methods: The study followed a mixed-method design and involved dental undergraduates and lecturers from two study settings in Malaysia: International Medical University (IMU), a private university, and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), a public university. All undergraduates and lecturers were invited to complete an online questionnaire with evaluative statements regarding three domains: handling, didactic benefit, motivation, and an overall assessment. The comparison of perception between the private and public universities was analyzed using Mann-Whitney test. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were carried out for undergraduates and lecturers. Each FGD consisted of six people. The audio-recorded conversations were transcribed verbatim. Results: Mean scores of perceptions regarding the domains, handling, and motivation were higher among undergraduates from public universities (p < 0.05), while there were no differences for the didactic domain. There was no difference in perception of any of the three domains between private and public university lecturers. Mean scores for perceptions on the optimal amount of online learning in the future domains were higher among undergraduates from a public university (p < 0.05), while lecturers' perceptions showed no difference. Thematic analysis of FGDs revealed that both groups from private and public universities felt that flexibility and a student-centered approach are the advantages of online learning. The inadequacy to cover the entire curriculum and lack of student engagement and interaction were highlighted as limitations. Conclusion: Regardless of the university background, the undergraduates and lecturers were able to adjust to the online learning environment, which mainly reflected a positive perspective on the implementation of online learning. There were modest differences in the perceptions of dental undergraduates between private and public universities, while the perception of the lecturers did not show any difference.

This study examined factors associated with students with disabilities (SWDs)’ STEM major choice in postsecondary institutions. The major findings included: 1) SWDs with difficulty conversing had a greater likelihood of choosing STEM majors compared with their counterparts without such a difficulty in both two- and four-year institutions; 2) SWDs with strengths in STEM-related domains were more likely to choose STEM majors than their counterparts in four-year institutions; and 3) SWDs from lower income backgrounds were more likely to choose STEM majors compared with their higher-income counterparts regardless of the institution type. The study recommends a comprehensive approach to providing academic resources and career counselling to meet the needs of different individuals among this underrepresented population.