To support the industries of the future, there’s an estimated need for a 33-percent increase in the number of STEM-degree holders. But right now, roughly half of first-year STEM majors are choosing to drop out or change their course of study before graduating. 

For many, the decision to leave STEM fields is rooted in feelings of academic underpreparedness, an inability to deal with rigorous curricula and a perception that they don’t belong. And unfortunately, those choosing to leave such majors are disproportionately first-generation and underrepresented students, which furthers the lack of diversity in STEM. 

But, this can all change, according to a pair of researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). Colleges and universities just need to adjust their teaching methods. 

By way of a three-year study evaluating student outcomes in two separate biology courses, the researchers proved that an active learning approach, which includes features like small group discussions, peer-reviewed writing assignments and pre-class readings coupled with quizzes, can improve students’ overall grades and retention rates. 

“All students that are admitted here to UC Santa Barbara are capable of pursuing the biology major, otherwise the university would not have admitted them,” Mike Wilton, a co-author of the study and lecturer in the UCSB Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, said in a statement. 

But once they get to school, many first-year STEM students — especially those who are the first in their families to go to college — face unpredicted academic adversity. And if they start slipping, they don’t always know where to go for help. 

“Sometimes the background that these students have is not ideal — they came from high schools that didn’t prepare them for the rigor that you face in college,” Eduardo Gonzalez-Niño, a co-author of the study and lecturer in the UCSB Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, said in a statement.

And then there are problems with the design of introductory STEM courses, which naturally tend to discourage students from continuing their education. 

“There’s sort of a historic culture, oftentimes in university education, especially in science and math, to think of the early courses … as being screening courses, where the idea is you find out which students are ‘good enough’ to get through those courses,” David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association, told VOA News. “And so instead of being an educational regime that encourages students, it’s one that really filters.”

The study

UCSB admits about 1,100 new biology majors each year, roughly 600 of whom leave the major after just two years. So, through a desire to improve retention rates, this study was born. The researchers hypothesized that if they introduced students to a more active, participatory style of learning, they might be able to prevent them from leaving early. 

Throughout the three-year research project, some groups of students continued to take the traditional, lecture-centric introductory biology course, while others opted to enroll in an “intervention course,” which included weekly review quizzes and a peer-led discussion section focusing on historically difficult course concepts. 

After analyzing three years worth of student performance, the researchers found that those who took the intervention course outscored students who took the traditional course by an average of 12 percent on common exam questions and achieved higher course grades, overall.  

On top of that, the students in the intervention course reported a significant increase in their overall “sense of belonging,” compared to students who took the traditional course. Instead of feeling out of place or undeserving, the students in the intervention course built up confidence and a willingness to converse with their peers and professors. 

“The students in the active learning course were comfortable approaching us,” Gonzalez-Niño said in a statement. “They can tell that we’re on their side.”

This increased sense of belonging, along with greater academic performances, resulted in a higher likelihood for students to continue studying biology after completing their introductory course. According to the study, those who took the intervention course were about 10 percent more likely than students who took the traditional course to enroll in the following biology course the next quarter.  

Increasing diversity in STEM

For years now, there has been a strong push towards increasing diversity in STEM, as diversity leads to complex, complete thought. 

“When you have people with the same background all think about the same questions, often there’s a limited number of answers that you can come up with,” Gonzalez-Niño said in a statement. “But when you have a diverse group of people thinking about the same issues, then the answers to those issues become more creative and diverse.”

Recognizing this, many institutions, including colleges and universities, have been trying to make sure people of all ethnicities and genders are represented in STEM fields. They’ve had some success, but equal representation is yet to be accomplished. 

Currently, black workers comprise 11 percent of the overall U.S. workforce but only 9 percent of STEM workers. And Hispanics make up 16 percent of the U.S. workforce but only 7 percent of STEM workers. 

Active, participatory teaching methods may be able to raise these numbers, however, as minority groups and non-traditional students benefit greatly from finding a community of peers who share their concerns and troubles. And finding these communities is much easier to do in introductory courses that include peer discussion and participation rather than pure lecture.