Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder next month will begin interviewing hundreds of undergraduates to ask why they’ve switched out of science, technology, engineering and math majors.
The five-year, $4.3 million project, being in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, expands on a study begun by two CU-Boulder researchers two decades ago and published in 1997 as a book, “Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences.”
“Part of the reason why we’re undertaking this study is that the rates of students switching out of STEM majors has remained so persistent,” said Anne-Barrie Hunter, co-director of Ethnography and Evaluation Research at CU-Boulder and principal investigator for the Colorado research team.
The study, which is being funded by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is the first to be run out of CU-Boulder’s new Center for STEM Learning.
For more information on the study visit http://wceruw.org/projects/projects.php?project_num=956.
UNC’s diversity chief honored
Anita Fleming-Rife, special assistant to the president for Equity and Diversity at the University of Northern Colorado, will be presented the 2013 Distinguished Educator Award by The Education Center, a Denver-area nonprofit provider of training and programs supporting African-American education, at the center’s annual awards presentations March 1.
The award, considered by the center to be equivalent to an “educator hall of fame award,” honors an outstanding black educator who exemplifies the highest standard of excellence in the field of education and has dedicated his or her life to teaching, inspiring and motivating students, parents and other educators to become lifelong learners.
Past recipients of the award include Marie Greenwood, the first African-American woman to be tenured by Denver Public Schools, and who like Fleming-Rife, is a UNC alumna. Read more about Fleming-Rife’s career at http://www.unco.edu/diversity/flemingrife.html.
Legacy Foundation expands access to AP
The Colorado Legacy Foundation Tuesday announced the second group of schools to participate in the National Math and Science Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program, which has a record of closing achievement gaps and increasing college readiness in program schools.
The initiative provides funding for extensive teacher training, student exam fees, classroom equipment and supplies, awards for those who excel, and extra time on task for students during Saturday study sessions.
The latest batch of 10 participating high schools are: Delta, Denver South, Greeley Central, Harrison, Northridge, Pueblo South, Rangeview, Sand Creek, Skyline and Thomas Jefferson.
Last year, Colorado Legacy Schools’ three schools represented just over 1 percent of the total number of schools in Colorado giving AP exams, yet they accounted for 19 percent of the growth in passing scores statewide.
Initial funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Defense and Exxon Mobile. These investments led to CLF receiving the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
I was originally a math major at CU, but I switched to political science. I would hope that the researchers would look at the financial situation of students as they do their research. In the “olden” days, Colorado had a scholarship program called “Join-Honor.” Any Colorado student in a public high school who finished in the top ten percent of his/her graduating class was entitled to enroll in any public Colorado college or university, all tuition and fees pad. That is how I was able to go to CU. But, the scholarship program had a provision that one’s grade point had to increase each year in order to keep the scholarship. The first year the grade average had to be 2.5; the second year, 2.75, and the third year, 3.0.
As a math major, I figured out quickly that courses got more difficult as one progressed and that in order to have a 3.0 at the end of one junior year, one had to have a very high grade point in freshman and sophomore years.
That was not possible for me. I got a five hours of C in my first math class, Calculus. i did not see how I could continue in Math and keep my scholarship over the four years.
I also worked part-time. Even with student loans, many students work part-time. These factors all make it very difficult for students to major in the demanding science, math and technology fields. The full ride scholarships are far and few between. They also may require maintaining a certain grade point.
It is not a matter of attitude or effort that drives many students out of the more demanding courses. I also think that the campus “party” environment can make it difficult for the serious student.
For the really brilliant, there may well be mentors, grants, and other supports. For the merely bright student, there are a lot of barriers.