Community College Chemistry Coursetaking and STEM Academic Persistence
Community College Chemistry Coursetaking and STEM Academic Persistence
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DOI：
10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00586
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发表时间：
2019-01-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Kelly, Angela M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cohen, Richard;Kelly, Angela M.
在所有完成科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科高等教育学位的学生中，社区学院教育了近一半。对于许多被录取的学生来说，化学是一门必要的把关课程，以便在STEM专业中获得高等教育后的保留和晋升。本研究探讨了社区学院学生在STEM专业化学入门课程上的入学率和表现，以及化学成绩与学生背景特征和学位坚持的关系。数据包括2011年至2014年1690名化学专业学生的成绩、人口统计、入学模式和学位状况，这些学生是在一所多元化的郊区社区大学入学的。描述性统计表明，32%的学生在化学入门课上获得了D、F或W的成绩；这些学生中有49%在修完这门课程后换了专业，其中五分之四的人转到了非stem领域。二元逻辑回归模型显示，化学入学是非STEM学科学位变化的显著预测因子，生物学和解剖学/生理学课程选修预测STEM持久性。非stem专业的学位变化是由化学成绩预测的，而不是由学生的性别、种族和社会经济地位等特征预测的。结果表明，化学课程和成绩是影响学生坚持STEM学科的显著因素，并且成绩在很大程度上与学生背景变量无关。讨论了对社区大学化学教学和STEM学术指导的启示。
Community colleges educate nearly half of all students who complete postsecondary degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. For many matriculated students, chemistry is a required gatekeeping course for postsecondary retention and advancement in STEM majors. This research explored community college student enrollment and performance in introductory chemistry courses for STEM majors, and how chemistry achievement related to student background characteristics and degree persistence. Data included grades, demographics, enrollment patterns, and degree status for 1,690 chemistry students who matriculated at a diverse, suburban community college from 2011 to 2014. Descriptive statistics indicated 32% of students received grades of D, F, or W in introductory chemistry; 49% of these students changed their majors after taking the course, with four-fifths of those degree changers switching to non-STEM fields. Binary logistic regression models revealed that chemistry enrollment was a significant predictor of degree change to non-STEM disciplines, with biology and anatomy/physiology coursetaking predicting STEM persistence. Degree change to non-STEM was predicted by chemistry performance but not by student characteristics including gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. The results indicate that chemistry coursetaking and performance are notable factors affecting student persistence in STEM disciplines, and achievement is largely independent of student background variables. Implications for community college chemistry teaching and STEM academic advisement are discussed.