Barriers and Opportunities in Completing Two- and Four-Year STEM Degrees

美国国家研究委员会（NRC）科学教育委员会与高等教育和劳动力委员会、教师咨询委员会和美国国家工程院合作，要求支持一项研究，以了解完成两年制和四年制STEM学位的障碍以及克服这些障碍的机会。该研究将探讨动机、兴趣和态度在塑造本科生在STEM领域的发展轨迹方面的作用，特别是在从两年制大学向四年制大学的过渡中。它将特别关注教学质量以外的因素，如评分政策、课程顺序、本科学习和生活环境、学生在科学方面的总体自我效能感和自我效能感、高中准备、家庭背景、职业和生活愿望、STEM职业知识等，影响不同学生留在STEM专业或离开STEM专业的决定。该研究将以NRC的相关工作为基础，包括最近关于社区大学在不断发展的STEM教育格局中的峰会、扩大未被充分代表的少数民族参与的研究：处于十字路口的美国科技人才以及正在进行的基于学科的教育研究。

The National Research Council (NRC) Board on Science Education, in collaboration with the Board on Higher Education and Workforce, the Teacher Advisory Council, and the National Academy of Engineering, requests support for a study to understand the barriers to completion of two- and four-year STEM degrees and opportunities for overcoming these barriers. The study will explore the role of motivation, interest and attitude in shaping undergraduates' trajectories in STEM, especially in the transition from two-year to four-year institutions. It will give special attention to factors beyond the quality of instruction that influence diverse students' decisions to stay in or leave STEM majors' such as grading policies, course sequences, undergraduate learning and living environments, students' general self-efficacy and self-efficacy in science, high school preparation, family background, career and life aspirations, and knowledge of STEM careers. The study will build on related NRC work, including the recent summit on community colleges in the evolving STEM education landscape, the study of Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads and the ongoing study of Discipline-Based Education Research.