“…At many universities, large introductory STEM courses, often referred to as "gate-keepers," represent major barriers that discourage students from entering or persisting in STEM disciplines. Moreover, females (Felder, Felder, Mauney, Hamrin, & Dietz, 1995;Brainard & Carlin, 1997;Blickenstaff, 2005), first-generation college students (Engle & Tinto, 2008), students from low-income families (Lam, Srivatsan, Doverspike, Vesalo, & Mawasha, 2006), and under-represented minority students (Cole & Espinoza, 2008) are more likely to drop out from STEM majors.…”