Investigation of the Factors That Influence Undergraduate Student Chemistry Course Selection

Abstract

The introductory chemistry sequence is a common pathway for undergraduates pursuing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and prehealth careers. Student's academic decision-making has far-reaching consequences for their trajectory, including persistence in the major and ultimate career choice. This phenomenon was studied using a survey and focus group interviews, which were conducted to better understand the factors that influenced student choice. Results were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, from which personal and institutional factors were identified. Using binary logistic regression, we found that students who placed importance on institutional factors (placement test results, discussion with advisor, academic plans, course load, and confidence in preparation) were more likely to comply with their placement recommendation, whereas students who placed importance on personal factors (family and financial concerns, advice from friends and family, rumors about the course, and nonacademic obligations) were more likely to deviate from their placement recommendation. Focus group interviews were analyzed using the constant comparison method and supported the quantitative findings.

Students' use of chemistry core ideas to explain the structure and stability of DNA

“…These forms of validity enable us to generate evidence against the threats to the validity of the results obtained from the multiple implementations of the DNA activity. In addition to establishing the validity of activity, we support the reliability of our analysis by calculating the inter‐rater reliability with Cohen's kappa ( κ ), a commonly used coefficient in our field 56–59 . During the analysis process, raters received directions on the coding scheme and how to record their coding.…”

“…In addition to establishing the validity of activity, we support the reliability of our analysis by calculating the inter-rater reliability with Cohen's kappa (κ), a commonly used coefficient in our field. [56][57][58][59] During the analysis process, raters received directions on the coding scheme and how to record their coding. One rater coded a set of student responses for a cohort, a second rater coded a random 20% of the data set from the same cohort, and we obtained κ values ranging from 0.9 to 1.0 depending on the specific question (see Supporting Information S.7 for the Cohen's κ ranges).…”

Affective Elements of the Student Experience That Contribute to Withdrawal Rates in the General Chemistry Sequence: A Multimethod Study

“…A popular method to understand student experiences through phenomenography is to use interviews, and this was recently invoked to understand the reasons why students choose to take a chemistry course. 30 Thematic analysis and cluster analysis are two widely adopted methods used to interpret data collected from surveys and interviews. For example, thematic analyses have been conducted on interview data in studies to determine knowledge and skills that doctoral chemists use in their jobs, 31 and to understand how graduate students experience collaboration during international research visits.…”

“…This approach is chosen is because while a chemistry course is a certain collection of activities, different students will experience those activities differently, leading some to withdraw and others to persist. A popular method to understand student experiences through phenomenography is to use interviews, and this was recently invoked to understand the reasons why students choose to take a chemistry course . Thematic analysis and cluster analysis are two widely adopted methods used to interpret data collected from surveys and interviews.…”

Improving Mentoring in Higher Education in Undergraduate Education and Exploring Implications for Online Learning

“…Closely related to retention are mentoring benefits to student persistence. Participation in a field-specific mentoring program can increase student persistence in that program through a semester as well as through the entirety of the college years (Allen & Lester, 2012;Butz et al, 2018;Hinds & Shultz, 2018;Poor & Brown, 2013). As students near the end of their college experience, mentoring has been shown to also help persistence in job searches (Renn et al, 2014).…”