scholarly journals Beyond the Leaky Pipeline: Developmental Pathways that Lead College Students to Join or Return to STEM Majors

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-90
Author(s):  
Jue Wu ◽  
David Uttal
Keyword(s):  
Stem Education ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
National Research Council ◽  
Early College ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
College Majors ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Clinical Interviews ◽  
Stem Major ◽  
Leaky Pipeline

STEM education researchers often invoke the “Leaky Pipeline” metaphor (National Research Council, 1986) when explaining why so many students do not persist in STEM. This metaphor envisions the supply of potential workers as a pipeline.  Students “drip out” (leave STEM) of the pipeline from preschool through college. However, this metaphor does not adequately reflect the fluidity and multi-directionality of students’ decisions about their college majors.  For example, some students join STEM after leaving another (non-STEM) major, and others add STEM as a second major. Increasing the number of students who join STEM could contribute substantially to addressing the STEM shortage. We used the term STEM joiners to refer to these students. We conducted a qualitative study of 22 college STEM joiners to explore the developmental trajectories and motivations of these STEM joiners. Data was collected through semi-structured clinical interviews with each individual and was analyzed by an iterative, grounded coding processes to derive themes and categories. We found that the decision to join STEM after declaring another major was often motivated by a desire to return to original interests in STEM. Early college STEM courses, supportive STEM environments, and mentoring experiences were critical in students’ joining decisions. The results suggest ways in which STEM joining could be increased, which could lead to an increase in the number of STEM majors.

scholarly journals A Collective Impact Model Towards Increasing STEM Major Student Retention

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (Volume 2, Issue 2) ◽  
pp. 21-30
Keyword(s):  
Student Retention ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Collective Impact ◽  
Impact Model ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Stem Major ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Hispanic Serving

This article presents the research findings of a multidisciplinary team's collective research effort at one university over a five-year period as funded by the National Science Foundation's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) program. A collaborative learning and retention action research effort at a large Hispanic Serving Institution is analyzed using mixed methods to document the power of collective impact as the foundation for a learning support model for students historically underrepresented majoring in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academic programs. The actions of the team of researchers are presented to describe the Rising Stars Collective Impact model and the impacts achieved. This is a model that aligns objectives, intervention efforts, and reports collective results. The long-term goals of the Rising Stars Collective Impact multiple programs managed by the funded program team included the following: (a) to improve the campus sense of community for students historically under-represented in STEM, (b) to establish innovative and robust STEM education research-based practices to support critical skill attainment for students, and (c) to support faculty understanding of the funds of knowledge of diverse students. The positive student retention and success impacts of this research effort are measured through quantitative statistical analysis of the changes in second-year STEM undergraduate student retention rates and representation rates of women, Hispanics, and African American STEM majors.

scholarly journals Gender Inequality in STEM Employment and Earnings at Career Entry: Evidence from Millennial Birth Cohorts

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110643
Author(s):  
Tom VanHeuvelen ◽  
Natasha Quadlin
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Stem Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
College Majors ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
First Year College ◽  
And Mathematics

Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors remain male dominated, women’s greater enrollment in STEM is one of the greatest transformations to occur in U.S. higher education in the past half century. But to what extent have women’s gains in STEM enrollment translated to greater parity in labor market outcomes? Although the challenges women face in STEM have been well documented, questions about the influence of gender for STEM employment and earnings differences remain. In the present research, the authors use data from recent birth cohorts in the American Community Survey between 2009 and 2018 (starting with the first year college majors were available in the survey) and a reweighting technique from labor economics to track the evolution of gender inequalities in STEM employment and earnings inequality among STEM work at the onset of labor market entry. Even among a sample expected to produce highly conservative gender differences, sizable gender inequalities in STEM employment are observed. The authors show that despite women’s gains in STEM education among recent cohorts, women with STEM degrees face employment prospects in STEM work that more closely resemble those of men without STEM degrees than men with STEM degrees. Moreover, although modest gender earnings gaps eventually emerge for those without STEM degrees, large gaps occur at the outset of employment for STEM workers. Thus, although STEM education provides important opportunities for women’s earning potential, it may be less effective in itself to address significant gender inequalities among STEM employment.

scholarly journals Broadening Participation in STEM College Majors: Effects of Attending a STEM-Focused High School

AERA Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 233285841880630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Means ◽  
Haiwen Wang ◽  
Xin Wei ◽  
Emi Iwatani ◽  
Vanessa Peters
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High Schools ◽  
Bachelor's Degree ◽  
Two Year Colleges ◽  
College Majors ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Stem Major ◽  
School Sample ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
State Higher Education

To increase participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies and careers, some states have promoted inclusive STEM high schools. This study addressed the question of whether these high schools improve the odds that their graduates will pursue a STEM major in college. State higher education records were obtained for students surveyed as seniors in 23 inclusive STEM high schools and 19 comparison schools without a STEM focus. Propensity score weighting was used to ensure that students in the comparison school sample were very similar to those in the inclusive STEM school sample in terms of demographic characteristics and Grade 8 achievement. Students overall and from under-represented groups who had attended inclusive STEM high schools were significantly more likely to be in a STEM bachelor’s degree program two years after high school graduation. For students who entered two-year colleges, on the other hand, attending an inclusive STEM high school was not associated with entry into STEM majors.

scholarly journals LineageOT is a unified framework for lineage tracing and trajectory inference

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aden Forrow ◽  
Geoffrey Schiebinger
Keyword(s):  
Graphical Models ◽  
Optimal Transport ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Lineage Tracing ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
State Transitions ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Measured Time ◽  
Mathematical Problems ◽  
Time Courses

AbstractUnderstanding the genetic and epigenetic programs that control differentiation during development is a fundamental challenge, with broad impacts across biology and medicine. Measurement technologies like single-cell RNA-sequencing and CRISPR-based lineage tracing have opened new windows on these processes, through computational trajectory inference and lineage reconstruction. While these two mathematical problems are deeply related, methods for trajectory inference are not typically designed to leverage information from lineage tracing and vice versa. Here, we present LineageOT, a unified framework for lineage tracing and trajectory inference. Specifically, we leverage mathematical tools from graphical models and optimal transport to reconstruct developmental trajectories from time courses with snapshots of both cell states and lineages. We find that lineage data helps disentangle complex state transitions with increased accuracy using fewer measured time points. Moreover, integrating lineage tracing with trajectory inference in this way could enable accurate reconstruction of developmental pathways that are impossible to recover with state-based methods alone.

scholarly journals Parallel development of risk behaviors in adolescence: Potential pathways to co-occurrence

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Y. C. Huang ◽  
H. Isabella Lanza ◽  
Debra A. Murphy ◽  
Yih-Ing Hser
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Sexual Risk ◽  
Risk Behaviors ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Marijuana Use ◽  
Longitudinal Survey ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Sexual Risk Taking

This study used data from 5,382 adolescents from the 1997 United States (US) National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) to investigate developmental pathways of alcohol use, marijuana use, sexual risk behaviors, and delinquency across ages 14 to 20; examine interrelationships among these risk behaviors across adolescence; and evaluate association between risk behavior trajectories and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Group-based dual trajectory modeling, examining trajectories of two outcomes over time, revealed strong interrelationships among developmental trajectories of the four risk behaviors, and indicated potential pathways to co-occurring risk behaviors. Adolescents with higher levels of alcohol use or marijuana use were more likely to engage in higher levels of early sexual risk-taking and delinquency. Moreover, adolescents involved in higher levels of delinquency were at higher risk for engaging in early sexual risk-taking. Also, belonging to the highest risk trajectory of any of the four risk behaviors was positively associated with depressive symptoms in adolescence.

Comparing Developmental Trajectories of Elite Able-Bodied and Wheelchair Basketball Players

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-348
Author(s):  
Nima Dehghansai ◽  
Daniel Spedale ◽  
Melissa J. Wilson ◽  
Joseph Baker
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Wheelchair Basketball ◽  
Basketball Players ◽  
Developmental Models ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
History Of ◽  
Career Performance ◽  
Context Specific

Little is known about the factors influencing Paralympic athletes’ journey to expertise and whether these athletes have trajectories similar to those of their able-bodied (AB) peers. The purpose of this project was to compare the developmental trajectories of wheelchair and AB basketball players. A total of 150 participants completed the Developmental History of Athletes Questionnaire. Results revealed that while AB athletes reached early career milestones at a significantly younger age, athletes with congenital impairments reached midcareer milestones at similar ages to AB athletes. In addition, athletes with acquired impairments were able to reach key late-career performance milestones (i.e., national and international debuts) at a similar age to the other two groups. The findings from this study suggest complex developmental pathways that may not be reflected in current developmental models. Therefore, the authors suggest that scientists and practitioners be cognizant of context-specific needs when providing training recommendations.

scholarly journals Distinct developmental pathways underlie independent losses of flight in ratites

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 20170234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Faux ◽  
Daniel J. Field
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Large Body Size ◽  
Phylogenetic Studies ◽  
Developmental Mechanisms ◽  
Wing Growth ◽  
Range Of Variation

Recent phylogenetic studies question the monophyly of ratites (large, flightless birds incorporating ostriches, rheas, kiwis, emus and cassowaries), suggesting their paraphyly with respect to flying tinamous (Tinamidae). Flightlessness and large body size have thus likely evolved repeatedly among ratites, and separately in ostriches ( Struthio ) and emus ( Dromaius ). Here, we test this hypothesis with data from wing developmental trajectories in ostriches, emus, tinamous and chickens. We find the rate of ostrich embryonic wing growth falls within the range of variation exhibited by flying taxa (tinamous and chickens), but that of emus is extremely slow. These results indicate flightlessness was acquired by different developmental mechanisms in the ancestors of ostriches (peramorphosis) and the emu–cassowary clade (paedomorphosis), and corroborate the hypothesis that flight loss has evolved repeatedly among ratites.

Gender Equity in College Majors: Looking Beyond the STEM/Non-STEM Dichotomy for Answers Regarding Female Participation

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Ganley ◽  
Casey E. George ◽  
Joseph R. Cimpian ◽  
Martha B. Makowski
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
College Major ◽  
College Majors ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Els 2002 ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The Impact

Women are underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and in some non-STEM majors (e.g., philosophy). Combining newly gathered data on students’ perceptions of college major traits with data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), we find that perceived gender bias against women emerges as the dominant predictor of the gender balance in college majors. The perception of the major being math or science oriented is less important. We replicate these findings using a separate sample to measure college major traits. Results suggest the need to incorporate major-level traits in research on gender gaps in college major choices and the need to recognize the impact of perceptions of potential gender discrimination on college major choices.

scholarly journals Convergent evolution of alternative developmental trajectories associated with diapause in African and South American killifish

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1802) ◽  
pp. 20142189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew I. Furness ◽  
David N. Reznick ◽  
Mark S. Springer ◽  
Robert W. Meredith
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Circulatory System ◽  
Developmental Pathways ◽  
Environmental Cues ◽  
South American ◽  
Vertebrate Development ◽  
Embryo Survival ◽  
Annual Killifish ◽  
Embryo Stage

Annual killifish adapted to life in seasonally ephemeral water-bodies exhibit desiccation resistant eggs that can undergo diapause, a period of developmental arrest, enabling them to traverse the otherwise inhospitable dry season. Environmental cues that potentially indicate the season can govern whether eggs enter a stage of diapause mid-way through development or skip this diapause and instead undergo direct development. We report, based on construction of a supermatrix phylogenetic tree of the order Cyprinodontiformes and a battery of comparative analyses, that the ability to produce diapause eggs evolved independently at least six times within African and South American killifish. We then show in species representative of these lineages that embryos entering diapause display significant reduction in development of the cranial region and circulatory system relative to direct-developing embryos. This divergence along alternative developmental pathways begins mid-way through development, well before diapause is entered, during a period of purported maximum developmental constraint (the phylotypic period). Finally, we show that entering diapause is accompanied by a dramatic reduction in metabolic rate and concomitant increase in long-term embryo survival. Morphological divergence during the phylotypic period thus allows embryos undergoing diapause to conserve energy by shunting resources away from energetically costly organs thereby increasing survival chances in an environment that necessitates remaining dormant, buried in the soil and surrounded by an eggshell for much of the year. Our results indicate that adaptation to seasonal aquatic environments in annual killifish imposes strong selection during the embryo stage leading to marked diversification during this otherwise conserved period of vertebrate development.

Patterns of Persistence in Intended College Major with a Focus on STEM Majors

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 19-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Shaw ◽  
Sandra Barbuti
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Advanced Placement ◽  
First Generation ◽  
College Major ◽  
Stem Majors ◽  
First Generation College Student ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Stem Major ◽  
First Generation College ◽  
High School Performance

In this study, we examined patterns of persisting in and switching from an intended college major (chosen in high school) in the third year of college. We focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) major persistence because of the national effort to increase those entering STEM careers. Results showed differences in persistence by academic field as well as by gender, parental income, and first-generation college student status with the largest variation by ethnicity. Further examination of STEM major persistence showed that high school performance in math and science, taking advanced placement exams in STEM, articulating positive science self-efficacy beliefs, and professing a goal of obtaining a doctorate were also related to persistence in varied ways across STEM majors.

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