Tailor STEM retention strategies to whether students leave from disenchantment or attraction¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 6 claims (5 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article argues that distinguishing disenchantment from attraction matters for retention practice: "Understanding factors that make students feel disenchanted with STEM fields may help inform what retention and support strategies can best prevent students from perceiving these fields negatively", while understanding attraction factors "can help educators learn why students might perceive non-STEM fields as appealing". Educators wanting to retain attraction-type leavers might re-frame STEM fields to seem similarly appealing. The authors note it remains an open question whether positively-framed attrition should be discouraged at all.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Interview or other data about students' own explanations for changing plans, to distinguish disenchantment-driven from attraction-driven leaving

Constraints¶

• The article states it is an open question whether students who perceive their attrition positively should be encouraged to remain in STEM

Target Learners¶

• college students intending biomedical or other STEM majors

Target Learning Goals¶

• STEM retention and degree attainment

Affordances¶

• Expectancy Value Theory Biomedical Attrition Framework

Claims¶

• Among biomedical leavers, 62.5% described leaving only in terms of disenchantment while 25.2% described only attraction and 12.2% both equally [+M]
• End-of-course interest in biology and introductory biology grades each predicted lower likelihood of leaving biomedical fields [+M]
• Interest and value were the dominant topics in leavers' explanations, especially among students leaving due to attraction [+M]
• Leavers reported lower end-of-semester interest, lower prior achievement, and lower biology grades than stayers, with no differences in FG status, gender, or baseline interest [+M]
• URM students left biomedical fields at higher rates than majority students, an effect explained in part by their lower biology course grades [~M]
• URM students were more likely than non-URM leavers to report leaving due to disenchantment rather than attraction [+M]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Rosenzweig, E. Q., Harackiewicz, J. M., Hecht, C. A., Priniski, S. J., Canning, E. A., Tibbetts, Y., Asher, M. W., & Hyde, J. S. (2021). College Students’ Reasons for Leaving Biomedical Fields: Disenchantment with Biomedicine or Attraction to Other Fields? Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000456