How introductory courses deter minoritystudents from STEM degrees PNASNexus
, mathematical and computational sciences, and engineering to discern the likelihood of students earning degrees in these subjects.
In an equitable education system, students with comparable high school preparation and intent to study STEM would have similar likelihoods of attaining a STEM degree when accounting for introductory STEM course performance, regardless of their sex and/or race/ethnicity. However, the researchers found significant disparities, even after controlling for academic preparation in high school and intended academic major.
What's more, if these students earn lower than a C in even one introductory STEM course, the disparities persist. A white male student who earns below a C in an introductory STEM course still has a 33% chance of earning a STEM degree. But a Black male student with a low grade in one STEM course has a 16% chance of earning the degree. A Black female student with a low grade in a STEM course has only a 15% chance of earning the related degree.
"Previous research has established an association between being assigned low grades in introductory STEM courses and a decreased probability of obtaining a STEM degree," said the paper's lead author, Nathanial Brown. "We provide evidence that underrepresented STEM students experience greater negative impacts on graduating from low intro course grades than their white male peers, even after controlling for academic preparation in high school and intent to study STEM. Thus, introductory STEM courses are institutional structures that may exacerbate disparities in STEM education, and as such, equity issues must be central in efforts to redesign and rebuild them.