- Year 2022
- NSF Award #1660606
- Registration Current Noyce Scholar
- First Name Emily
- Last Name Hamada
- Discipline Biological Sciences
- Institution Eastern Washington University
Abstract
Students often have preconceived ideas about what it means to be a science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) student. These ideas can range based on individuals own cultural experiences. The purpose of this study was to better understand factors that influence underrepresented STEM and non-STEM students’ choice of major. At Eastern Washington University (EWU), students from all different backgrounds were given an opportunity to share their experiences and perspectives on STEM majors. We hosted five listening sessions, each with three-five students from an underrepresented group of STEM or non-STEM majors. Each session included open-ended interview questions. Audio recordings from each session were anonymized, transcribed, and then qualitatively coded to characterize themes across these diverse listening sessions. We reviewed the transcripts to fix any errors and familiarize ourselves with the data. Participants’ own language was then used to create in vivo codes. After reanalyzing and synthesizing the in vivo codes, we used pattern coding to identify themes across all of the listening sessions. This poster will present conclusions on factors that affect students’ views of STEM. Preliminary findings included that many students choice of major was self-driven and largely decided prior to enrolling at EWU and reinforced by faculty content advisors. However, limited course availability and misinformed general advising about STEM program structure created barriers for s
