How
can universities attract and retain more students in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses to fill the growing need for
employees in these fields? As it turns out, one of the ways is to ensure
students have a positive first experience with STEM education, according to University Business.
After noticing that a lot of students who enrolled in an
introductory STEM course never took any more, Michigan State University put
more resources toward bolstering instruction in these 100-level classes. When
the instruction improved, so did student success, and more students continued
to sign up for STEM classes.
“Twenty
years ago, especially at research universities, a lot of faculty would see
their primary job as research, and teaching as something they had to do,” James
Fairweather, professor emeritus of higher adult and lifelong education at MSU,
told UB. “I’d say the attitude of
faculty toward teaching today is more positive. I don’t think they see it as
the dregs of their job.”
Other
institutions—including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Howard
University, and Purdue University—also found that providing more professional
development to faculty to help them brush up their teaching skills resulted in
better student outcomes in STEM courses. Some faculty needed ideas for
strategies to help struggling students get up to speed, such as giving regular
quizzes to see how they were progressing or providing questions they could
consult while reading course assignments.
The
University of Arizona also placed more emphasis on introductory STEM courses,
creating more interactive classroom spaces to encourage hands-on learning and
collaboration among students. A storage room for library journals was converted
into a learning space with tables and chairs that could be moved around into
groups. The configuration worked so well that UA will have a total of 30
similar spaces available for classes this fall.
