Building College Student Motivation for General Chemistry: A Tool for Fixing the Leaky STEM Pipeline

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Laws of Attraction: Developing and Maintaining Interest in STEM Fields

Abstract

This study extends research conducted with first-time, first-year freshmen (n = 1,126) exploring the predictive effects of attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and prior experience on students’ intentions to take future chemistry courses. Because choice of major (i.e., STEM, Non-STEM, or undecided/exploratory) was one of the significant predictors of intentions in prior research with this sample (Authors, 2013), the purpose of the current study was to examine potential group-level differences among the variables; testing the predictive abilities of attitudes, self-efficacy beliefs, and prior experiences on intentions within each group. Significant differences between the three groups emerged; however, attitude was still the most powerful predictor of intentions within each group. Implications for secondary and postsecondary administrators and science educators will be discussed.

Authors

• Lisa C. Duffin, Western Kentucky University

• Amanda Cook, Western Kentucky University

• Martha M. Day, Western Kentucky University