"Chemistry Is Not in the Cards ...": When High-Performing STEM Students Switch to Arts or Humanities

• In Event: STEM Switching Reconsidered: Why Do Undergraduates Leave STEM Majors and Where Do They Go?

Abstract

Anthony likes to learn. He entered university intending to major in chemical engineering after developing a passion for chemistry in high school. Although he excelled in his courses, he felt frustratingly stuck, since the engineering program made it difficult to pursue his loves for theater and philosophy. Ultimately, theater won out over STEM and Anthony left chemistry for a BFA. Another talented student, Amanda, similarly started as a STEM major and had an internship coding DNA prior to entering university. Like Anthony, however, her love of film ultimately pulled her away from biochemistry.

The experiences of Anthony and Amanda inform the larger question addressed in this symposium about why students who are talented in STEM ultimately do not persist. This paper examines a particular type of student diversion from STEM, which is students who have dual passions and capacities in the arts or humanities and STEM, and who ultimately choose the arts/humanities.

Among those diverted from STEM, the attrition of high performers has been a particular concern. Factors including the intensity of coursework and grades (Chen 2015), self-efficacy and subject interest (Heilbronner 2011, 2009), and identity development (Holmegaard, Madsen and Ulrikson 2014; Krogh and Anderson 2013) have been shown to influence talented students’ decisions to leave STEM. It has been shown that both building an early interest and sustaining it over time propels degree completion in STEM (Maltese and Tai 2011; Maltese, Melki and Wiebke 2014). It has also been show that the greater appeal of another field plays a role in the departure of talented students from STEM (Heilbronner 2009). Less thoroughly examined is why when talented students assess their relative interests in multiple subjects do the arts and humanities win out over STEM—what is it that they find lacking in STEM and more appealing in the arts and humanities?

In our larger investigation of undergraduate student persistence in STEM we found a higher-than-expected percentage of students share this pathway of switching out of STEM. These “all-rounder” students, who excel at both STEM and an area of the arts or humanities, composed 19% (n=18) of the overall switcher sample. Notably too, these students were disproportionately attending large public universities rather than small private colleges or large land grant universities. In contrast to students who struggle and are “weeded out,” these all-rounders could likely have excelled in STEM, but elected to major in the arts or humanities.

The objective of the paper is to describe commonalities among these students, including their views about how STEM contrasts with the arts and humanities—educationally, experientially, and epistemologically—and what ultimately pulled them away from STEM. In so doing, the paper, in effect, unpacks “interest” in STEM for this sub-set of students. The paper also contributes to ongoing debate about the relation of STEM and Liberal Arts education and suggests potentials for bridging these disciplines. Rather than losses to STEM these talented students should be seen as valuable emissaries for STEM competencies and knowledge.

Author

• Dana Holland, University of Colorado - Boulder