Why do students in STEM higher education programmes drop/opt out? explanations offered from research

TY - CHAP

T1 - Why do students in STEM higher education programmes drop/opt out?

T2 - explanations offered from research

AU - Ulriksen, Lars

AU - Madsen, Lene Møller

AU - Holmegaard, Henriette Tolstrup

PY - 2015/1/1

Y1 - 2015/1/1

N2 - This chapter takes it point of departure in a discussion of the current literature on student drop/opt out within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) (This chapter is based on a section of Ulriksen L, Madsen LM, Holmegaard HT, Stud Sci Educ 46(2):209–244, 2010). It outlines Tinto’s model of understanding retention in general within higher education and it discusses the critique of the model. Tinto’s model approaches students’ meeting with higher education as an integration process involving both academic and social aspects of university life. Further, the chapter presents the ideas of Seymour and Hewitt. They reject the idea that students’ drop out/opt out should be understood as a problem within the student. Instead, they address it as a relation between the institutions and the students. The chapter argues how the concept of identity can be a way forward to understand this relation, and provides a short overview of the current research on identity and student persistence in STEM. Research focusing on identities has in recent years become a subfield in the study of students continuing with or leaving STEM programmes. Finally the chapter concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for further research.

AB - This chapter takes it point of departure in a discussion of the current literature on student drop/opt out within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) (This chapter is based on a section of Ulriksen L, Madsen LM, Holmegaard HT, Stud Sci Educ 46(2):209–244, 2010). It outlines Tinto’s model of understanding retention in general within higher education and it discusses the critique of the model. Tinto’s model approaches students’ meeting with higher education as an integration process involving both academic and social aspects of university life. Further, the chapter presents the ideas of Seymour and Hewitt. They reject the idea that students’ drop out/opt out should be understood as a problem within the student. Instead, they address it as a relation between the institutions and the students. The chapter argues how the concept of identity can be a way forward to understand this relation, and provides a short overview of the current research on identity and student persistence in STEM. Research focusing on identities has in recent years become a subfield in the study of students continuing with or leaving STEM programmes. Finally the chapter concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for further research.

M3 - Book chapter

SN - 978-94-007-7792-7

T3 - Education

SP - 203

EP - 217

BT - Understanding Student Participation and Choice in Science and Technology Education

A2 - Henriksen, Ellen Karoline

A2 - Dillon, Justin

A2 - Ryder, Jim

PB - Springer Science+Business Media

CY - Dordrecht Heidelberg New York London

ER -