Research Problem Students Withdraw from Biology Major Gateway Courses

• Although we have:• course assessments • content questions aligned with course learning objectives• rubrics for oral and written communication

Only information from students who complete course

• My observation - higher proportion are African American• Push for retention and persistence in STEM, esp. AA males

• 39% of freshmen in STEM• 27% of freshman in poor academic standing by end fall semester

Research Question• Research Question: What factors contribute to why students

decide to withdraw from the introductory Chemistry and Biology courses? (Which of these factors can we control?)

• Research Context: A new (2006), public, 4-year, open access, undergraduate only college in metro Atlanta of 8,500 students with over 1,000 Biology majors. Diverse student population (40% URM, 17% nontraditional and 55% female). Class size is capped at 24 students and same instructor teaches both lecture and lab sections.

• Who Cares?: My question is interesting because it aligns with institutional and system-wide goals to reduce the withdrawal rate and increase persistence in Biology (STEM).

Research Methodology• Interview Representative Sample of Students who have

Withdrawn• Data Mining from Applications and Placement Scores• Test for correlation between coded interview data (reasons)

and demographic/socioeconomic/ admissions data• CHEM 1211 pre- or co-requisite for BIOL 1107• Pool data from 11-12 BIOL 1107 and 25-26 CHEM 1211 sections

• Need to design interview questions • Collect and code historical information from online withdrawal

forms (data request for how many years?)• Faculty Member Focus Groups – code experiences (anecdotal)

Alignment of Research Question and MethodologyQuestion Type - What Is?

Question Methodology

Why student withdraw? Ask them!

Direct Alignment

Goal

To collect baseline data to inform intervention

selection and design to increases persistence

in Biology (STEM)