Nationally, STEM Students drop their college classes at an average rate of 50%—that’s both female and male students.
I’ve been sharing three strategies to solve that.
Strategy #1 was sending out a brief weekly survey to all students to see if there was anything they didn’t understand in class or if they needed any other support, such as transportation or childcare.
Strategy #2 is creating a buddy system for students.
Strategy 3 is to strongly encourage and promote study groups for students, especially for the lab portion of the curriculum, which can be more challenging for female students who, as a group have less informal lab experience.
Study groups are often utilized by the star STEM students or those with high social skills. By creating a study group that is in the schedule, you have opened the opportunity to all students in your classes.
One school I’m working with in manufacturing decided to set up a study group in the lab itself; it will be student-run but promoted by the instructor.
Additionally, here are two more suggestions for implementation:
Hold structured study groups right before or after class to increase the likelihood of attendance of busy students who are juggling school, work, and childrearing;
Distribute the study group schedule along with the lab schedule on the first day of class.
If you are interested in incorporating such practical, proven, and easily executable retention strategies into your STEM programs, feel free to contact me!
“Three years later, I still remember the WomenTech Educators Workshop held at Moorpark College during a California Engineering Liaison Council meeting and the positive reception it received. Many participants went on to integrate the high impact practices Donna shared into their teaching and program development efforts.”
~ Dr. Julius O. Sokenu, President, Moorpark College
Comments