How influential are personal factor's within students of higher education on their choice of major?
Moakler,Martin W.,,Jr, and Mikyong Minsun Kim. "College Major Choice in STEM: Revisiting Confidence and Demographic Factors." The Career Development Quarterly 62.2 (2014): 128-42. ProQuest. Web. 2 Mar. 2016
This article starts off by talking about how fewer Americans in higher education are entering into the STEM fields, even though the nation's dependency on these fields in continuously increasing. The study focuses on confidence and demographic factors associated with the choice of a STEM major. The General Accounting Office says that about a third of STEM degrees are currently given to international students, which becomes an issue when visa restrictions make them leave the US after graduation. Also, while white and Asian students are consistently represented in STEM disciplines, women and minorities tend to be underrepresented. Women traditionally steer away from the STEM fields due to the lack of female role models or insufficient confidence about entering into this discipline. Being a women is found to be strongly negatively correlated with STEM-related issues. In addition, academic confidence was found to be generally related to academic performance. Academic self-confidence was also found to strengthen self-efficacy. For this study, the dependent variable was whether or not the students given the survey had chosen a STEM major and the independent variables were mathematics ability and academic ability as indicators of self-efficacy. The study also took into account pre-college academic preparation (high school GPA, SAT score, and hours spent a week studying their senior year), parental SES (parental education, parental income, and parental STEM occupation), being female, minority status, academic confidence, and mathematic confidence. Both women and minorities indicated lower confidence than did men and non-minorities. There was little difference between women and men or minority and on-minority groups in regards to high school GPA, SAT scores, and parental education level. Significant positive predictors of STEM major choice found in this study were academic and mathematics confidence, parental STEM occupation, high school GPA, weekly hours spent studying, SAT score, and minority status. On the other hand, being female was a negative predictor of STEM major choice. The finding of positive correlation between minorities and choosing STEM majors is contradictive to literature that suggests minorities are underrepresented in the STEM fields. This may be because of the likelihood of minorities to drop out of college or because of degree completion challenges in STEM. Overall, mathematics confidence was found to be the greatest indicator of STEM major choice.
I began reading this article thinking that so many people have been choosing STEM majors in higher education that there was a surplus of individuals with these majors and not enough jobs for all of them. However, as I read this article I discovered that there is actually a shortage of STEM majors compared to the need for STEM discipline individuals in the US in order for us to continue technologically advancing in today's society. This source changing my thinking about my overall research question because I am curious as to just how much STEM majors have increased throughout the US when it is still not enough to fill the quota necessary to continue to technologically advance today. Moreover, this source does lead me to an answer for the question of this blog post. According to the study, these personal factors such as academic and mathematic confidence, parental income, hours spent studying, high school GPA, SAT scores, and parental education level are all very positively related to a student's choice of STEM major. I am skeptical of how much influence these factors have on choosing STEM majors, even though they clearly have some influence according to this study. Finally, this source sheds some light on the autonomy of students in regards to my research question. I have come to realize, from this source, that the amount of autonomy a student has is greatly related to their self-efficacy. If a student believes that they can accomplish their goals in a STEM major, then they have a greater likelihood of making this choice. Their autonomy may be hindered, however, by their lack of confidence and their correlated personal factors as researched in this study.
In regards to my first source, this research study answers some of the questions I had after reading it. I now believe even more strongly that schools recruit students to STEM majors due to the increasing need of individuals in this discipline to continue America's technological advancements. Also, I now see that personal factors play a huge role in student's choice of STEM field majors, not only financial security and job satisfaction for the future as told by the last source. These two sources seem to be in conversation with each other because they both focus on studies that were conducted to predict whether or not students would make the choice of a STEM major in their first year of college. I agree with the second source more than the first source because I personally think that personal factors such as those discussed in the second source have a much greater influence on a student's choice of major than the factors discussed in the first source. Also, whereas source 1 conducts the study to find ways to recruit students into the STEM fields at higher education universities, source 2 focuses simply on person factors that can predict the choosing of a STEM field major.
After reading this article, I have been led to ask the new question of whether or not the price of tuition of higher education has any influence on students' choices of major? This is a factor I am still curious about that was not addressed in either of the previous articles. Also, this article directs me to research more into the autonomy of individuals in regards to their choice of major and how university culture is affected by the rise of STEM majors (if there even is one).
This article starts off by talking about how fewer Americans in higher education are entering into the STEM fields, even though the nation's dependency on these fields in continuously increasing. The study focuses on confidence and demographic factors associated with the choice of a STEM major. The General Accounting Office says that about a third of STEM degrees are currently given to international students, which becomes an issue when visa restrictions make them leave the US after graduation. Also, while white and Asian students are consistently represented in STEM disciplines, women and minorities tend to be underrepresented. Women traditionally steer away from the STEM fields due to the lack of female role models or insufficient confidence about entering into this discipline. Being a women is found to be strongly negatively correlated with STEM-related issues. In addition, academic confidence was found to be generally related to academic performance. Academic self-confidence was also found to strengthen self-efficacy. For this study, the dependent variable was whether or not the students given the survey had chosen a STEM major and the independent variables were mathematics ability and academic ability as indicators of self-efficacy. The study also took into account pre-college academic preparation (high school GPA, SAT score, and hours spent a week studying their senior year), parental SES (parental education, parental income, and parental STEM occupation), being female, minority status, academic confidence, and mathematic confidence. Both women and minorities indicated lower confidence than did men and non-minorities. There was little difference between women and men or minority and on-minority groups in regards to high school GPA, SAT scores, and parental education level. Significant positive predictors of STEM major choice found in this study were academic and mathematics confidence, parental STEM occupation, high school GPA, weekly hours spent studying, SAT score, and minority status. On the other hand, being female was a negative predictor of STEM major choice. The finding of positive correlation between minorities and choosing STEM majors is contradictive to literature that suggests minorities are underrepresented in the STEM fields. This may be because of the likelihood of minorities to drop out of college or because of degree completion challenges in STEM. Overall, mathematics confidence was found to be the greatest indicator of STEM major choice.
I began reading this article thinking that so many people have been choosing STEM majors in higher education that there was a surplus of individuals with these majors and not enough jobs for all of them. However, as I read this article I discovered that there is actually a shortage of STEM majors compared to the need for STEM discipline individuals in the US in order for us to continue technologically advancing in today's society. This source changing my thinking about my overall research question because I am curious as to just how much STEM majors have increased throughout the US when it is still not enough to fill the quota necessary to continue to technologically advance today. Moreover, this source does lead me to an answer for the question of this blog post. According to the study, these personal factors such as academic and mathematic confidence, parental income, hours spent studying, high school GPA, SAT scores, and parental education level are all very positively related to a student's choice of STEM major. I am skeptical of how much influence these factors have on choosing STEM majors, even though they clearly have some influence according to this study. Finally, this source sheds some light on the autonomy of students in regards to my research question. I have come to realize, from this source, that the amount of autonomy a student has is greatly related to their self-efficacy. If a student believes that they can accomplish their goals in a STEM major, then they have a greater likelihood of making this choice. Their autonomy may be hindered, however, by their lack of confidence and their correlated personal factors as researched in this study.
In regards to my first source, this research study answers some of the questions I had after reading it. I now believe even more strongly that schools recruit students to STEM majors due to the increasing need of individuals in this discipline to continue America's technological advancements. Also, I now see that personal factors play a huge role in student's choice of STEM field majors, not only financial security and job satisfaction for the future as told by the last source. These two sources seem to be in conversation with each other because they both focus on studies that were conducted to predict whether or not students would make the choice of a STEM major in their first year of college. I agree with the second source more than the first source because I personally think that personal factors such as those discussed in the second source have a much greater influence on a student's choice of major than the factors discussed in the first source. Also, whereas source 1 conducts the study to find ways to recruit students into the STEM fields at higher education universities, source 2 focuses simply on person factors that can predict the choosing of a STEM field major.
After reading this article, I have been led to ask the new question of whether or not the price of tuition of higher education has any influence on students' choices of major? This is a factor I am still curious about that was not addressed in either of the previous articles. Also, this article directs me to research more into the autonomy of individuals in regards to their choice of major and how university culture is affected by the rise of STEM majors (if there even is one).
No comments:
Post a Comment