2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The authors had a prior NSF STEM grant, where several lessons were learned: there was a significant increase in female students, but concentrated in life sciences or biology, not in engineering and technology; female students dropped out of engineering pathways after the first calculus course at the rate of 33.3%, indicating a need to redesign the activities and implement more student-centered practices in the Calculus I; and peer and faculty mentoring were important for retaining students. Based on the lessons learned, a stronger evidence-based approach was added to the current grant to leverage the infrastructure that was built with a persistence of interest framework [1]. Prenzel’s Persistence of Interest model [1] is defined as a special persistence and selective relationship between a person and an object, where persistence in this context means “the maintenance of the relation by repeated, active engagements” [1,2,3].

The current project objectives are to increase enrollment, retention, and the graduation rates of academically talented, low-income students who aim to pursue baccalaureate degrees in a STEM major through a focus on the persistence framework throughout their undergraduate program. To support the persistence model, we are focusing on four key components: Scholar Support; Team-Based Cohorts; Engagement Activities; and Multi-Level Mentoring. These program components provide opportunities for the scholars to foster their persistence related to the rigor of the academics, and their commitment to the STEM programs.

Based on surveys, applied by an external evaluator, of student perceptions on factors associated with persistence, he found students held very positive perceptions regarding the quality of their relationships, instructors, and academics. Students had moderately strong perceptions of academics outside the classrooms and finances. The area with the lowest level of agreement was activities outside the classroom. These results suggest the faculty have built a strong program that students find helpful. Furthermore, students had a very strong agreement about the utility and importance of Calculus, a strong agreement for the enjoyment of Calculus and confidence in Calculus. Some students found the Calculus course to be difficult.

From a focus group of students, the evaluator found that students held very high perceptions about the mentoring, tutoring, and other academic support provided to them. Students found some instructors to be fantastic and others to be average. Not all the faculty identified were associated with the program. He also found that faculty associated with the program provide outstanding support for all students and especially to students struggling academically.

References
[1] Prenzel, M., “Conditions for the persistence of interest”, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA, 1988.
[2] Graham, M. J., Frederick, J., Byars-Winston, A., and Hunter, A. Increasing persistence of college students in STEM. SCIENCE, 314(6153), 1455-1456, 2013.
[3] J. L. White and G.H. Massiha, “The Retention of Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: A Framework for Persistence,” International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE) Vol.5, No.1, March 2016.

This work is funded by NSF DUE Division Award number xxxx