Belonging and student performance in general chemistry

Rishikesh Chulan

doi:10.17918/00011092

In 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the employment in STEM fields to grow in the coming decade. This rising demand underscores a critical need to making the academic engagement and persistence of STEM talent a priority for sustaining the nation's global competitiveness, economic growth and national security. Many STEM students generally have to take General Chemistry, a first-year college-level science course while transitioning from a rather small high-school classroom environment to a larger lecture-based STEM course. This transition to college is a critical phase for academic and social development that is often accompanied by challenges to integrate and find one's identity. In fact, research has shown that the highest attrition rates in STEM degrees occur during the initial years of undergraduate studies when students have to take introductory courses such as General Chemistry. The high proportion of Ds, Fs, Withdrawals and Incompletes (DFWIs) in these courses have earned Chemistry courses the reputation as 'weed-out' or 'gatekeeper' courses. For instance, Chemistry courses have been shown to have a big impact on students intending to pursue careers in medicine, dentistry or pharmacy where after taking the courses, students were discouraged to continue in STEM and changed their fields. Such attrition rates are more pronounced among women and under-represented minority (URM) STEM students who consider alternative paths. When it comes to studying Chemistry, studies have demonstrated that cognitive, educational and affective factors impact a student's performance. Cognitive factors such as a strong foundation in basic Mathematics and a higher working memory capacity, and educational variables such as secondary school pedagogical experiences encompassing the likes of Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) resources have proven to be influential in learning Chemistry. One important factor, given more consideration in recent years has been affective factors. Affective factors in education refer to the psychological elements, such as emotions, feelings, attitudes and values that have an influence on student engagement and disengagement. These encompass properties such as Chemistry self-efficacy, self-concepts, and identity that have been shown to significantly influence performance, persistence and attrition. One such important affective property that has been shown to have a considerable impact on student performance is their Sense of Belonging in Chemistry which has been receiving increased attention in models of academic achievement and persistence.

Belonging and student performance in general chemistry

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Belonging and student performance in general chemistry

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