Additional to the lack of gender and ethnic diversity, the attrition rate among Physics and Engineering undergraduates is as high as 40%. Considering the impact of STEM gateway course on students' choice of major, we investigated the association between students' Expectancy-Value beliefs at the beginning of the class with their intent to persist…

Expanding on recent advances in science education, cognitive and social psychology, and sociocultural studies, the paper explores a construct called "science learning activation" and a theoretical framework that describes the characteristics, function, and impact of this construct. Authors define "science learning activation"…

Differences in family background and culture contribute to belonging concerns for first-generation students during their transition to college (Stephens et al., 2012; Harackiewicz et al., 2016). We investigated whether variability in students' on-campus experience, in particular perceived faculty support, in the first semester of college predicts…

This paper examines STEM-based informal learning environments for underrepresented students and reports on the aspects of these programs that are beneficial to students. This qualitative study provides a nuanced look into informal learning environments and determines what is unique about these experiences and makes them beneficial for students. We…

This study tested the extent to which student interaction with faculty, student peer teaching situations, student organization involvement, and discussion with diverse others contributed to self-reported learning for students involved in an ethnic-specific or multicultural student organization. The Community College Student Experiences…

Problem solving is a highly valued skill in chemistry. Courses within this discipline place a substantial emphasis on problem-solving performance and tend to weigh such performance heavily in assessments of learning. Researchers have dedicated considerable effort investigating individual factors that influence problem-solving performance. The…

Although researchers call for inquiry learning in science, science assessments rarely capture the impact of inquiry instruction. This paper reports on the development and validation of assessments designed to measure middle-school students' progress in gaining integrated understanding of energy while studying an inquiry-oriented curriculum. The…

In an experimental study (N = 209), the authors compared the effects of exposure to typical middle-school written science content when presented in the context of the scientific discovery narrative and when presented in a more traditional nonnarrative format on 7th and 8th grade students in the United States. The development of texts was…

Using data from the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey, we show that study time and academic conscientiousness were lower among students in humanities and social science majors than among students in science and engineering majors. Analytical and critical thinking experiences were no more evident among humanities and…