Shortages of STEM teachers have presented challenges to school employers for decades. Additionally, universities are tasked to produce science teachers of better quality, equipped in both content and pedagogical strategies. Undergraduate STEM majors with no prior inclination toward teaching were strategically selected to receive pedagogical…

Efforts to retain underrepresented minority (URM) students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) have shown only limited success in higher education, due in part to a persistent achievement gap between students from historically underrepresented and well-represented backgrounds. To test the hypothesis that active learning…

Preservice elementary teachers are often required to take an Earth Science content course as part of their teacher education program but typically enter the course with little knowledge of key Earth Science concepts and are uncertain in their ability to teach science. This study investigated whether completing an inquiry-based Earth Science course…

The persistence of undergraduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is a national issue based on STEM workforce projections. We implemented a weeklong pre-college engagement STEM Academy (SA) program aimed at addressing several areas related to STEM retention. We validated an instrument that was…

Undergraduate research experiences confer benefits on students bound for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers, but the low number of research professionals available to serve as mentors often limits access to research. Within the context of our summer research program (BRAIN), we tested the hypothesis that a team-based…

The purpose of the study was to better understand how students at the beginning of a premed curriculum are different from their science peers on career-related variables. A total of 165 undergraduates were classified into three groups; these were premed students, students with the intent to pursue a graduate degree, and students with the intent to…

This study examined 188 preservice science teachers' professional growth along three dimensions--self-regulated learning (SRL) in a science pedagogical context, pedagogical content knowledge, and self-efficacy in teaching science--comparing four learner-centered, active-learning, peer-collaborative environments for learning to teach higher order…

This study augments existing literature in understanding student perceptions about the geosciences; we examined the choice of major and science courses taken by 645 students at a large southeastern research university. Differences were examined between underrepresented minority (URM) and nonminority students. We compared responses regarding not…

Building from findings showing that undergraduate computer science continues to have the highest attrition rates proportionally for women within postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines--a phenomenon that defies basic social equity goals in a high status field--this paper seeks to better understand how student…

This study tests, and finds support, for the hypotheses that a student who majors in political science will have stronger feelings of political competence and will be more willing to engage in hypothetical political actions than two peer groups: (a) those who major in other fields and (b) those who show an interest in politics but have not studied…

Student enrollment in undergraduate online education continues in an increasing trend toward the creation of new virtual degree programs. Academia and university faculty have observed comparable learning outcomes in both traditional and online classrooms, but minimal research exists discussing student perspectives of science-based coursework in…

Anatomy is one of the leading subjects in health science, and students need a strong anatomy background in these fields. Traditional lecturer-oriented anatomy education is based predominantly on passive learning methods. In recent years, alternative educational methods like hands-on art and 3D atlas-based education methods have become more popular…

The purpose of this research is to comparatively investigate the efficacy levels of pre-service science (Science, Biology, Physics, and Chemistry) teachers enrolled at the Undergraduate Program of Science Teacher Education and Pedagogical Formation Program. A total of 275 pre-service teachers who were studying in different programmes in the…

Self-efficacy is associated with a range of educational outcomes, including science and math degree attainment. Project-based statistics courses have the potential to increase students' math self-efficacy because projects may represent a mastery experience, but students enter courses with preexisting math self-efficacy. This study explored…

The relationship between past teamwork and task-related experiences, attitude toward teamwork, collective efficacy, and task performance among undergraduates (N = 298) assigned to group projects (N = 48) in 2 different Food Science courses was examined. The results of survey data collected at the beginning and end of the projects showed that past…