How introductory courses deter minority students from STEM degrees

A new paper in PNAS Nexuspublished by Oxford University Press, indicates that minority students who get low grades in introductory science, technology, engineering, and math are less likely to earn a degree in these subjects than comparable white students.

There is persistent disparity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educational outcomes in the United States. In 2018, women earned 58% of undergraduate degrees, but only 36% of STEM undergraduate degrees. In 2017, 30% of the US population was made up of black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people and 34% of STEM incoming students, but they achieved only 18% of actual undergraduate STEM degrees. This has implications for the diversity of STEM professions and for the range of research and innovation in such fields.

Students interested in such subjects typically take introductory courses such as calculus or general chemistry during their first semester. Colleges may offer such courses in part for the purpose of sending low-grade students a message that they should pursue other courses of study. Previous research has shown a link between low performance in these courses and a reduced likelihood of earning a STEM degree. However, this association may not be gender and race neutral. Getting a low grade in introductory STEM courses can have a greater negative impact on women and racial/ethnic minorities.

Researchers examined data from 109,070 students at six large, public, research-intensive universities between 2005 and 2012, to assess whether low grades in these induction courses have a disproportionate impact on underrepresented immigrant students. The researchers studied student performance in introductory courses in natural sciences, life sciences, mathematical and computational sciences, and engineering to determine the likelihood of students earning a degree in these subjects.

In an equitable education system, students with similar high school preparation and intent to study STEM would have similar chances of earning a STEM degree when taking into account the performance of an introductory STEM course, regardless of their level. gender and/or race/ethnicity. However, the researchers found significant differences even after controlling for high school academic preparation and intended academic major. The probability of earning a STEM degree for a STEM-proposing white male student with average academic preparation who achieves a C or better in all introductory courses is 48%. For an otherwise similar underage male student, the chance is 40%. For a minor student, the chance is only 35%. More specifically, a black male student has a 31% chance of earning a degree. A black female student has only a 28% chance of getting the degree.

In fact, if these students earn even one introductory STEM course lower than a C, the differences remain. A white male student who earns less than a C in an introductory STEM course still has a 33% chance of earning a STEM degree. But a black male student with a low grade in one STEM course has a 16% chance of earning the degree. A black female student with a low grade on a STEM course has only a 15% chance of earning the related degree.

“Previous research has shown a link between getting low grades in introductory STEM courses and a reduced chance of earning a STEM degree,” said the paper’s lead author, Nathanial Brown.

“We provide evidence that underrepresented STEM students have a greater negative impact on graduation from low intro course rates than their white male peers, even after controlling for high school academic preparation and intent to study STEM. Thus, introductory STEM courses are institutional structures that can exacerbate inequalities in STEM education, and as such, equality issues should be at the heart of efforts to redesign and rebuild them.”