Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

5 Maintaining Student Interest in STEM
Pages 47-54

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 47...
... programs are unaware of the career opportunities that do not entail years of postdoctoral training with only a vague sense there may be a job sometime in the future. "I would say to the scientific community that we are so shortsighted if we continue to say to so many talented young people to have faith and maybe something will happen that is good for you," said Hrabowski.
From page 48...
... When he thinks about STEM in America, he continued, he thinks it is primarily an issue of attitude -- that only smart people belong in STEM -- and nowhere is this more of a challenge than at the university level where so-called weed-out classes do so much harm, even among well-prepared students. One of the surprising findings in the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine 2011 report Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation (NAS-NAEIOM, 2011)
From page 49...
... What universities need to consider, he said, is the kind of knowledge all students, not just those interested in STEM majors, need to get from STEM courses. As suggested earlier, first-year courses could focus on having students work in groups, gain an appreciation for the larger context of the particular subject at hand, develop the ability to translate knowledge into marketable ideas, and even build emotional intelligence, something often lacking in first-year college students.
From page 50...
... It is those notions of grit, the intensity of curiosity, and persistence we should be talking about rather than smart." Years ago, he said, he had the opportunity to be part of a trilateral study involving the United States, Germany, and Japan, and he was fascinated to see how Germany's apprenticeship program for high school graduates who were not going to college was producing workers who were better trained as chemists, for example, than Advanced Placement chemistry students. "What was clear was that chemistry for them was a part of what they saw as their future and not simply a course they had to get an A in," said Hrabowski.
From page 51...
... He noted, in fact, that some of the most successful chief information officers he knows were English, history, and philosophy majors who then took courses in information technology management. The ability to communicate well and talk to colleagues in plain English enabled these individuals to climb the corporate ladder quickly, and today he encourages UMBC's computer science majors to take more classes that will help them learn to write and communicate effectively.
From page 52...
... As one example of how to produce change, he pointed out that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has provided funds to replicate UMBC's Meyerhoff Scholars Program, which aims to increase diversity among future leaders in science, technology, engineering, and related fields, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Pennsylvania State University. The presidents and leading faculty at those institutions have spent time at UMBC to learn what they have to do to change the academic culture to support the aspirations of all students who show an interest in STEM.
From page 53...
... "When the National Security Agency tells me it wants people from all sorts of backgrounds because it needs to know how they think, that is a level of enlightenment that I do not often see in universities or other federal agencies," said Hrabowski.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.