A Transdisciplinary Laboratory Course Increases STEM Retention

Abstract

STEM retention is a national challenge. Recent literature suggests that students leave STEM for many reasons including lack of context, lack of academic preparedness for entering college, and challenges with quantitative reasoning. These observations compelled us to design an introductory, transdisciplinary STEM lab course which we describe herein. This course was designed to integrate the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics with activities that engage students in real-world, inquiry-based exercises and help students develop quantitative reasoning skills. Assessment showed that students in this STEM lab have higher STEM retention rates than those in equivalent disciplinary courses. The largest gains in STEM retention were seen in the 4th semester for students who took the lab as underclassmen. Additionally, student surveys indicated that students found the context of the lab compelling. In contrast, there were no significant differences in gains in quantitative literacy and reasoning or GPA among STEM lab students and students in discipline-specific labs. These results suggest that students’ engagement in applications of STEM with context might be more important for increasing retention than just focusing on academic ability alone