“Required common courses, Broad themes within curriculum and could be vertically organized though general education. May also include curricular and cocurricular options”

Peters, Tisdale, & Swinton, 2019

Consistent learning objectives across STEM curricula communicate clear expectations to students and about academic expectations and norms that then allows students to optimize their sense of academic integration (see Tinto’s Integration Model of Student Retention, 1975; Xu, 2015) . Undergraduate students have also reported that they place value on access to organized co-curricular STEM activities, such as clubs and student organizations based on STEM themes, which may promote their sense of community and increase their sense of science’s relevance to their lives (Palmer, Maramba & Dancy, 2011).  

References and additional resources:

Estrada, M., Burnett, M., Campbell, A. G., Campbell, P. B., Denetclaw, W. F., Gutiérrez, C. G., … & Okpodu, C. M. (2016). Improving underrepresented minority student persistence in STEM. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 15(3), es5.

Palmer, R. T., Maramba, D. C., & Dancy, T. E. (2011). A qualitative investigation of factors promoting the retention and persistence of students of color in STEM. The Journal of Negro Education, 491-504.

Peters, A. W., Tisdale, V. A., & Swinton, D. J. (2019). High-impact educational practices that promote student achievement in STEM. Broadening Participation in STEM (Diversity in Higher Education) 22, 183-196.

Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45, 89-125.

Xu, Y. J. (2016). Attention to Retention: Exploring and Addressing the Needs of College Students in STEM Majors. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 4(2), 67-76.