CU -Boulder to update 20-year-old groundbreaking STEM study with $4.3 million grant
Feb 26th
Early next month, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder will begin the painstaking process of interviewing hundreds of undergraduates in an effort to understand why the rates of students switching out of science, technology, engineering and math majors has remained troublingly high over the last couple of decades despite widespread efforts to address the problem.
The five-year, $4.3 million project, undertaken in partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, replicates and expands on a study begun by a couple of CU-Boulder researchers two decades ago and published in 1997 as a book. “Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences” has since become a seminal text in the field of STEM education.
“Part of the reason why we’re undertaking this study is that the rates of students switching out of STEM majors has remained so persistent,” said Anne-Barrie Hunter, co-director of Ethnography and Evaluation Research at CU-Boulder and principal investigator for the Colorado research team. “Here we are now, 20 years on, and the rates are still roughly the same. They’re very, very stubborn.”
The study, which is being funded by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is the first to be run out of CU-Boulder’s new Center for STEM Learning.
When the original study began in the early 1990s, the high rates of students leaving STEM majors — between 40 and 60 percent, depending on the discipline — were known, but the reasons for the switching were just conjecture. Some thought that the students who switched didn’t have the necessary ability to succeed in tough science classes, while others blamed teaching assistants with difficult-to-understand accents or the lack of experience of teaching assistants in general.
CU-Boulder researchers Nancy Hewitt and Elaine Seymour set out to determine whether any of the speculation was true by asking those who should know: the students. The pair led a research team that interviewed more than 400 undergraduates, both “switchers” and “persisters.”
“Our evidence didn’t support what they thought,” said Seymour, who is also involved with the new study. “We were really surprised.” As it turned out, “switchers” and “persisters” were equally bright and teaching assistants were often a much-needed lifeline for struggling students. In fact, both sets of students faced the same set of challenges, the largest of which was the way science classes were taught.
“What we discovered was that an incoming interest in the sciences was dissipated over the course of the first two years by the way the courses were taught,” Seymour said. “The teaching in those days was predominantly stand-and-deliver lecturing.”
Since Seymour and Hewitt’s book was published, there has been a nationwide effort to improve the quality of undergraduate science education. “Change is going on all across the country,” Seymour said. “But it may not be sufficient to move the needle.”
For “Talking About Leaving Revisited,” the researchers will interview undergraduates at the seven institutions that hosted the original study to find out if the reasons for switching have changed. But the new study will also go further by interviewing course instructors, observing classroom teaching practices and analyzing the transcripts of students across institutions to look for patterns among switchers and persisters. When the study is concluded, the research team plans to publish another book.
Talking About Leaving Revisited is one of the inaugural grants affiliated with CU-Boulder’s Center for STEM Learning, which was officially formed in December. The center, which was organized over four years with the backing of a $1 million institutional transformation grant from the National Science Foundation, aims to provide an infrastructure that will support the more than 75 existing STEM education programs on campus and allow them to more easily collaborate.
“We will provide a network and support structure designed to catalyze and provide links among these people, ideas, tools and resources,” said physics Professor Noah Finkelstein, one of the people who helped lead the effort to create the new center.
The Center for STEM Learning, which will also strive to be a state, regional and national resource, has three main thrusts: to transform the way STEM classes are delivered, to support research into the best practices for STEM education, and to help recruit the brightest to become STEM teachers.
For more information on the study visit http://wceruw.org/projects/projects.php?project_num=956.
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CU Women Vault To No. 19 In USA Today Sports Coaches Poll
Feb 26th
BOULDER – The University of Colorado vaulted four spots, up to No. 19, in the USA Today Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Top 25 poll released on Tuesday.
Colorado, 22-5 overall and 11-5 in the Pac-12 Conference, received 182 points, nearly doubling last week’s total of 98. The Buffaloes have been in the coaches’ poll for seven-straight weeks and eight overall this season. This week’s ranking is CU’s highest in the coaches’ poll since coming in at No. 16 the week of March 15, 2004.
All five of Colorado’s losses have been to ranked teams, including two each to Stanford and California ranked No. 7 or better at the time. Stanford and California remained at No. 5 and No. 6 respectively, while UCLA held steady at No. 16. The Buffaloes do have one top 10 win on their resume, a 70-66 win over then-No. 8 Louisville on Dec. 14. The Cardinals are currently ranked No. 14.
This week’s ranking marks the 159th time Colorado has appeared in the coaches’ poll dating back to the 1988-89 campaign.
Colorado moved up one spot to a season-best No. 19 in the Associated Press Women’s Basketball Top 25 poll released Monday. The ranking is CU’s highest in the AP Poll since coming in at No. 17 in the final poll of the 2003-04 season (March 15, 2004). This week marks the first time this season that CU’s coaches’ ranking has matched that of the AP poll.
Colorado will close Pac-12 regular season action with a trip to the Oregon schools this weekend. The Buffaloes play at Oregon on Friday, March 1, at 8 p.m. MT and finish up at Oregon State on Sunday, March 3, at 1 p.m. MT. CU, currently in a tie for fourth in the Pac-12 with Washington, controls its own destiny for a coveted top four seed and first round bye in the 2013 Pac-12 Tournament, March 7-10, in Seattle.
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CU Track Adds 9 to 2013-14 Recruiting Class
Feb 26th
BOULDER — The University of Colorado track and field program is pleased to announce the signing of nine more prep athletes who have committed to compete and continued their education with the Buffaloes for the 2013-14 season.
The talented group has combined for 11 state championships. Four of those signees are from Colorado, while two are from California, two are from Montana and one is from Utah. All but one of the newest additions will be competing in the middle and long distances while the other is a sprinter.
Biographies for each of the signees are below:
Olympic hopefuls Emma Coburn (left) and Shalaya Kipp (right)
Heather Bates, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Pine Creek)
Bates won the 2011 and ’12 Colorado State 4A 3,200-meter run and was the runner-up those same years in the 1,600. Bates also won the 2012 Colorado State 5A Cross Country Championship by more than 30 seconds and was named The Denver Post and The Gazette Cross Country Runner of the Year. She raced at Nike Cross Nationals and took 12th overall after placing third at the Nike Southwest Regional. Bates was named all-state in track and cross country in 2012 and was awarded the 2012 Colorado Running Hall of Fame High School Long Distance Achievement Award. She also had two other big accomplishments in 2011 as she won the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships and took second in the AAU National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships.
Erin Clark, Eugene, Colo. (South Eugene)
Clark recorded a sixth-place finish at the 2012 Oregon State 6A Cross Country Championships and placed third at the 2011 state championship and eighth in 2010. Following her sixth-place finish as a senior, Clark placed eighth at the Nike Cross Nationals Northwest Regional and took 11th at the Foot Locker West Regional. Clark also competed at the Nike Cross Northwest Regional her junior and sophomore years, placing fourth and seventh, respectively. On the track she won the state 3,000-meter title as a sophomore in 2011. At the state meet during her junior year, she took second in the 3k and was third in the 1,500.
Austin Mitsch, Carmichael, Calif. (Jesuit)
Mitsch is the Delta River League and Jesuit High School 200-meter dash record holder (21.50). He is a six-time DRL Champion, four-time Sac Joaquin DI Section Champion and a two-time San Joaquin Masters Champion. Mitsch has competed at the California Interscholastic Federation Qualifying meet in the 100-meter dash (2011 and 2012) and the 4×100-meter relay (2010 and 2012). He was named the California All-State Track Second Team, as named by ESPN High School Magazine in April, 2012. Mitsch was also named the Sacramento River Cats 2012 Male Track Athlete of the Year. He enters his senior season as the team captain.
Melanie Nunn, Broomfield, Colo. (Legacy)
Nunn finished fifth overall at the 2012 Colorado State 5A Cross Country Championships, improving from a 12th-place finish as a junior. She went on to compete at the Foot Locker Midwest Regional Championships when she took 10th to earn a spot at the Foot Locker Nationals where she finished 35th overall. Nunn won the 5A Region 3 Championship in 2012 and the 5A Region 4 Championship in 2011. She is a finalist for the Boettcher Scholarship.
Mandy Ortiz, Edwards, Colo. (Battle Mountain)
Ortiz recorded a top-15 finish at the Colorado State 4A Cross Country Championships (15th overall) and placed sixth at the 4A Region 6 Championships as a senior. During her junior season, Ortiz won the 4A Region 5 Championships and placed 11th at state. She raced at the 2012 Colorado State 4A Track and Field Championships and placed seventh in the 3,200-meters and 12th in the 1,600.
Zach Perrin, Kalispell, Mont. (Flathead)
Perrin won three Montana State High School Championships, one on the cross country course and two on the track. He won the 2012 cross country championship after a runner-up finish his junior year. Perrin raced in the Foot Locker West Regional and took eighth overall before placing 10th at the Foot Locker Nationals in 2012. On the track, Perrin brought home a pair of state championships in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs. He also ran the best time by a Montana high school runner in 2012 in the 3,200 at the Arcadia Invite (8:55). Perrin also earned a top-20 national cross country ranking in 2012.
Adam Peterman, Missoula, Mont. (Hellgate)
Peterman placed second to Perrin at the 2012 Montana State High School Cross Country Championship. After the state championship, he placed second at the Nike Cross National Northwest Regional before running to a 23rd-place finish at the Foot Locker West Regional. Peterman placed third at the state cross country championship his junior and sophomore seasons. At the state track and field championship, Peterman earned a pair of fourth-place finishes in the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs as a junior. In 2011, he took fourth in the 3,200 and fifth in the 1,600. Peterman also earned a top-20 national cross country ranking in 2012.
Hagen Reedy, Clovis, Calif. (Buchanan)
Reedy was the 2012 California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Cross Country Championship runner-up after winning the CIF Central Section Championship. She went on to place 20th at Nike Cross Nationals. Reedy also recorded a second-place finish at the 32nd Annual Woodbridge-Estancia-Costa Cross Country Classic with the fourth best time in course history (16:17 for three miles). In 2011, Reedy won the CIF Championship, the CIF Central Section and took seventh at Nike Cross Nationals. As a member of the track team, Reedy placed fifth at the CIF State finals of the 3,200-meters. She also earned a top-20 national cross country ranking in 2012.
Ben Saarel, Park City, Utah (Park City)
Saarel was named the 2012 Gatorade Utah Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year after winning the Utah State Class 3A Championships in 14:56.7, which was the second fastest time ever run on the course. In doing so he helped the Miners to a fourth-place team finish. Saarel placed second at the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Regional championship before winning the Foot Locker West Regional. At the Foot Locker Championships, Saarel placed fourth in 15:13, just 14 seconds behind the winner. On the track he won three state championships in 2012 (800, 1,600 and 3,200). Saarel also earned a top-20 national cross country ranking in 2012. At the 2013 Simplot Games, he won the 3,200-meters and broke the meet record with his 9:00.62 performance.
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