First Year STEM Students’ Satisfaction with Peer Mentoring: A Predictor for Student Retention
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51355/jstem.2022.104Keywords:
Retention, STEM, First-year students, Peer mentoringAbstract
Peer mentoring is often used as a method to help retain first year STEM students. This study addressed the following research question: Can we predict in the first semester which first- year STEM students will return as sophomores and which ones will not? And if so, what factors were the best predictors of STEM students returning? An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was first employed and identified four factors: Academic Skills, Satisfaction with Mentors, Institutional Fit, and Academic Relationships). Next a binary regression was performed, and results showed that in the first semester of study student satisfaction with the university (i.e., Institutional Fit) was the most significant and greatest contributor for predicting students returning their sophomore year, followed by forming Academic Relationships; all of which was the result of participating in the mentoring program. Gender and race were not significant predictors for retention; however, further examination of the study’s effect size found the effect size to be .4, low moderate, meaning the study’s results are somewhat important. It is recommended the study be replicated with a smaller sample.
References
Belser, C. T., Prescod, D. J., Daire, A.P., Dagley, M. A., & Young C. Y. (2017). Predicting undergraduate student retention in STEM majors based on career development factors. The Career Development Quarterly, 65, 88-93. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12082
Budny, D., Paul, C. A., & Newborg, B. B. (2010). Impact of peer mentoring on freshmen engineering students. Journal of STEM Education, 11(5&6), 9-24.
Cohen, J. W. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd edn). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cutright, T. J., & Evans, E. (2016). Year-long peer mentoring activity to enhance the retention of freshmen STEM students in a NSF scholarship program. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 24(3), 201-212. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2016.1222811
Dagley, M., Georgiopoulos, M., Reece, A., & Young, C. (2016). Increasing retention and graduation rates through a STEM learning community. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 18(2), 167-182. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025115584746
Damkaci, F., Braun, T. F., & Gublo, K. (2017). Peer mentor program for the general chemistry laboratory designed to improve undergraduate STEM retention. Journal of Chemical Education, 94(12), 1873–1880. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00340
Deshler, J., Fuller, E., & Darrah, M. (2019). Supporting students through peer mentoring in developmental mathematics. Learning Assistance Review, 24(1), 87–112.
Drane, D., Micari, A., & Light, G. (2014). Students as teachers: Effectiveness of a peer-led STEM learning programme over 10 years. Educational Research and Evaluation, 20(3), 210-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2014.895388
Gansmer-Topf, A. M., Kollasch, A., & Sun, J. (2017). A house divided? Examining persistence for on-campus STEM and non-STEM students. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 19(2), 199-223. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025115611671
Gatz, J. A., Kelly, A. M., & Bugallo, M. (2018). The power of peer mentoring of undergraduate women in engineering: Fostering persistence through academic and social integration [Paper Presentation]. 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Graham, M. J., Frederick, J., Byars-Winston, A., Hunter, A., & Handelsman, J. (2013). Increasing persistence of college students in STEM. Science, 341(6153), 1455–1456. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1240487
Holland, J. M., Major, D. A., & Orvis, K. A. (2012). Understanding how peer mentoring and capitalization link STEM students to their majors. The Career Development Quarterly, 60(4), 343-354. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.2012.00026.x
Ikuma, L. H., Steele, A., Dann, S., Adio, O., & Waggenspack Jr., W. (2019). Efforts to boost persistence pay off. ASEE Prism, 28(5), 47.
Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research, 61(4), 505-532. https://doi.org/10.2307/1170575
Karacal, C., Agustin, M. Z. N., & Pelekanos, G. (2019). Integrated mathematics enrichment, peer mentoring, tutoring, and freshmen course for student success [Paper presentation]. 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Tampa, Florida.
Philipp, S. B., Tretter, T. R., & Rich, C. V. (2016). Development of undergraduate teaching assistants as effective instructors in STEM courses. Journal of College Science Teaching, 45(3), 74-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.2505/4/jcst16_045_03_74
Russomanno, D., Best, R., Ivey, S., Haddock, J. R., Franceschetti, D., & Hairston, R.J. (2010). MemphiSTEP: A STEM talent expansion program at the University of Memphis. Journal of STEM Education, 11(1&2), 69-81.
Schneider, K. R., Bickel, A., and Morrison-Shetlar, A. (2015). Planning and implementing a comprehensive student-centered research program for first-year STEM undergraduates. Journal of College Science Teaching, 44(3), 37-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.2505/4/jcst15_044_03_37
Seemiller, C. & Grace, M. (2016). Generation z goes to college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Shin, J. E. L., Levy, S. R. & London, B. (2016). Effects of role model exposure on STEM and non-STEM student engagement. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 46(7), 410-427. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12371
Spaulding, D. T., Kennedy, J. A., Rózsavölgyi, A. & Colón, W. (2020a). Differences in outcome by gender for peer mentors participating in a STEM persistence program for first-year students. Journal of STEM Education, 21(1), 5-10. https://www.jstem.org/jstem/index.php/JSTEM/article/view/2368/2148
Spaulding, D. T., Kennedy, J. A., Rózsavölgyi, A. & Colón, W. (2020b). Outcomes for peer-based mentors in a university-wide STEM persistence program: A three-year analysis. Journal of College Science Teaching, 49(4), 16-22. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27045875
Xu, Y. J. (2018). The experience and persistence of college students in STEM majors. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 19(4), 413-432. https://doi.org/10.1177/1521025116638344
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Dean T. Spaulding, Jelane A. Kennedy, Amanda Rózsavölgyi , Wilfredo Colón
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.