Why Do So Many College Science Majors Drop Out?

Hugh Pickens writes "Christopher Drew writes that President Obama and industry groups have called on colleges to graduate 10,000 more engineers a year and 100,000 new teachers with majors in science, technology, engineering and math but studies find that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree — 60 percent when pre-medical students are included. Middle and high school students are having most of the fun, building their erector sets and dropping eggs into water to test the first law of motion, but the excitement quickly fades as students brush up against the reality of what David E. Goldberg calls 'the math-science death march' as freshmen in college wade through a blizzard of calculus, physics and chemistry in lecture halls with hundreds of other students where many wash out. 'Treating the freshman year as a "sink or swim" experience and accepting attrition as inevitable,' says a report by the National Academy of Engineering, 'is both unfair to students and wasteful of resources and faculty time.' But help is on the way. In September, the Association of American Universities announced a five-year initiative to encourage faculty members in the STEM fields to use more interactive teaching techniques (PDF)."

It's to be expected

[lexsird]

We have slacked off on students over the past several decades, making it an easier experience, and we produce dumber students. When they get to the "hard sciences" they are shocked by the need to actually apply themselves and study hard. It's hard to sugar coat science, math and other terminology rich and study intensive fields.

Re:Because so many more enter college these days?

[Godskitchen]

Don't blame the teacher. Math is cumulative. You don't remember your trig identities going into calculus, maybe someone else doesn't remember how to multiply (it's an extreme example, I know). But if the prof is forced to go back to ensure everybody is "caught up," there would be no time for new material. When you enter a class, you are expected to be familiar with the prerequisite material upon which that class is building upon and it is your responsibility to do what needs to be done to make that happen.

first year

[Tom]

'Treating the freshman year as a "sink or swim" experience and accepting attrition as inevitable,' says a report by the National Academy of Engineering, 'is both unfair to students and wasteful of resources and faculty time.'

Not if you do it right.

I went to a private university in Germany, which - contrary to almost all other universities here - intentionally uses the first semester to weed out its students. Not by attrition, the way the article suggests, but by way of a test that you have to pass in order to continue.

The vital differences were that
a) everyone knew up front this was coming, the entire process is transparent
b) actual knowledge was tested, not the ability to withstand the horrors of crowded lectures

Re:...stuff they see on the Science Channel.

[plover]

Rocket City Rednecks.

It's a couple of NASA rocket scientists, living outside Huntsville, Alabama, and doing a science-related build every weekend. They create such things as blast-proof armor, an Iron Man suit, a submarine, etc., in a way similar to Mythbusters. They showcase bits and pieces of science and engineering as they build (not enough in my opinion, but it's watchable.) And they do not hide who they are. They go fishin' and shoot each other with paintball guns and drink beer and whiskey.

It's like any of a dozen other web maker series, only with mass appeal to the satellite TV audience.

I give them lots of credit for trying to make engineering more accessible; or at least for showcasing engineers in a populist way. I have no idea if it's working with kids or not, but they're trying.