Scaling up a life sciences college career exploration course to foster STEM confidence and career self-efficacy

Figures & data

Figure 1. STEM persistence framework adapted from Graham et al. (2013) to include a career course.

Table 1. Demographic characteristics for LS110 career course with distributions shown as percentages of total enrolment in 2016–19 (N = 894).

Binary Gender	%
Female	69.5
Male	30.5
Class Standing
1^st/2^nd Years	51.8
3^rd/4^th Years	48.2
Race/Ethnicity
American Indian/Alaskan Native; Black/African-American^∞	5.3
Asian or Pacific Islander	36.0
Chicanx/Latinx	23.7
White	25.4

^∞We report these categories together in order to protect student confidentiality due to the small population size.

Table 2. Change in satisfaction with career choice and change in confidence with staying in major, obtaining an internship/job, research experience, or applying/going to graduate/professional school (N = 427).

	Pre		Post
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Sig
If you have chosen a specific career path, how satisfied are you with that choice?	2.67	0.806	3.06	0.742	***
How confident are you that you will stay in your major?	3.12	0.981	3.30	0.914	***
How confident are you in your ability to obtain an internship, research experience, or apply to graduate/professional school?	2.06	0.840	2.69	0.783	***
How confident are you that you will be successful in obtaining a job (or going on to graduate school) after completing your degree at UCLA?	2.22	0.822	2.76	0.777	***

***p < 0.001

Figure 2. Impact of the career course on confidence about and completion of degree in the major (N = 427).

Table 3. Percentage of survey respondents who completed career-related skills before taking the course, after completing the course, and the percent change for each skill (N = 424).

Activities	% Pre	% Post	% Change
Used online resources to research a job or career	73.3	95.3	+22.0
Revised or developed a resume	69.3	97.7	+28.4
Revised or developed a cover letter	31.1	97.0	+65.9
Interviewed a professional to learn specifics about their job or industry	15.2	94.1	+78.9
Taken a self-assessment tool to learn about my values, skills, personality or interests	36.1	96.3	+60.2
Visited the UCLA career centre	34.4	66.7	+32.3

Freeman, S., S. Eddy, M. McDonough, M. Smith, N. Okoroafor, H. Jordt, and M. Wenderoth. 2014. “Active Learning Increases Student Performance in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 111 (23): 8410–8415. doi:10.1073/pnas.1319030111.

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