Does Active Learning Contribute to Transfer Intent Among 2-Year College Students Beginning in STEM?

ABSTRACT

This study explored whether and how beginning 2-year college students’ engagement in active learning within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms is related to their intent to transfer to a 4-year institution. Despite the potentially important role active learning experiences play in shaping 2-year college students’ intent to transfer upward, there is a dearth of research to investigate this relationship. To fill this gap, we explored the linkage between active learning and intent to transfer. In addition, we explored whether and how transfer self-efficacy may mediate this relationship. Based on survey data collected from a statewide sample of 1st-year 2-year college students beginning in STEM programs or courses and controlling for student entry characteristics and postsecondary factors, a path analysis of mediation revealed that active learning is directly related to transfer intent and exerts an indirect relationship through its positive influence on transfer self-efficacy.

KEYWORDS:

• 2-year college
• active learning
• community college
• STEM education
• transfer intent
• transfer self-efficacy

Funding

This study was conducted as part of a larger research project supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. DUE-1430642). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Notes

1. The definitions and uses of “community college” in the literature are not quite consistent. In their classic text, Cohen et al. (2014) refer to a community college as “any not-for-profit institution regionally accredited to award the associate in arts or the associate in science as its highest degree” (p. 5). In empirical studies, community colleges are often broadly defined as public 2-year colleges. In the educational research and policy literature, “community colleges” and “2-year colleges” are often used interchangeably. In this article, we adopt both terms to reflect this reality and the study’s broad relevance.

2. The two comprehensive 2-year institutions are large districts with multiple campuses located in urban, suburban, and rural regions. At both institutions, female students constituted about 55% of the student body, and nearly 20% of the students attended full-time, which was below the national trend (i.e., 38% of all community college students in the nation enrolled full-time in Fall 2014 [American Association of Community Colleges, 2016]). Apart from these similarities, there were notable differences between the two in terms of their students’ racial/ethnic diversity, with one institution enrolling a racially diverse student population (approximately 43% White, 33% Black, 12% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 1% American Indian, and 2% Multiracial students) and the other serving a more homogeneous student population (with about 75% of their students being White, 7% Black, 7% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 1% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 4% Multiracial). First-generation student enrollment was roughly 40% and 50% each.

3. The thirteen 2-year campuses’ mission is to prepare students for upward transfer. In Fall 2014, female students constituted slightly more than half of the student population. About 60% of the students were enrolled full-time. The student body was about 85% White and 15% Racial/Ethnic minority, with well more than 60% being first-generation college students.

Additional information

Funding

This study was conducted as part of a larger research project supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. DUE-1430642). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.