Posted on 09/28/2022 5:33:33 AM PDT by devane617
A new paper in PNAS Nexus, published by Oxford University Press, indicates that minority students who earn low grades in introductory science, technology, engineering, and math classes are less likely to earn degrees in these subjects than similar white students.
There is a persistent disparity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education outcomes in the United States. In 2018, women earned 58% of bachelor's degrees, but only 36% of STEM bachelor's degrees. In 2017, Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people comprised 30% of the U.S. population, and 34% of STEM-intending incoming college students, yet they earned only 18% of actual undergraduate STEM degrees. This has implications for the diversity of STEM professions as well as for the range of research and innovation in such fields.
Students interested in such subjects typically take introductory courses like calculus or general chemistry during their first semester. Colleges may offer such courses in part with the goal of sending a message to students who receive low grades that they should pursue other fields of study. Previous research has established an association between low performance in these courses and a decreased probability of obtaining a STEM degree. However, this association may not be neutral regarding gender and race. Being assigned a low grade in introductory STEM courses might have a greater negative impact on women and racial/ethnic minorities.
Researchers examined records from 109,070 students from six large, public, research-intensive universities between 2005 and 2012, to assess whether low grades in these introductory courses disproportionately impact underrepresented minority students. The investigators studied the records of student performance in introductory courses in physical sciences, life sciences, mathematical and computational sciences, and engineering to discern the likelihood of students earning degrees in these subjects.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
I hope at least half the people on the thread get that.
You haven’t lived until you’ve had graduate level statistical thermodynamics, wherein you do things like learn how to calculate the pressure in a pressure vessel by counting the molecule bounces off the walls . . .
I’d laugh, but I’m afraid this unreality is what libiots want to inflict on all.
Then there are guys like one of my college roommates at a major league tech school, who was a 4.0 in Physics, and could crush beer cans on his forehead like Bluto Blutarski.
HQZ?
Yes. Spatial relations is a term used for that in the general sense, or was, and it tends to be something men are better at than women.
What in heck is intro calculus? To get into calculus, I had to retake Algebra 1, 2, then Trig. BFD.
He was an excellent husband, father, and provider. He and my Mom stayed together until her death (54 years of marriage). He passed 6 months later.
That often starts with EE, and sometimes includes a stop in CE along the way.
Optionally sub EE for ME and/or CE for IE, sure.
A counterpoint to my own list - about 20 years ago I had a tennis buddy who was an IE professor. I went to his office once, and there were all sorts of Cisco materials, and I am not talking about CCIE training manuals (which were quite tough, probably still are). Very theoretical stuff. Naturally I was curious.
It turns out high level queuing theory of the sort IEs did for complex logistics also had practical applications in routers, and he was doing work for Cisco.
I studied Physics at the “PhD” level for 2 years before dropping out. I remember Electrodynamics, Solid State Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and a ton of math.I would probably have failed the graduate version of thermodynamics ...
Father, forgive me ... I have strayed from the True Faith.
I got an engineering degree.
;’}
Amen - ya old coot!
...and the law threatening us with a life sentence ain’t as scary as it used to be.
All the cool kids for the last 15 years or so have had water-cooled CPU and GPU desktops for maximum performance gaming rigs. They think they’re so ahead of things.
Well, I’ll have them know I was water cooling CPUs in the mid-1980s, long before these kids thought about it (or were born). I’m talking 45F chilled brine straight to the CPU. Of course, it was for a pair of 360s, and we’re talking about a pair of 90 ton Trane recip water chillers to make the cooling happen for the CPUs and the giant room full of peripherals! Big insurance operation.
When they tore out an Amdahl mainframe from a building I worked in eons ago, totally screwed up the HVAC system. Neither heating nor cooling was quite right after. Still “effed” when I left 3 years later ...
As the name implies, their mission is to audit defense contracts. Terribly bureaucratic, poor management, the work is mind numbingly boring. The demographics of the Agency is over 60% women.
The office I worked at had 7 supervisors, all women, most with Napoleonic complexes. There was one supervisor who was excellent, but I never had the opportunity to work for her.
Sounds nightmarish. I’m glad you got what you needed out of it and got out with your sanity intact!
I assume you are taking recent courses. I assure you that traditionally the intros have been tough across the sciences.
You were in a program that was teaching to their uneducated incoming students.
The biggest issue in American education. Why I tell people to remove children from government schools and oversee their education.
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