1. Research Problem Students Withdraw from Biology Major Gateway Courses Although we have: course assessments content questions aligned with course learning objectives rubrics for oral and written communication Only information from students who complete course My observation - higher proportion are African American Push for retention and persistence in STEM, esp. AA males 39% of freshmen in STEM 27% of freshman in poor academic standing by end fall semester

2. Research Question Research Question: What factors contribute to why students decide to withdraw from the introductory Chemistry and Biology courses? (Which of these factors can we control?) Research Context: A new (2006), public, 4-year, open access, undergraduate only college in metro Atlanta of 8,500 students with over 1,000 Biology majors. Diverse student population (40% URM, 17% nontraditional and 55% female). Class size is capped at 24 students and same instructor teaches both lecture and lab sections. Who Cares?: My question is interesting because it aligns with institutional and system-wide goals to reduce the withdrawal rate and increase persistence in Biology (STEM).

3. Research Methodology Interview Representative Sample of Students who have Withdrawn Data Mining from Applications and Placement Scores Test for correlation between coded interview data (reasons) and demographic/socioeconomic/ admissions data CHEM 1211 pre- or co-requisite for BIOL 1107 Pool data from 11-12 BIOL 1107 and 25-26 CHEM 1211 sections Need to design interview questions Collect and code historical information from online withdrawal forms (data request for how many years?) Faculty Member Focus Groups – code experiences (anecdotal)

4. Alignment of Research Question and Methodology Question Type - What Is? Question Methodology Why student withdraw? Ask them! Direct Alignment Goal To collect baseline data to inform intervention selection and design to increases persistence in Biology (STEM)