Objective: This study explored how high school and postsecondary academic parameters may relate to the choice of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major for students beginning their postsecondary education at community colleges. Our study incorporated these two clusters of factors into a statistical model to examine STEM major choice in community colleges. In particular, our study was one of the first to examine the direction and magnitude of the relationship between earned college credits in science laboratories and advanced mathematics and STEM college major selection. Method: We analyzed national data from the Education Longitudinal Study (2002) for students who were in 10th grade in 2002, entered community college as their first postsecondary institution, and declared a college major by 2006. A comprehensive integrated model was analyzed through binary logistic regression with the outcome variable of choice of STEM major or not. Results: We found math self-efficacy in high school, postsecondary introductory science laboratory courses, and postsecondary advanced mathematics courses were each positively associated with the choice of STEM major among community college students. Gender continues to be influential, with women less likely to pursue STEM than men. Contributions: Our study highlights the opportunities the science laboratory holds for engaging beginning community college students interested in STEM fields. The linchpin role of mathematics and science for students aspiring to study STEM is underscored by the findings of this study.

中文翻译：

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了解开始社区大学的学生选择 STEM 专业的决定因素

目标：本研究探讨了高中和中学后学术参数如何与在社区大学开始中学后教育的学生选择科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 专业有关。我们的研究将这两组因素合并到一个统计模型中，以检查社区大学的 STEM 专业选择。特别是，我们的研究是最早研究科学实验室获得的大学学分与高等数学和 STEM 大学专业选择之间关系的方向和大小的研究之一。方法：我们分析了来自教育纵向研究 (2002) 的全国数据，这些学生在 2002 年 10 年级，进入社区大学作为他们的第一个高等教育机构，并在 2006 年宣布大学专业。通过二元逻辑回归分析综合集成模型，结果变量选择是否选择 STEM 专业。结果：我们发现高中数学自我效能感、中学后科学实验室课程和中学后高等数学课程均与社区大学生选择 STEM 专业呈正相关。性别继续具有影响力，女性追求 STEM 的可能性低于男性。贡献：我们的研究强调了科学实验室为吸引对 STEM 领域感兴趣的社区大学生入门而提供的机会。本研究的结果强调了数学和科学对于渴望学习 STEM 的学生的关键作用。