Photovoice: Investigating Barriers in STEM Retention

Annually, less than 50% of students entering STEM degree programs are retained in their corresponding major until graduation. The STEM education community remains concerned about this student retention issue, and must work to identify the factors that hinder and promote pathways to graduation. The aim of this project is to use Photovoice, a novel action based research method, to determine perceived barriers to student success, retention, and graduation rates at a large, research one, Hispanic Serving Institute. Photovoice is a unique research method for capturing data in that participants reflect upon their experiences using photos to tell their stories. After taking photos, participants attend focus groups to explain why they used each photo to describe their lived experience. Focus groups are recorded and later codified. Participants included students from the Cullen College of Engineering, College of Natural Science and Mathematics, and College of Technology with the sophomore-level status or higher. Five students participated in the study. Participants met three times to be introduced to the study, describe the photos of experiences that either hindered or promoted their success, and to close out the study. Preliminary data suggests that commuting and university climate hinder student success while living and learning communities, and professor interaction allow students to excel in their desired degree program.