At Iowa State, the largest loss of majors in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, happens between a student’s first and second year of education.

Elizabeth Sandquist, post doctoral fellow in genetics, helps coordinate the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI) at Iowa State. She believes a reason for the drop of STEM majors is the fact that they don’t get exposed to research opportunities right away in their college career.

The FRI started 10 years ago at the University of Texas at Austin, and it is currently utilized at five institutions around the United States.

“They did a retention study at the University of Texas at Austin and they showed that students that participated in their research program were more likely to stay in STEM and they graduated on time,” Sandquist said.

The FRI at Iowa State is an opportunity for freshmen or transfer students to get experience participating in scientific research, while also receiving credit.

“A lot of students don’t get to do research in a lab until they are sophomores, juniors or seniors, and there is only so many labs that students can participate in,” Sandquist said. “That’s what this program works to do — it works with faculty in different departments to create courses a student can enroll in so they are going to get credit for that class, but they are actually doing real research.”

Right now, there are 12 different courses available for students to enroll in across different types of STEM disciplines. These courses are available through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering, and are typically offered during the spring semester.

The drop in interest in STEM majors is often because professors see the introductory level courses as “weed out” courses; therefore, the classes focus primarily on content instead of experience.

“You don’t really get to see how science is performed when you’re doing a traditional lab, and so the idea is that if you can get students to see how science is actually done, then they can be more engaged in science, that they can feel like they’re part of the scientific community because they have actually contributed some research to a project,” Sandquist said.

With other majors and career paths, it may be easier to determine a long-term career path early in one’s college career, but in STEM majors, it’s not so clear.

“Other careers, like nursing, you know what a nurse does,” Sandquist said. “You know what a cop does, you know what a teacher does, but science is a lot more veiled.”

Sandquist became passionate about teaching when she was a graduate student and she learned about education research. Sandquist found that students learn better when they are actively learning instead of sitting and being lectured.

“Rather than just saying ‘this is how it works,’ provide them [students] that evidence and let them come to that conclusion that this is how this process or phenomenon works,” Sandquist said. “There’s evidence that this kind of student-centered or active learning, that students do better and they learn more and they retain it better.”

If students are interested in enrolling in an FRI course, they can visit the website or talk to their advisors or professors. Most courses are just like any course as far as enrollment, however there are some that do require a permission number.

Sandquist suggests the FRI to students who want to see “how science is actually done in real life.”

Even if a student is debating whether or not to go into science, an FRI course could help determine if it is the right fit.

These courses can get students a head start on their researching skills, and springboard them into other opportunities.

“They are going to gain skills that will put them in an advantage,” Sandquist said. “This is just the freshman year, but it can really be a springboard for them to do future research experiences.”  

The FRI will be holding a poster symposium in the spring, typically during dead week during which people can see the work the students have done.