Engagement in STEM classes

[ygolo]

I realize grouping all theses subjects together can be strange, but STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.

One strange thing about STEM courses are that students consistently rate their instructors lower than non STEM couses, across the US.

Many students also drop out of college or their programs due their experience with a single course, and it is often a STEM course.

If you disengaged from a subject (any subject) could you relate your story, and why you disengaged. If you were really engaged in a subject please relate that too.

I am particularly interested in (dis)engagement in chemistry, physics, and the physical sciences. But any experience may be insightful.

How might your experience be improved?

 

[baccheion]

I didn't disengage from anything. Liked Math, Chemistry, etc, and ended up a Software Engineer. From what I've seen/read, people don't like STEM classes because they are challenging. More importantly, they require a mode of thinking that many are not comfortable with. They'd rather more tangible or more emotional things, like analyzing literature and relating to people.

 

[ygolo]

I didn't disengage from anything. Liked Math, Chemistry, etc, and ended up a Software Engineer. From what I've seen/read, people don't like STEM classes because they are challenging. More importantly, they require a mode of thinking that many are not comfortable with. They'd rather more tangible or more emotional things, like analyzing literature and relating to people.

My experiences in college were largely positive, and I never completely disengaged.

However, there were some aspects of my courses I really disliked. Namely, I found some of the homeworks in my digital design I class excruciatingly tedious (for those who know, things like manually executing QM algorithm for 7 variables, when I could intuitively see the result to begin with).

Ironically, I ended up doing digital design professionally later on. However, I know now how to deal with that type of tedium, and how to get some learning from such activities.