IMPACTS ON STUDENT PERSISTENCE IN THE GEOSCIENCES: A CASE STUDY OF AFFECTIVE FACTORS DURING FIELD RESEARCH

Prior research has shown that field and research experiences help retain students in the geosciences. However, there is less research about how and why this is the case. We created a field-based research experience for five students with a range of backgrounds and prior experiences. We used mixed-methods case study research 1) to identify affect-related persistence factors influencing geoscience interns during a field-based research experience, 2) to interpret how the field experience impacted those factors, and 3) to explain why the factors influenced students’ intention to persistence. The study is framed within the Social Cognitive Career Theory and Geoscience Identity theoretical frameworks. Results indicate that the students in this field research experience were influenced by five main factors that influenced their persistence: increasing self-efficacy, discovering people as resources, developing a geoscience identity, making connections with Earth, and maintaining interest. The first three factors have important social aspects to them that were impacted by the design of the field experience. The field experience contributed, positively or negatively, to the students developing the self-efficacy to succeed as a geoscientist and the geoscience identity needed to pursue a geoscience career. Therefore, our research indicates that these affective reactions of the students to the experience, rather than their cognitive reactions, played a key role with regard to impacting their persistence in the geosciences.