DATE: May 9, 2021

TO: Lisa Schulze

English Professor at Lone Star College North-Harris

FROM: Jose Duran Robles

SUBJECT: STEM Curriculum: Recommendation Report on Curriculum at LSC- North

Harris for Students in STEM

The following document is a recommendation report for my research project, “STEM

Curriculum: Recommendation Report on Curriculum at LSC-North Harris for Students in
STEM”. The recommendation report required the completion of four tasks. The tasks began
with secondary research that determined the factors that led to community colleges struggling
to offer courses to students in STEM fields. Field work then gathered information on
enrollment and transfer rates of LSC-North Harris. A survey was then distributed to gather
data on the experiences of current STEM students at LSC-North Harris.

The results of the research demonstrate that STEM courses that are offered at LSC-North
Harris have less enrollment and the STEM curriculums that LSC-Harris provides are poorly
scheduled. The findings of the research were used to develop two recommendations for
LSC-North Harris with the purpose to improve the experience of STEM students. The two
recommendations were modification of the current curriculum for all STEM programs and to
increase enrollment into STEM in order to incentivize increase in funds for STEM. The two
recommendations are explained at the end of this report.

Lastly, I want to give thanks for your support and advice these past 15 weeks. I hope this report
meets your expectations. Any questions or comments, please let me know at
joseduran.psn@gmail.com
STEM Curriculum: Recommendation Report on Curriculum at LSC- North
Harris for Students in STEM

Prepared for: Lone Star College-North Harris’s Student Services

Prepared by: Jose Duran Robles, Honors Student at Lone Star College-North Harris

May 9, 2021
 ABSTRACT

“STEM Curriculum: Recommendation Report on Curriculum at LSC- North Harris for

Students in STEM
Prepared by: Jose Duran Robles

The research conducted focuses on the curriculum of STEM programs at Lone Star-North
Harris. The curriculum of STEM programs contains many requirements to transfer and
graduate from a community college. Since the requirements to transfer are heavy in coursework
such as math and science, many students feel overwhelmed by the course load. Additionally,
STEM courses are not offered on some campuses, and in the campuses that do offer the
courses, courses are limited and not very flexible. Understaffing and funding in STEM are two
factors that could determine whether a course can be offered or not. This project analyses
academic journals to further investigate the issues with funding and staffing other community
colleges have experienced and the steps they took to approach a solution. The methods and
recommendations in the secondary research can be helpful to Lone Star and point the campus
in the right direction. Fieldwork was conducted to find raw data that indicated enrollment in
math courses initially is high but as the math courses increase in difficulty enrollment decreases.
Also, transfer rates for LSC-North Harris as a whole are low, but transfer rates in students with
higher credit hours between 15 credit hours and 60 credit hours have higher transfer rates.
Enrollment and transfer rates were analyzed to understand if enough students are enrolling in
STEM courses to demand urgency in offering other STEM-related courses at the campus. A
survey was given out to students who are part of STEM through Google forms that will
provide student input on the STEM curriculum and transfer process. This project offers
recommendations to Lone Star-North Harris to modify the current curriculum for STEM
programs and increase funds for STEM. The curriculum for STEM is difficult by default, but
Lone Star can facilitate the process by modifying the existing infrastructure to provide enough
resources to offer the best possible roster of courses and a manageable curriculum.

Keywords: Engineering, STEM, curriculum, Community College, Funding, Community College

Staff, Understaffing, Transfer,

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1

INTRODUCTION 2

METHODOLOGY 3
Task 1: Conduct primary and secondary research of STEM programs at Lone Star
North-Harris and other community colleges. 3
Task 2: Develop and distribute a survey targeted at STEM students to reveal if there are any
issues that students have encountered with their curriculum or their transfer process 3
Task 3: Interpret and analyze secondary and primary data to determine issues faced by
STEM students in community colleges in general and the issues LSC-North Harris faces in
the curriculum. 4
Task 4: Develop solutions and recommendations to LSC- North Harris 4

RESULTS 5
Task 1: Conduct primary and secondary research of STEM programs at Lone Star
North-Harris and other community colleges. 5
Transfer Rates Data: 6
Enrollment in MATH Data: 7
Task 2: Develop and distribute a survey targeted at STEM students to reveal if there are any
issues that students have encountered with their curriculum or their transfer process. 8
Task 3: Interpret and analyze secondary and primary data to determine issues faced by
STEM students in community colleges in general and the issues LSC-North Harris faces in
the curriculum. 9
Primary Analysis 10
Secondary Analysis 11
Task 4: Develop solutions and recommendations to LSC- North Harris 11

CONCLUSIONS 12
Low Demand for STEM Courses 12
Challenging and Overwhelming Curriculum 12

RECOMMENDATIONS 13
Modifying Curriculum Schedule: 13
Increasing Funding for STEM and Monitoring Budget 13

REFERENCES 14

APPENDIX 16
Survey Questionnaire 16
 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report discusses the curriculum of STEM at LSC-North Harris. The structure of the
curriculum across all STEM fields no matter the institution is overwhelming and challenging
for students. This report also shortly investigates the unavailability of STEM courses at
LSC-North Harris which could add to the stress STEM students have to deal with. This
report identifies a solution to the overwhelming curriculum and unavailability of courses.

The research began by researching possible factors that could lead to community colleges being
unable to offer courses. Next, fieldwork was conducted to identify various curriculums at other
community colleges to compare them to LSC-North Harris and collection of institutional data
to identify enrollment and transfer rates of North Harris. A survey was distributed through
google forms to get the opinion of students who are part of STEM programs. The findings of
the research are presented in this report.

The primary and secondary research concluded that the demand for STEM courses is low at
LSC-North Harris and the curriculum for the majority of the STEM programs is nearly
identical in terms of structure. The demand for STEM courses could explain the unavailability
of courses at the campus. LSC-North Harris would not offer a course that only a few students
will enroll in, especially after considering STEM courses are more expensive to fund. The
curriculum across multiple community colleges offers the same structure in which they
encourage students to take more than four classes in one semester. The survey demonstrated
that a good portion of the students felt overwhelmed after seeing their curriculum. Therefore,
the current schedule of the curriculum encourages students to overfill their semester with
intensive courses that will cause stress and feeling overwhelmed.

This report recommends modifying the curriculum and increasing funds for STEM programs.
LSC-North Harris can restructure the curriculums for STEM programs so that the courses are
spread out throughout the two years students spend at Lone Star. This will help reduce the
workload students have to deal with at a time during their time at Lone Star. Additionally, the
scarcity of STEM courses at LSC-North Harris can be possibly improved by the addition of
funds to STEM programs. The funds could be increased by encouraging enrollment in STEM
and adding fees to already existing courses to cover for expensive materials and equipment
needed in STEM. By improving the curriculums and offering more STEM courses at North
Harris, the students will have a more enjoyable experience as they do not have to crowd their
semesters and they do not have to worry that one of their required courses may not be offered
at LSC-North Harris.
 2

INTRODUCTION
STEM programs are challenging with the course load required to either transfer or graduate.
The coursework in itself consists of difficult math and science courses not to mention the
additional general courses students have to take. Community college students have to meet
certain requirements to transfer in addition to graduate with an associate’s degree. The
overwhelming amount of courses required can become a burden as they have to cram a
significant amount of classes per semester including breaks. In some cases, community colleges
do not offer certain courses or degrees. The unavailability of courses can become an issue for
many students as they would have to either register at another college or find a campus where
that course is offered. Searching for the availability of one course across multiple campuses is an
inconvenience that may halt the progress of students and set them back 1 to 2 years in their
program. The students should not have to look outside of their preferred college to attend one
course. In general, STEM courses are significantly more expensive to fund making it difficult
for colleges to offer them to their students. The availability of courses can also be affected by
the number of people enrolling in a program of study, in other words, if demand is low then
colleges are not going to be incentivized to offer any courses. Demand for a course within a
college and lack of funding are a few issues but they vary campus by campus, so one solution
can not be applied to all the problems equally. Our STEM students deserve to be able to take
all the courses necessary for a smooth transfer to a four-year university in 2 years or less if
possible. Lone-Star North-Harris is an amazing college and great campus with the potential to
help our STEM students. The world needs more people from STEM and Lone-Star College
can provide those people, so we must improve our STEM program availability and encourage
more people into the STEM field.
 3

METHODOLOGY
Task 1: Conduct primary and secondary research of STEM programs at Lone Star
North-Harris and other community colleges.

The research began by searching for scholarly articles and academic journals that investigated
the STEM programs and curriculums of community colleges. The secondary research
discussed and revealed important factors of STEM programs and curriculum such as funding,
staffing, transfer, and enrollment. Primary research was then conducted in the form of
fieldwork. I collected institutional data and the curriculum for various STEM majors at
LSC-North Harris and from other community colleges as well. The institutional data
demonstrated low transfer rates across the campus and decreasing enrollment rates for math
courses. The curriculums for Lone Star College and other community colleges for various
majors/fields were very similar with little to no differences. The secondary research and primary
research will be utilized to find issues with the curriculum and the reasons why there are
problems to better develop recommendations.

Task 2: Develop and distribute a survey targeted at STEM students to reveal if there
are any issues that students have encountered with their curriculum or their transfer
process

Maegan Dillah and I developed a joint survey in which we ask questions to STEM students
about their transfer process, curriculum, and advising experiences. The survey was distributed
to the STEM students in Honors College at North Harris, MATH 2414, PHYS 2425, and
ENGL 2311. The survey helped me identify if there were any issues students were coming
across in their journey through curriculum or transfer requirements. The results from the
survey determined if the issues in the college are present in the students’ experience or if the
effects are minuscule and do not affect a majority of the STEM students attending LSC- North
Harris. The short period of time the survey went out did not allow for a lot of responses to be
recorded, but they were enough to provide decent information. In an ideal situation, the survey
would have had more responses and a more accurate representation of the LSC- North Harris
STEM population. The survey questions will be provided in the index.
 4

Task 3: Interpret and analyze secondary and primary data to determine issues faced by
STEM students in community colleges in general and the issues LSC-North Harris
faces in the curriculum.

The data and information gathered allowed me to determine the issues that LSC- North Harris
has in the curriculum for STEM programs. The survey complements the institutional data and
academic journals by providing information and data on the experiences of students who are
part of STEM at LSC-North Harris. I will develop the conclusions of the information
obtained and derive the implications the data has on LSC-North Harris.

Task 4: Develop solutions and recommendations to LSC- North Harris

After the analysis of information and the development of conclusions and implications, I will
create a recommendation report. The recommendation report will include two
recommendations. One recommendation will give suggestions on changes that could be made
to the curriculum. Another recommendation will be to increase the availability of STEM
courses.
 5

RESULTS
In this section of the report, I will present the results of my four tasks.

Task 1: Conduct primary and secondary research of STEM programs at Lone Star
North-Harris and other community colleges.

For my primary research, I have collected the curriculum for various STEM programs at Lone
Star College and Houston Community college. I have also collected the transfer requirements
for the University of Houston. Lone Star and Houston Community college share similar
curriculums in the engineering field of STEM. Their curriculums separate the classes into 4
semesters and in each semester they focus on the requirements needed for students to transfer.
Science, math, and engineering courses such as introduction to engineering, calculus,
chemistry, and physics are all offered as part of their programs. However, Houston
Community college states that the program is meant for students who plan on transferring to
the University of Texas at Tyler’s. Lone Star College’s program only mentions it prepares
students to transfer to a four-year institution. In both programs, the students have to take
multiple science and math courses in one semester to be able to meet transfer requirements.
STEM programs like engineering would require students to be full-time, taking 4-6 classes a
semester at either Houston Community College or Lone Star College.

In my secondary research, I have collected academic journals and articles that discuss the issues
of STEM curriculum and also discuss other issues with STEM at the community college level.
Community colleges acquire most of their funding through state/federal grants, donations,
and tuition. The distribution of funds towards STEM is simply not enough and requires staff
to adapt and figure out ways to do without the funds or manage to obtain the funds. Walz and
Christian (2017) experienced issues with budget and financial resources to continue their
Capstone Engineering Design courses at Madison College. The projects that the course allows
are limited to the budget; therefore, Madison College implemented a course materials fee that
will be given to the students to be able to make up for their limited budget. Any other costs will
be covered by the client or the project will have to adapt to the restricting budget(Walz &
Christian, 2017). With the rising costs of college tuition, the addition of a course materials fee
is not supported by students. However, colleges don’t have much choice but to increase
tuition, get rid of the course, or offer the courses with a limited budget that hinders the
learning experience of students.

Lowry and Thomas Anderson argue that community colleges have immense potential to close
skill gaps with increased CTE and STEM funding. Lowry and Thomas Anderson also
 6

discussed that “between academic years 1999 and 2009, every 4-year sector saw increases,
whereas community college funding was flat”( 2017). Funding is increasing in 4-year
institutions but community colleges seem to have made no progress. This could hinder
community colleges’ ability to offer incredible programs in STEM and cut off certain courses
due to lack of funding. Community college is less expensive than a 4-year university and is
often one of the reasons students choose to take their first two years in a community college.
Although community college is cheaper, the quality of education received in community
colleges should not be of less value in comparison to a 4-year institution. Lone Star College
could be suffering from no funding increase and therefore not allowing them to offer STEM
courses across all Lone Star Campuses. In recent years, progress was made thanks to the Obama
administration but there is room for improvement (Lowry & Thomas-Anderson, 2017).

Before a STEM program is created there must be sufficient funds and someone with adequate
expertise to teach the course. Rincon and George Jackson explained the challenges that
funding and understaffing can cause in community colleges. Rincon and Jackson mentioned
that “ although directors and administrators wanted to expand their programs, they indicated
that without adequate staffing, such efforts would be highly difficult if not improbable”(2016).
Colleges want to provide their students with the best programs and courses but are limited by
either staffing, funding, or both. I have to consider staff and funding when evaluating Lone
Star North Harris’ curriculum for STEM programs.

Transfer Rates Data:

Lone Star- North Harris has fairly low transfer rates in comparison to the other campuses in
the Lone Star System. LSC-North Harris has a range of 11.6% to 20.9% and a mean of 17.2% in
transfers. Transfer rates across the Lone Star System are relatively low, but North Harris has the
 7

lowest rates between 2010 and 2018. The transfer rates for STEM students specifically could
not be obtained as the college does not collect data of transfers by a major, program of study, or
field.

A large majority of those transfers have 15+ credit hours, about 69.2% of transfers have 15
credit hours or more on average. 15 credit hours is equivalent to one full-time semester at Lone
Star- North Harris. This means most of those who transfer spend at least one semester in Lone
Star before transferring. The data on what courses the credit hours come from is not collected,
so there is no information on what courses are being taken at Lone Star and to what major they
attribute to.
NOTE: The transfer rates do not take into consideration the field of work, major, or program.

Enrollment in MATH Data:

The start of the math sequence begins with a high enrollment of 3274. By the end of the math
sequence, the enrollment is only 49. Success initially is at 65% for MATH 1314 and at the end
of the math sequence for MATH 2414 is 98%. The difficulty of the classes can partly justify the
sudden and steady decrease in enrollment across the math sequence.
 8

Task 2: Develop and distribute a survey targeted at STEM students to reveal if there
are any issues that students have encountered with their curriculum or their transfer
process.

NOTE: Maegan Dillah and I went through the IRB process and were approved to distribute
the survey.

The Survey was distributed and open to responses until May 7, 2021. There were only a total
of 19 responses. Although the amount of responses is not significant, the data provided is
enough to draw conclusions and trends.

This chart assumes that “on track” refers to being able to transfer within two years or less.
According to the survey, 68% have a transfer plan and are on track to meet the transfer
requirements in order to transfer. Rounding up, about 16% of the students surveyed have a
transfer plan but not on track to transfer. Similarly, 16% of the students surveyed do not have a
transfer plan at all.
 9

The question’s intention was to find out if the students have not found a STEM “major
specific” course offered specifically at LSC-North Harris. 26% of the students surveyed
answered “Yes” and 63% answered “No”.

STEM requirements for transferring can be one of the factors that may lead to a decrease in
enrollment in STEM courses. 38% of the people surveyed agreed that the curriculum for
STEM transfers was overwhelming enough to opt-out. Meanwhile, a vast majority, 62.5%
disagreed and were not overwhelmed by the transfer curriculum for their STEM field/major.

Task 3: Interpret and analyze secondary and primary data to determine issues faced by
STEM students in community colleges in general and the issues LSC-North Harris
faces in the curriculum.
 10

Primary Analysis
In the primary research, the curriculums for LSC-North Harris and Houston Community
Colleges and the pacing of the curriculum were similar. The difference between Houston
Community College and LSC-North Harris was that Houston Community College’s
curriculum was designed specifically for students to transfer to a specific university such as the
University of Texas at Tyler’s. The curricula at LSC-North Harris and HCC for a majority of
the engineering programs had 5-6 courses each semester and did not offer an associate’s degree
or certification at the end, just a transfer opportunity. The curriculums did not mention the
summer semester, winter, or spring minimesters. A first-year college student would assume to
take all of the courses recommended as the curriculum is posted on their website. Considering
the courses for STEM are heavy on science and math, students could struggle to manage 5-6
intense courses in their first semester.

The enrollment rates can be justified by the intense curriculum of STEM programs. Assuming
that most students in math courses after pre-calculus are students who are part of a STEM
program it is reasonable to think that enrollment is so low since the curriculum demands the
students to take 5-6 courses a semester, most of which are math and science. Students who
struggled at the beginning of their math sequence due to the number of classes that they had to
manage are less likely to continue the sequence and more likely to take breaks or extend their
time at Lone Star by prioritizing other core course requirements before continuing their math
sequence.

The transfer rates for LSC-North Harris are relatively low in general. Since the transfer rates are
not collected by major or program of study there is nothing that can be assumed for STEM
students in particular. However, the charts for transfer rates for 15+ credit hours stand out as it
shows that a majority of the students who transfer do so after completing at least one full-time
semester at LSC- North Harris. It can be assumed that those who intend to transfer usually
enroll for at least one semester and complete the core requirements to transfer more quickly
without dealing with major-specific requirements. The data on transfer rates is not optimal to
make any conclusions or connections to the STEM curriculum.

The survey demonstrated that students in STEM are determined to transfer and most of them
are on track. However, 15% of students who took the survey are not on track. The survey also
highlights the difficulty of the STEM curriculum as more than 30% agreed they contemplated
quitting STEM. Although the percentage is not incredibly high it is concerning that there are
students feeling overwhelmed by the requirements to transfer. The results demonstrate that the
curriculum for STEM can be overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. Additionally, about
26% stated that there were certain courses that are required for their majors that are not offered
 11

at LSC-North Harris. This implies that students have to look for their major-specific courses
outside of LSC-North Harris. Although it may seem like a minor inconvenience, STEM
courses are limited and only offered at some Lone Star campuses. If students can’t enroll in a
course due to availability then they might need to rearrange their schedule and adjust which
could lead to an extra semester at Lone Star before they transfer.

Secondary Analysis
The unavailability of STEM courses in community colleges can be a result of insufficient funds
and staff in STEM programs. Community colleges have not seen an increase in funds in
comparison to 4-year institutions. Universities have seen increases in funding almost every year,
meanwhile community colleges do not see any significant changes to their funds. This has
caused some community colleges to add fees or increase tuition. STEM programs are more
costly to fund, so if community colleges do not have the funds necessary, the programs are
either limited in their availability or not offered whatsoever. Additionally, the shortage in
staffing across community colleges for STEM programs further limits the opportunity for
community colleges to offer STEM courses. Community colleges do not have trouble
providing all the core requirements, but major specific courses are more difficult to offer as they
require professors with expertise in the field and funds. In some cases, funds are not an issue
and the community colleges want to expand their programs and offer more courses and
opportunities for students, but they lack the staff to support such an expansion.

Task 4: Develop solutions and recommendations to LSC- North Harris

Task 4 was completed in the following sections of this report: CONCLUSIONS and
RECOMMENDATIONS
 12

CONCLUSIONS
The following section will discuss the conclusions and implications of the information
gathered from academic journals, institutional data, fieldwork, and survey.

Low Demand for STEM Courses

The institutional data gathered from LSC-North Harris demonstrates low enrollment in math
courses past MATH 1316. Majority of the major-specific courses in STEM such as
engineering: statics, or engineering: dynamics require as a co-requisite or prerequisite to have at
least completed MATH 2413 and 2414. The enrollment data for MATH 2413 is fairly low in
comparison to the enrollment for MATH 1314. Considering only a fraction of the students
taking MATH 2314 and above are planning on enrolling in major-specific courses in the
future, the demand for courses such as engineering is low. The low demand for STEM courses
such as engineering does not provide enough incentive for LSC-North Harris to expand the
availability of the courses. The courses are still available to students but they are offered at other
campuses such as Kingwood or Cy-Fair. This could be an inconvenience to students whose
home campus is North Harris. However, the pandemic introduced the opportunities to attend
classes in a virtual setting which partially removes the inconvenience of enrolling in classes at
other campuses. Although courses may be able to be completed in a virtual setting this does
not guarantee the students are receiving the same quality of education as if they were in person.

Challenging and Overwhelming Curriculum

The curriculums designed for STEM transfers are tedious and poorly scheduled. This is an
issue that applies to community colleges in general. The curriculums of Houston Community
College and LSC-North Harris are identical in terms of courses required and needed to transfer
for the same major. The curriculums require the students to take five to six courses a semester
for a total of four semesters before transferring to their preferred university. The schedule
includes math and science core courses plus the addition of major-specific courses which are
usually heavy on math and science as well. The intensity of the semesters for STEM students is
high and 37.5% of the people surveyed thought of dropping out of STEM because they felt
overwhelmed by their curriculum. STEM is a challenging field and the coursework is going to
be challenging regardless, but the curriculum should not cram so many intensive courses in one
semester.
 13

RECOMMENDATIONS
In the following section, I discuss recommendations for LSC-North Harris to improve the
curriculum for STEM students

Modifying Curriculum Schedule:

The curriculum for STEM is challenging and requires great effort as well as time. The courses
required by universities can not be changed as they are important for transfer. The schedule of
the curriculum can and should be changed to give the students a flexible and reasonable
schedule they can follow and not feel overwhelmed. Since the number of courses that STEM
students need to take can not be reduced, the curriculum should provide plans that spread out
the classes between the summer, fall, winter, and spring semesters. This will allow the workload
to be spread across the entire year leading to students feeling less stressed. The intensity of the
courses can not be helped but by spreading out the classes, students have the choice to take
fewer classes at a time and still be on track to transfer within a two-year time span, if everything
goes well. One possible disadvantage to this recommendation could be that students will have
courses year-round. Having courses year-round implies students will have virtually no breaks.
However, it is a better alternative to taking five or six academically intense courses in one
semester.

Increasing Funding for STEM and Monitoring Budget

LSC-North Harris can increase funding through higher enrollment in STEM. North Harris
could promote the STEM field and more people who are interested will enroll. Some of the
funds are distributed through enrollment rates which means higher enrollment results in
greater funds. This would help the campus be able to offer more STEM courses to students
and expand STEM programs. Another way to raise funds is to add a fee to STEM courses that
require more funds due to labs or expensive materials for that course. The fee may seem like a
disadvantage to students but it helps provide the necessary tools for them to learn and have a
better experience in class. STEM equipment can be very expensive and offering courses that
require costly materials leads to a shortage in courses. By increasing the funds to LSC- North
Harris the probability they will be able to offer more STEM courses increases. The research I
conducted did not collect data on the distribution of funds across LSC-North Harris.
However, it could be a possibility the unavailability of courses could also be due to a poor
distribution of funds. If increasing funds is not viable then the budget must be analyzed to see
if there can be adjustments to be able to provide sufficient funds to offer STEM courses.
 14

REFERENCES

1. Associate of Science in Engineering Science—Electrical / Computer Engineering—Field

of Study Curriculum | Houston Community College—HCC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9,

2021, from

https://www.hccs.edu/finder/programs/associate-of-science-in-engineering-science---ele

ctrical--computer-engineering---field-of-study-curriculum/

2. Associate of Science in Engineering Science—Mechanical Engineering—Field of Study

Curriculum | Houston Community College—HCC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2021, from

https://www.hccs.edu/finder/programs/associate-of-science-in-engineering-science---me

chanical-engineering---field-of-study-curriculum/

3. Associates of Science Field of Study: Mechanical Engineering. (n.d.). Lone Star College.

Retrieved April 9, 2021, from

//www.lonestar.edu/programs-of-study/Mechanical-Engineering-AS.htm

4. Corbett, E. P. J. (1977). The little rhetoric (1st ed). Wiley.

5. Corcoran, T. B. (n.d.). FACTORS AFFECTING ENROLLMENT IN

ENGINEERING-RELATED TECHNICAL PROGRAMS IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES.

200.

6. Engineering.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2021, from

https://www.uh.edu/undergraduate-admissions/apply/transfer/transfer-equivalency-guid

es/engineering.pdf

7. Lowry, K., & Thomas-Anderson, T. (2017). How Community Colleges Are Closing the

Skills Gap through CTE and STEM Funding Innovations. New Directions for

Community Colleges, 178, 45–54.

 15

8. Program: Civil Engineering, B.S.C.E. - University of Houston—Acalog ACMSTM. (n.d.).

Retrieved April 9, 2021, from

http://publications.uh.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=36&poid=12907&returnto=12

978

9. Program: Computer Science, B.S. - University of Houston—Acalog ACMSTM. (n.d.).

Retrieved April 9, 2021, from

http://publications.uh.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=36&poid=13015&returnto=12

965

10. Program: Mechanical Engineering, B.S.M.E. - University of Houston—Acalog ACMSTM.

(n.d.). Retrieved April 9, 2021, from

http://publications.uh.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=36&poid=12912&returnto=12

978

11. Rincon, B. E., & George-Jackson, C. E. (2016). STEM Intervention Programs: Funding

Practices and Challenges. Studies in Higher Education, 41(3), 429–444.

12. Van Noy, M., & Zeidenberg, M. (2017). Community College Pathways to the STEM

Workforce: What Are They, Who Follows Them, and How? New Directions for

Community Colleges, 178, 9–21.

13. Walz, K. A., & Christian, J. R. (2017). Capstone Engineering Design Projects For

Community Colleges. American Journal of Engineering Education (AJEE), 8(1), 1–12.

https://doi.org/10.19030/ajee.v8i1.9958
 16

APPENDIX

Survey Questionnaire
2021 Spring Survey: A Recommendation Report on Community College STEM Preparation
for Baccalaureate Degrees By Meagan Dillah and Jose Duran

What general STEM field do you aspire to be a part of?

❏ Science (eg. Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Pre-med etc.)
❏ Technology (eg. Computer Science, Software Developer etc.)
❏ Engineering (eg. Mechanical, Electrical, Chemical, Environmental etc.)
❏ Mathematics (eg. Applied Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Statistics)
Do you plan on transferring to a 4-year university?
❏ Yes, I plan on transferring to a 4-year university.
❏ No, I do not plan on transferring to a 4-year university.
❏ I am undecided.
If you answered yes to the previous question, which institution do you hope to transfer to?
❏ (Short response)
Did you complete a module on transfer in your EDUC 1300 course?
❏ Yes, I completed a module on transfer in my EDUC 1300 course.
❏ No, I did not complete a module on transfer in my EDUC 1300 course.
❏ Unsure / I do not remember.
Do you have a transfer plan and are you on track to meet your transfer curriculum
requirements?
❏ Yes, I have a transfer plan and I am on track.
❏ Yes, I have a transfer plan but I am not on track.
❏ No, I do not have a transfer plan.

If you answered yes to the previous question, after reviewing your transfer plan, did you
contemplate opting out of STEM because the transfer curriculum requirements were
overwhelming?
❏ Yes, the STEM transfer curriculum was overwhelming for me.
❏ No, the STEM transfer curriculum was not overwhelming for me.

Have you visited with an academic advisor and/or transfer advisor during Spring 2021
semester?
❏ Yes, I have visited with an academic advisor this semester.
❏ Yes, I have visited with a transfer advisor this semester.
❏ Yes, I have visited both with an academic and transfer advisor this semester.
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❏ No, I have not visited with neither and academic or transfer advisor this semester.
As a STEM student were you advised to prioritize major specific courses or a mix of core and
major course to meet your transfer curriculum requirements?
❏ Yes, I was advised to prioritize major specific courses.
❏ Yes, I was advised to prioritize a mix of core and major courses.
❏ Yes, I was made aware of both options.
❏ No, I was not advised to prioritize either option.
❏ I am unsure.

Have there been any STEM courses required by your transfer curriculum that was not available
at Lone Star College - North Harris?
❏ Yes
❏ No
❏ Unsure

Without being part of a cohort (signing up specifically for a technical program), would you
benefit from having access to technical courses (eg. welding, HVAC) related to your STEM
major?
❏ Yes
❏ No
❏ Unsure

In your opinion, what services can be improved at Lone Star College - North Harris to assist
STEM majors in efficiently completing their transfer curriculum requirements?
❏ (Long Answer)