Although my research
project does not involve any lab work, gloves, or test tubes, it can lead to
some very interesting results. In the beginning of every semester of Cell
Biology, Dr. Schwebach hands out notecards to his students and they are to
write their names, current major, reason for choosing that major, and other
details. After the semester is over, I am to code these notecards, organize the
data in an Excel file, and determine whether or not those students who declared
themselves as a Biology major, are still Biology majors. If they have opted out
of the Biology major, that is where we need to find out why. Those students are
e-mailed, asked to be interviewed, and then asked a set of questions during the
interview, which will ultimately answer our questions of why they have switched
out of the major. During the past week, I have been organizing all of the data
in the notecards of several semesters and trying to pinpoint students who have
switched out. Although this is a tedious process, I strongly believe that we
can greatly improve the Biology department at George Mason University at the
end of our study. 
Friday, November 7, 2014
URSP Student Silva Achmar Researches Student Retention of George Mason's Biology Major
This semester I was given
an opportunity to research a very relevant topic: why students at George Mason
University are opting out of their Biology major. My mentor, Dr. Schwebach, is
a Cellular Biology (BIOL 213) professor at Mason and this course is the first
Biology course that is needed to advance further into the major of Biology. He
was particularly interested in this research question because since his class
is the first class that Biology majors need to take, we wanted to know if this
class is a factor leading up to the decision of students opting out of their
Biology majors. I was particularly interested in this study because I am a
Biology major as well and I witnessed that my fellow peers were switching out
of the Biology major to another area of study. I am passionate about the
subject of Biology so I was wondering if it was the content itself is what was
causing students to switch out of the major.
Although my research
project does not involve any lab work, gloves, or test tubes, it can lead to
some very interesting results. In the beginning of every semester of Cell
Biology, Dr. Schwebach hands out notecards to his students and they are to
write their names, current major, reason for choosing that major, and other
details. After the semester is over, I am to code these notecards, organize the
data in an Excel file, and determine whether or not those students who declared
themselves as a Biology major, are still Biology majors. If they have opted out
of the Biology major, that is where we need to find out why. Those students are
e-mailed, asked to be interviewed, and then asked a set of questions during the
interview, which will ultimately answer our questions of why they have switched
out of the major. During the past week, I have been organizing all of the data
in the notecards of several semesters and trying to pinpoint students who have
switched out. Although this is a tedious process, I strongly believe that we
can greatly improve the Biology department at George Mason University at the
end of our study.
Although my research
project does not involve any lab work, gloves, or test tubes, it can lead to
some very interesting results. In the beginning of every semester of Cell
Biology, Dr. Schwebach hands out notecards to his students and they are to
write their names, current major, reason for choosing that major, and other
details. After the semester is over, I am to code these notecards, organize the
data in an Excel file, and determine whether or not those students who declared
themselves as a Biology major, are still Biology majors. If they have opted out
of the Biology major, that is where we need to find out why. Those students are
e-mailed, asked to be interviewed, and then asked a set of questions during the
interview, which will ultimately answer our questions of why they have switched
out of the major. During the past week, I have been organizing all of the data
in the notecards of several semesters and trying to pinpoint students who have
switched out. Although this is a tedious process, I strongly believe that we
can greatly improve the Biology department at George Mason University at the
end of our study. 
