The Relationship of Active Learning Based Courses and Student Motivation for Pursuing STEM Classes

Decline of the students' registration in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematic (STEM) is one of the main challenges of today's academia.STEM classes are becoming less appealing and lose their attraction.This has resulted in decline in number of students who register for STEM classes every year.Several researches have stated that the introductory college classes in STEM are more theoretical oriented and freshman students have limited opportunities to gain hands on experiences with joy of the learning thought doing.In another word, freshman students get demotivated through the tedious teaching styles of faculty talking and students listening.A lot of studies have attempted to measure the success of projectbased and active learning methodology that are proposed to motivate students in the classroom environment.However, a few studies have examined the impact of such methodologies on students' tendency toward STEM classes.Although Active learning studies have shown the overall satisfaction of students in project-based classes, there is not enough evidence to show any attitude changes toward STEM course.The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) examines human's intention toward adaptation of a particular behavior based on his/her perception of usefulness and ease of use.According to the TAM, human's behavior has a direct relationship with his/her motivation and intention can be modeled by human's attitude.Also, human attitude can be modeled by some human belief such as perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use.This study is attempting to examine the relationship between active learning methodology that has been introduced in one of the freshman classes for a span of two semesters and students tendency to register in STEM courses.In order to test this relationship this study utilizes TAM as a core model to assess the effect of active learning based classes on students' intention and attitude toward STEM course.Moreover, this study has examined the effects of external factors such as social influences, and internal factors such as anxiety and self-efficacy toward STEM courses.