16–20 Aug 2021
University of Glasgow (virtual)
Europe/London timezone

Investigating the reasons why students within the University of Kent study Chemistry

Not scheduled
20m
University of Glasgow (virtual)

University of Glasgow (virtual)

Poster only Poster session

Speaker

Shaianne Murray (University of Kent)

Description

The research aims to explore the reasons why undergraduate Chemistry Students (studying Chemistry in 2021) within the School of Physical Sciences (SPS) at the University of Kent, Canterbury Campus (UKC) study Chemistry. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have reported that the number of Chemistry undergraduate applications have decreased in recent years (Turner, 2020). There is an assumption that the marketing of Chemistry does not appropriately target a diverse range of prospective students, as Turner (2020) found that to an ‘uneducated outsider’ Chemistry appears to be a vocational training programme for a ‘job within a lab’ (Turner, 2020). The research focused on why UKC students chose Chemistry, exploring the influencing factors and the ways in which future students could be encouraged to study the course. An online questionnaire was sent out to all UKC students studying Chemistry in March 2021. There was a total of 27 responses with a ratio of 2:1 female to male, respectively. The results showed a need for more exposure of Chemists who do not identify as a White male with heteronormative values as suggested by Carlone and Johnson (2007). Further, participants noted the importance of working with school-aged students to encourage their interests in Chemistry by appropriately representing the subject and not just teaching out of a textbook.

Key words Undergraduate, Underrepresentation, BAME, Chemistry, Gender
Region UK/Ireland

Primary author

Shaianne Murray (University of Kent)

Presentation materials