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Themes
The following themes came up by students during their collective interview.
Theme 5: Social live and perceptions of majors
Interview participants distinguished between those in the sciences who were “interested” in their subjects and those who were not. Those without an interest or a “strong enough interest” (t1-p6) may find the sciences more difficult or they may leave the sciences (in other words, not remain or declare a science major). Participants attributed this departure from the sciences by students without enough interest to the resulting felt “hard”ness of the sciences, or to their desire to have additional time to pursue extracurricular interests. In fact, one participant speculated that “part of the trying to have bio 150 be hard is to push out the people that just want to be premed for the sake of being premed, you know, not for being really interest in it” (t1-p12); another said that her chemistry major friends did not “enjoy the class [Bio 150]” because they did not have “the potential interest” (t2-p20).
For those science majors who are very interested in their subjects, however, one participant suggested that their work “probably comes easier to them”; science majors are “obviously” studying “science because they like it” (t1-p6). Participants generally agreed that there is a perception that science majors have a heavier courseload, but also that “if you were interested in the subject, you don’t think it’s a big courseload” (t1-p6). Moreover, participants speculated that humanities majors have a comparably difficult workload; however, because humanities majors do not need to be in a laboratory (as science majors do to complete their work), they are not considered to have as difficult as a workload.
Time spent together in particular places appears as central to the social life and perceptions of science majors. Participants reported that their groups of friends formed or were maintained because they spent a lot of time together, often circulating within one building, Kendade—the same groups of students walk from classes to labs to the lunch area, all operating within the same or similar time schedules and constraints. These students share “similar goals,” “aspirations,” and “struggles” (t2-p12). One participant referred to the sight of these lines or crowds of science majors moving from place to place as a “daily pilgrimage” (t2-p6). Because science majors “have this dedicated place” and predetermined times to organize much of their daily activities, it “seems like” these students are “always busy” (t1-p6); participants suggested that the naming of buildings after past scientists from the College reminded students of Mount Holyoke’s scientific history (t2-p13). In addition, it is this structured time that participants understood the less interested science majors described above to leave science to pursue otherwise difficult to attend extracurricular activities. As a humanities major, however you may “think on your own time” (t1-p5).
On the subject of distinctions between majors, one participant suggested that in classrooms with a mix of science majors and non-science majors “there’s a very strong feeling” that “‘you’re a science person and you’re not.’” (t2-p6). This hinged on the types of questions students asked in class: science majors tended to focus on the “interpretation” of data presenting in course reading, even when it was not the subject of class discussion. Group 2’s participants suggested that this might stem from the competitive atmosphere sometimes found in science classrooms, where students seek to demonstrate their intelligence by asking unexpected questions or offering a “unique perspective” (t2-p7). Group 2 explained that this competitiveness sometimes led students in laboratory settings to be less social; in some cases only lab partners spoke to each other, and in other cases, lab partners avoided members of their groups (t2, 3). Group 3 suggested that this experience antisociality was not a universal; one participant recounted a laboratory experience in which many lab members worked together (t3-p11-12). Group 3 agreed that the competitiveness in lab settings or for the attention of professors that some students had experienced tended to decrease or disappear in courses beyond the introductory level.
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