Program elements’ impact on chemistry doctoral students’ professional development: a longitudinal study

Author:

Busby Brittany D.123ORCID,Harshman Jordan123ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

2. Auburn University

3. USA

Abstract

The goal of graduate education has consistently been to produce independent scientists who can advance the knowledge of their fields, which has led to a series of staple elements in graduate components (i.e. research, courses, seminars, etc.) However, criticisms of graduate education in chemistry have been raised, stating that the current structure no longer matches the needs of our changing world, that it fails to prepare students for present and future careers in academia, industry, and government work. Suggestions have been made for improvement, but there is a lack of research investigating how graduate students actually grow professionally given the current common programmatic elements. To that end, a longitudinal, qualitative case study was conducted. Four chemistry graduate students were interviewed about their professional growth every 6 months during their first two years of graduate school based on their personal experiences to determine the impact of programmatic elements on graduate students’ professional development. Socialization theory and cognitive apprenticeship theory provided the lens for the development of the semi-structured interviews. Through the use of iterative thematic coding, evidence of five main themes was found: Career preparation, environment, perceived value, scepticism or faith in the system, and support. These themes bring into question the extent to which chemistry programs (of similar characteristics to those studied) are meeting their ethical responsibility of preparing students for the changing dynamics of careers that chemists assume. It was found that, in certain circumstances, the current chemistry graduate education structure falls short of those goals.

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Subject

Education,Chemistry (miscellaneous)

Cited by 11 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3