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1.
Actively engaging students in lecture has been shown to increase learning gains. To create time for active learning without displacing content we used two strategies for introducing material before class in a large introductory biology course. Four to five slides from 2007/8 were removed from each of three lectures in 2009 and the information introduced in preclass worksheets or narrated PowerPoint videos. In class, time created by shifting lecture material to learn before lecture (LBL) assignments was used to engage students in application of their new knowledge. Learning was evaluated by comparing student performance in 2009 versus 2007/8 on LBL-related question pairs, matched by level and format. The percentage of students who correctly answered five of six LBL-related exam questions was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in 2009 versus 2007/8. The mean increase in performance was 21% across the six LBL-related questions compared with <3% on all non-LBL exam questions. The worksheet and video LBL formats were equally effective based on a cross-over experimental design. These results demonstrate that LBLs combined with interactive exercises can be implemented incrementally and result in significant increases in learning gains in large introductory biology classes.  相似文献   

2.
Students often complain about their perceived disconnect between the time and effort spent studying and their subsequent performance on exams. Robert Bjork''s research asserts that retrieval of stored information acts as a memory modifier, and that using tests as learning events creates “desirable difficulties that enhance learning.” To determine the effect of utilizing testing as a learning event in the introductory (majors) biology classroom, we used an online homework platform to give required quizzes throughout the course. Analysis of exam grades earned by those taking 100% of pre-exam quizzes indicates that not only does this group have a significantly higher exam average than the group of students who took 0% of the pre-exam quizzes, but they also have a significantly higher exam average than the class average. Through detailed, statistical analysis, the benefit of quizzing is demonstrated to be significant for students of diverse academic abilities. Pre-exam quizzing using an online homework platform is an effective way to increase student performance on exams and allows class time to be utilized for teaching activities.  相似文献   

3.
This study offers an innovative and sustainable instructional model for an introductory undergraduate course. The model was gradually implemented during 3 yr in a research university in a large-lecture biology course that enrolled biology majors and nonmajors. It gives priority to sources not used enough to enhance active learning in higher education: technology and the students themselves. Most of the lectures were replaced with continuous individual learning and 1-mo group learning of one topic, both supported by an interactive online tutorial. Assessment included open-ended complex questions requiring higher-order thinking skills that were added to the traditional multiple-choice (MC) exam. Analysis of students’ outcomes indicates no significant difference among the three intervention versions in the MC questions of the exam, while students who took part in active-learning groups at the advanced version of the model had significantly higher scores in the more demanding open-ended questions compared with their counterparts. We believe that social-constructivist learning of one topic during 1 mo has significantly contributed to student deep learning across topics. It developed a biological discourse, which is more typical to advanced stages of learning biology, and changed the image of instructors from “knowledge transmitters” to “role model scientists.”  相似文献   

4.
In this paper, we study the relationship between the use of “crib sheets” or “cheat sheets” and performance on in-class exams. Our extensive survey of the existing literature shows that it is not decisive on the questions of when or whether crib sheets actually help students to either perform better on an exam or better learn the material. We report on our own detailed analysis for a body of crib sheets created for the final exam in a junior-level Data Structures and Algorithms course. We wanted to determine whether there is any feature of the crib sheets that correlates to good exam scores. Exam performance was compared against a number of potential indicators for quality in a crib sheet. We have found that students performed significantly better on questions at the comprehension level of Bloom’s taxonomy when their crib sheet contained good information on the topic, while performance on questions at higher levels of the taxonomy did not show correlation to crib sheet contents. We have also seen that students at certain levels of performance on the final exam (specifically, medium-to-high performance) did relatively better on certain questions than other students at that performance level when they had good coverage of that question’s topic on their crib sheet.  相似文献   

5.
We implemented a "how to study" workshop for small groups of students (6-12) for N = 93 consenting students, randomly assigned from a large introductory biology class. The goal of this workshop was to teach students self-regulating techniques with visualization-based exercises as a foundation for learning and critical thinking in two areas: information processing and self-testing. During the workshop, students worked individually or in groups and received immediate feedback on their progress. Here, we describe two individual workshop exercises, report their immediate results, describe students' reactions (based on the workshop instructors' experience and student feedback), and report student performance on workshop-related questions on the final exam. Students rated the workshop activities highly and performed significantly better on workshop-related final exam questions than the control groups. This was the case for both lower- and higher-order thinking questions. Student achievement (i.e., grade point average) was significantly correlated with overall final exam performance but not with workshop outcomes. This long-term (10 wk) retention of a self-testing effect across question levels and student achievement is a promising endorsement for future large-scale implementation and further evaluation of this "how to study" workshop as a study support for introductory biology (and other science) students.  相似文献   

6.
Learning science requires higher-level (critical) thinking skills that need to be practiced in science classes. This study tested the effect of exam format on critical-thinking skills. Multiple-choice (MC) testing is common in introductory science courses, and students in these classes tend to associate memorization with MC questions and may not see the need to modify their study strategies for critical thinking, because the MC exam format has not changed. To test the effect of exam format, I used two sections of an introductory biology class. One section was assessed with exams in the traditional MC format, the other section was assessed with both MC and constructed-response (CR) questions. The mixed exam format was correlated with significantly more cognitively active study behaviors and a significantly better performance on the cumulative final exam (after accounting for grade point average and gender). There was also less gender-bias in the CR answers. This suggests that the MC-only exam format indeed hinders critical thinking in introductory science classes. Introducing CR questions encouraged students to learn more and to be better critical thinkers and reduced gender bias. However, student resistance increased as students adjusted their perceptions of their own critical-thinking abilities.  相似文献   

7.
The use of personal response devices (or “clickers”) in the classroom has increased in recent years. While few quantitative studies on the effectiveness of clickers have been published, it is generally reported that clickers have been well-received by the students who use them. Two separate populations (Winter 2006 and Spring 2006) of engineering students were given clickers to use during a general chemistry class. Clicker use was compared to student grades for each course. During both terms, a higher percentage of female students than male students “actively participated” in the lectures, where active participation was defined as answering more than 75% of the clicker questions over the course of the term. Active male students earned final grades about 10 points higher than non-active male students. Active female students, however, scored only about 5 points higher than non-active female students. Student learning was assessed by comparing performance on exam questions and clicker questions with similar content. Students who answered clicker questions correctly were 11–13% more likely to answer the corresponding exam questions correctly than were students who did not answer the clicker question. In this paper, we demonstrate the effectiveness of clicker use in the classroom and examine gender differences associated with this use.  相似文献   

8.
We studied gains in student learning over eight semesters in which an introductory biology course curriculum was changed to include optional verbal final exams (VFs). Students could opt to demonstrate their mastery of course material via structured oral exams with the professor. In a quantitative assessment of cell biology content knowledge, students who passed the VF outscored their peers on the medical assessment test (MAT), an exam built with 40 Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) questions (66.4% [n = 160] and 62% [n = 285], respectively; p < 0.001);. The higher-achieving students performed better on MCAT questions in all topic categories tested; the greatest gain occurred on the topic of cellular respiration. Because the VF focused on a conceptually parallel topic, photosynthesis, there may have been authentic knowledge transfer. In longitudinal tracking studies, passing the VF also correlated with higher performance in a range of upper-level science courses, with greatest significance in physiology, biochemistry, and organic chemistry. Participation had a wide range but not equal representation in academic standing, gender, and ethnicity. Yet students nearly unanimously (92%) valued the option. Our findings suggest oral exams at the introductory level may allow instructors to assess and aid students striving to achieve higher-level learning.  相似文献   

9.
In order to test the effect of exam-question level on fostering student conceptual understanding, low-level and high-level quizzes and exams were administered in two sections of an introductory biology course. Each section was taught in a high-level inquiry based style but was assigned either low-level questions (memory oriented) on the quizzes and exams, or high-level questions (application, evaluation, and analysis) on the quizzes and exams for the entirety of the semester. A final exam consisting of 20 low-level and 21 high-level questions was given to both sections. We considered several theoretical perspectives based on testing effect, test expectancy, and transfer-appropriate processing literature as well as the theoretical underpinnings of Bloom’s taxonomy. Reasoning from these theoretical perspectives, we predicted that high-level exams would encourage not only deeper processing of the information by students in preparation for the exam but also better memory for the core information (learned in the service of preparing for high-level questions). Results confirmed this prediction, with students in the high-level exam condition demonstrating higher performance on both the low-level final-exam items and the high-level final exam items. This pattern suggests that students who are tested throughout the semester with high-level questions acquire deep conceptual understanding of the material and better memory for the course information, and lends support to the proposed hierarchical nature of Bloom’s taxonomy.  相似文献   

10.
With the advent of online test banks and large introductory classes, instructors have often turned to textbook publisher‐generated multiple‐choice question (MCQ) exams in their courses. Multiple‐choice questions are often divided into categories of factual or applied, thereby implicating levels of cognitive processing. This investigation examined the influence student study approaches have on performance of shallow compared to deep, cognitive process outcomes measured by scores on factual versus application MCQ test bank questions respectively. Fifty‐six introduction to psychology students, aged 18–52 years, completed a modified version of the Revised Two‐Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R‐SPQ‐2F) to access deep or surface study approaches. Mid‐term and final exam MCQ were equally divided between factual and application questions from the textbook publisher test bank. Overall, students performed significantly better on factual MCQ, with older students achieving higher factual and applied scores. Results suggest younger students tend to use a surface approach to study, with reproduction of what was taught to meet minimum requirements. With age statistically controlled, analyses demonstrated that the surface learning approach negatively impacts MCQ performance on questions categorised as factual and applied more than a deep learning approach benefits MCQ performance.  相似文献   

11.
Collaborative testing has been shown to improve performance but not always content retention. In this study, we investigated whether collaborative testing could improve both performance and content retention in a large, introductory biology course. Students were semirandomly divided into two groups based on their performances on exam 1. Each group contained equal numbers of students scoring in each grade category (“A”–“F”) on exam 1. All students completed each of the four exams of the semester as individuals. For exam 2, one group took the exam a second time in small groups immediately following the individually administered test. The other group followed this same format for exam 3. Individual and group exam scores were compared to determine differences in performance. All but exam 1 contained a subset of cumulative questions from the previous exam. Performances on the cumulative questions for exams 3 and 4 were compared for the two groups to determine whether there were significant differences in content retention. Even though group test scores were significantly higher than individual test scores, students who participated in collaborative testing performed no differently on cumulative questions than students who took the previous exam as individuals.  相似文献   

12.
Students in a first-semester general chemistry course at a large southwestern university completed a 3-week homework assignment using MindTap, a Cengage Learning product. MindTap is the first major electronic system that has homework questions embedded in the text, such that students read a short section of the textbook and then answer a question set. Prior to MindTap, electronic homework systems were stand-alone or contained questions with links to the textbook. Next, students completed two 2-week homework assignments in Online Web Learning (OWL) version 1 also from Cengage Learning. The OWL system shows homework questions with a link to the textbook in a separate window. Both the MindTap and OWL systems contain the same or similar questions. After the students used both homework systems, a survey was given that included Likert-scaled and open-response questions that dealt with students’ perceived level of understanding using the different systems, how easy the systems were to use, and the advantages/disadvantages of each system. A delayed survey was given at the end of the second semester of general chemistry, during which students had used OWL for the complete semester. This paper investigates the effects of the arrangement (embedded vs. linked) on student preferences and perceived learning in this pilot study with a 300-person class. Based on the results of the study, it was found that students perceived that they learn more with MindTap and prefer the embedded text in MindTap over the linked text in OWL.  相似文献   

13.
This exploratory study was conducted in an introductory biology course to determine 1) how students used the large lecture environment to create their own learning tasks during studying and 2) whether meaningful learning resulted from the students' efforts. Academic task research from the K–12 education literature and student approaches to learning research from the postsecondary education literature provided the theoretical framework for the mixed methods study. The subject topic was cell division. Findings showed that students 1) valued lectures to develop what they believed to be their own understanding of the topic; 2) deliberately created and engaged in learning tasks for themselves only in preparation for the unit exam; 3) used course resources, cognitive operations, and study strategies that were compatible with surface and strategic, rather than deep, approaches to learning; 4) successfully demonstrated competence in answering familiar test questions aligned with their surface and strategic approaches to studying and learning; and 5) demonstrated limited meaningful understanding of the significance of cell division processes. Implications for introductory biology education are discussed.  相似文献   

14.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the distributed presentation of different versions of a question would produce better performance on a new version of the question than distributed presentation of the same version of the question. A total of 48 four question sets of five alternative multiple‐choice questions were presented during a college lecture course. The answers to all the four questions in each set required an inference from the same fact statement. One question in each set appeared on both a block exam and the final. Each of the other three questions was presented either on an online quiz before class, during class or on an online quiz a week after class. Answering different versions of a question before class, during class and after class resulted in better performance on a fourth version of the question on the exam and final than answering the same question before class, during class and after class. On the final exam, 44 questions were answered twice, first under a time constraint of 90 seconds and then when response time was unlimited. The two responses were virtually identical.  相似文献   

15.
Peer-facilitated workshops enhanced interactivity in our introductory biology course, which led to increased student engagement and learning. A majority of students preferred attending two lectures and a workshop each week over attending three weekly lectures. In the workshops, students worked in small cooperative groups as they solved challenging problems, evaluated case studies, and participated in activities designed to improve their general learning skills. Students in the workshop version of the course scored higher on exam questions recycled from preworkshop semesters. Grades were higher over three workshop semesters in comparison with the seven preworkshop semesters. Although males and females benefited from workshops, there was a larger improvement of grades and increased retention by female students; although underrepresented minority (URM) and non-URM students benefited from workshops, there was a larger improvement of grades by URM students. As well as improving student performance and retention, the addition of interactive workshops also improved the quality of student learning: Student scores on exam questions that required higher-level thinking increased from preworkshop to workshop semesters.  相似文献   

16.
Are students able to learn from exam experience about their level of knowledge for tested topics? Prior to taking an exam, undergraduates made predictive category learning judgments (CLJs) by estimating the percentage of questions they expected to answer correctly for six topics. After the exam, they made postdictive CLJs for the same topics. Supporting the postdiction superiority hypothesis, postdictive CLJs were slightly more accurate than predictive CLJs, indicating students could make better formative evaluations after taking an exam. However, postdiction accuracy was low, and in a second study, accuracy did not differ for predictive and postdictive CLJs. We also investigated two processes required to make accurate postdictive CLJs: monitoring performance for individual questions and accurately classifying each question with respect to the topic that it assessed. Although students performed these tasks adequately, their less-than-perfect performance would constrain their ability to accurately judge their topical knowledge from exam experience.  相似文献   

17.
This case study explores students’ perceptions of seen examination questions about topics not covered by the formal curriculum of a final‐year economics module and of the associated group support sessions. Eight semi‐structured interviews with a total of 13 students were analysed. Contrary to expectations, learners taking a strategic approach to the module were not attracted by the seen questions. The uncertainty of an unfamiliar assessment format and the prospect of undertaking independent research and group work were perceived as involving more risks than the familiar unseen examination. Take‐up for the seen examination questions was low, and the students who did not answer a seen question tended to make workload considerations as well as concerns about group work for assessment purposes responsible for their decision. Despite not participating in the group support sessions, a few students researched the seen question in conjunction with trusted fellow students or on their own. The students who answered a seen question enjoyed the autonomy which the seen exam questions provided, while other students were critical of the way in which their autonomy might be externally controlled. The study provides insight into the impact of assessment on risk taking and students’ perception of risk associated with this type of assessment.  相似文献   

18.
Recursion is both an important and a difficult topic for introductory Computer Science students. Students often develop misconceptions about the topic that need to be diagnosed and corrected. In this paper, we report on our initial attempts to develop a concept inventory that measures student misconceptions on basic recursion topics. We present a collection of misconceptions and difficulties encountered by students when learning introductory recursion as presented in a typical CS2 course. Based on this collection, a draft concept inventory in the form of a series of questions was developed and evaluated, with the question rubric tagged to the list of misconceptions and difficulties.  相似文献   

19.
An analysis of 295 male and 194 female examinations from introductory atmospheric and oceanic science courses is conducted to determine whether or not there exists gender differences in the performance on multiple choice versus constructed response sections of the exams. The difference in the mean performance of males and females on constructed response relative to multiple choice sections of final exams, even in years where the females performed better than or worse than the males on both sections, is on average 5% that is significant at the 0.1% level. Gender differences on time-limited midterm exams are not significant. It is further shown that final exam performance is not significantly related to whether or not the exam starts with a multiple choice versus constructed response set of questions. While our analysis is unable to differentiate between the possibilities that multiple choice questions favor male students and the competing hypothesis that constructed response questions favor female students, existing literature is reviewed to suggest that a combination of both is possible. Nevertheless, from the analysis of our examination results, we can conclude that an exam of introductory atmospheric or oceanic science curricula, which is made up of 60% multiple choice questions and 40% constructed response questions, would not be skewed to favor any particular gender.  相似文献   

20.
面对面教学和在线学习优势相结合的混合式教学已成为当前高校的重要教学模式之一,如何提高混合式教学质量成为教育者关注的重要研究课题。在教学实践中,采用混合式教学模式,学生课前利用云学习平台开展线上学习,课上通过参加若干个教学活动实现知识内化,课后通过作业等教学活动实现知识巩固。对云学习平台的学习数据和学生期末考试成绩进行数据分析,结果表明混合式教学活动参与质量与课程教学质量直接相关,混合式教学提升了课程教学效果。  相似文献   

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