scholarly journals A Study Assessing the Potential of Negative Effects in Interdisciplinary Math–Biology Instruction

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Madlung ◽  
Martina Bremer ◽  
Edward Himelblau ◽  
Alexa Tullis
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Data Interpretation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Integrative Learning ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Biological Concepts

There is increasing enthusiasm for teaching approaches that combine mathematics and biology. The call for integrating more quantitative work in biology education has led to new teaching tools that improve quantitative skills. Little is known, however, about whether increasing interdisciplinary work can lead to adverse effects, such as the development of broader but shallower skills or the possibility that math anxiety causes some students to disengage in the classroom, or, paradoxically, to focus so much on the mathematics that they lose sight of its application for the biological concepts in the center of the unit at hand. We have developed and assessed an integrative learning module and found disciplinary learning gains to be equally strong in first-year students who actively engaged in embedded quantitative calculations as in those students who were merely presented with quantitative data in the context of interpreting biological and biostatistical results. When presented to advanced biology students, our quantitative learning tool increased test performance significantly. We conclude from our study that the addition of mathematical calculations to the first year and advanced biology curricula did not hinder overall student learning, and may increase disciplinary learning and data interpretation skills in advanced students.

scholarly journals First-year students’ math anxiety predicts STEM avoidance and underperformance throughout university, independently of math ability

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Daker ◽  
Sylvia U. Gattas ◽  
H. Moriah Sokolowski ◽  
Adam E. Green ◽  
Ian M. Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Math Anxiety ◽  
First Year ◽  
Math Skills ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Math Ability ◽  
Current Thinking ◽  
Attitudes Toward Math ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Stem Outcomes

AbstractMath anxiety is widely considered a potential barrier to success in STEM. Current thinking holds that math anxiety is directly linked to avoidance of and underperformance in STEM domains. However, past evidence supporting these claims is limited in important ways. Perhaps most crucially, it is possible that math anxiety predicts STEM outcomes merely as a proxy for poor math skills. Here, we tested the link between math anxiety and subsequent STEM outcomes by measuring math anxiety, math ability, and several covariates in 183 first-semester university students. We then tracked students’ STEM avoidance and achievement through four years at university via official academic transcripts. Results showed that math anxiety predicted both a reduction in how many STEM courses students took and, separately (i.e., controlling for one another), lower STEM grades. Crucially, these associations held after controlling for math ability (and other covariates). That math anxiety predicts math-related academic achievement independently of Math Ability suggests that, contrary to current thinking, math anxiety’s effects on academic performance likely operate via mechanisms other than negatively affecting math ability. Beyond this, we show evidence that math anxiety can account for associations between math ability and STEM outcomes, suggesting that past links between math ability and real-world outcomes may, in fact, be at least partially explainable by attitudes toward math. These findings provide clear impetus for developing and testing interventions that target math anxiety specifically and suggest that focusing on math ability without additional attention to math anxiety may fail to optimally boost STEM outcomes.

scholarly journals Do High-Achieving Students Benefit From Honors College Participation? A Look at Student Engagement for First-Year Students and Seniors

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angie L. Miller ◽  
Amber D. Dumford
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
General Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Integrative Learning ◽  
Education Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
General Education Students ◽  
Honors College ◽  
Faculty Interaction ◽  
College Participation

This study investigates findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), comparing various aspects of student engagement between honors college and general education students. Responses from 1,339 honors college students and 7,191 general education students across 15 different universities suggest a positive impact for honors college participation on reflective and integrative learning, use of learning strategies, collaborative learning, diverse discussions, student–faculty interaction, and quality of interactions for first-year students, even when controlling for student and institutional characteristics. For senior students, honors college participation was related to more frequent student–faculty interaction. Potential experiential and curricular reasons for these differences are discussed, along with implications for educators, researchers, parents, and students.

scholarly journals Classroom-Based Science Research at the Introductory Level: Changes in Career Choices and Attitude

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Harrison ◽  
David Dunbar ◽  
Lisa Ratmansky ◽  
Kimberly Boyd ◽  
David Lopatto
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Education ◽  
Career Choices ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Phage Genomics ◽  
The Impact

Our study, focused on classroom-based research at the introductory level and using the Phage Genomics course as the model, shows evidence that first-year students doing research learn the process of science as well as how scientists practice science. A preliminary but notable outcome of our work, which is based on a small sample, is the change in student interest in considering different career choices such as graduate education and science in general. This is particularly notable, as previous research has described research internships as clarifying or confirming rather than changing undergraduates’ decisions to pursue graduate education. We hypothesize that our results differ from previous studies of the impact of engaging in research because the students in our study are still in the early stages of their undergraduate careers. Our work builds upon the classroom-based research movement and should be viewed as encouraging to the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education movement advocated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Science Foundation, and other undergraduate education stakeholders.

scholarly journals Undergraduate Biology Students’ Teleological and Essentialist Misconceptions

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Stern ◽  
Kostas Kampourakis ◽  
Catherine Huneault ◽  
Patricia Silveira ◽  
Andreas Müller
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Psychological Essentialism ◽  
Biological Phenomena

Research in developmental psychology has shown that deeply-rooted, intuitive ways of thinking, such as design teleology and psychological essentialism, impact children’s scientific explanations about natural phenomena. Similarly, biology education researchers have found that students often hold inaccurate conceptions about natural phenomena, which often relate to these intuitions. In order to further investigate the relation between students’ conceptions and intuitions, we conducted a study with 93 first year undergraduate students in biology. They were asked to express their level of agreement or disagreement with six misconception statements and to explain their choices in a two-tier test. Results showed a tendency for students to agree with teleological and essentialist misconceptions. However, no association was found between students’ teleological and essentialist conceptions as expressed in their agreement or disagreement with the various misconception statements. Moreover, we found evidence of a variable consistency across students’ answers depending on the misconception considered, which indicates that item features and contexts may have an effect on students’ answers. All together, these findings provide evidence for considerable persistence of teleological and essentialist misconceptions among students. We suggest future directions for thinking, studying, and analyzing students’ conceptions about biological phenomena.

A Study of Math Anxiety/Math Avoidance in Preservice Elementary Teachers

1985 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 51-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
William P. Kelly ◽  
William K. Tomhave
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Teachers ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Female Students ◽  
Preservice Elementary Teachers ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Of Minnesota ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
School Year ◽  
Mathematics Preparation ◽  
The University

In her 1972 study, Lucy Sells (1978) indicated that 92 percent of the female first-year students in the University of California had such inadequate mathematics preparation that they had effectively closed the door on 70 percent of the career choice available to them. Sell's conclusions and subsequent research on math avoidance were the bases for the resarch we conducted during the 1980-1981 school year at the University of Minnesota, Morris a liberal art college with an enrollment of 1700. This study was directed at documenting math avoidance among female students on the campus.

Helping Students SOAR: Quizfolio Tips to Engage First-Generation, Under-Represented Minority Undergraduates in Scientific Inquiry

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Kao
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Affective Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Student Centered ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Reflection In Action ◽  
Biological Concepts

Engaging and gauging (engauging) first-generation, under-represented minority undergraduate general biology students through processes of inquiry, critical thinking, and affective learning is vital as they develop their scientific identity. An important challenge is how we can establish communities of practice and instill in our first-generation students self-awareness and reflection as they apply, analyze, and evaluate data on biological principles. In my article, I describe an innovative weekly assignment for my first generation Hispanic and Native Indigenous students called Quizfolio: quiz and mini-portfolios on biological principles and themes outlined in Vision and Change. Within a SOAR framework that will be introduced in my article, quizfolios provide an active learning space for students to integrate inclusive student-centered, in-class discussions and longitudinal lab inquiries in a first-year undergraduate biology course through metacognition and reflection-in-action. This transformative, culturally responsive mentoring approach encourages first-generation undergraduates to bring self-awareness to unclear or confusing topics that are clarified at the start of class or lab settings, and provides future framework for long-term retention of biological concepts.

scholarly journals The role of ESP courses in general English proficiency

Linguistica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Vesna Cigan ◽  
Ljubica Kordić
Keyword(s):  
Test Performance ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Substantial Improvement ◽  
Placement Test ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
School Year ◽  
Lexical Competence ◽  
Research Period

The purpose of the present paper is the study of the interaction between learning English for Specific Purposes (ESP), in particular, English for the Financial Sector, and general English proficiency. The research examines the effects of an ESP course being taught for a year on the students' general English proficiency.Two sets of tests were prepared for that purpose and administered to 30 first-year students of finance and law. The students took the placement test twice, at the beginning and at the end of the school year. To monitor test performance over a research period, a parallel form measuring the same competences was administered at the beginning of the second semester. In the test development process a special consideration has been paid to the level of difficulty and its relation to the students' prior educational context. Drawing on the National State Matura exams the test is set at Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) Level B2. As regards its content the test is comprised of reading comprehension tasks (multiple matching, multiple-choice cloze, gapped text) and grammar tasks aiming to examine lexical and grammatical competence.There were two major assumptions in this study: 1) Learning ESP can improve students' general English proficiency, and 2) There is a more substantial improvement in lexical competence as compared to the improvement in grammatical competence.There is strong evidence in support of the first hypothesis, whereas for the second one the results were ambiguous. After major findings are presented and discussed, implications for ESP teaching are given in closing.

scholarly journals Should I study or should I sleep?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio Estevan ◽  
Romina Sardi ◽  
Ana C. Tejera ◽  
Ana Silva ◽  
Bettina Tassino
Keyword(s):  
Sleep Duration ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Start Time ◽  
Previous Night ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
The Impact

Sleep is crucial for college students’ well-being. Although recommended sleep duration is between 7-9 hours per day, many students do not sleep that much. Scholar demands are among the causes of observed sleep deprivation in youth. We explored the influence of having a school test on previous night sleep in first-year students and the association of sleep duration and test performance. We ran two surveys in freshman students of the Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay: 1) 97 students of the School of Sciences who took the test at the same time; and 2) 252 School of Psychology students who took the test in four successive shifts. More than 1/2 of the participants (survey #1) and almost 1/3 (survey #2) reported short regular sleep duration (< 7h). In both samples, the sleep duration of the night before the test was reduced with respect to regular nights (survey #1: 2.1 ± 0.2 h, p < 0.001; survey #2: between 1.7 ± 0.4 h and 3.6 ± 0.3 h, all p < 0.001), with more than 10% of the students who did not sleep at all. In survey 2, sleep duration increased in later shifts (F (3,248) = 4.6, p = 0.004). Using logarithmic regressions, we confirmed that sleep duration was positively related to test scores in both samples (survey #1: exp B = 1.05, p < 0.001; pseudo-R2 = 0.15; survey #2: exp B = 1.01, p < 0.001; pseudo-R2 = 0.05). Delaying test start time may prevent the reduction in sleep duration, which may also improve school performance. In addition, educational policies should include information for students about the impact of sleep on learning and of the consequences of reduced sleep duration.

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