scholarly journals Implementation of a Flipped Active-Learning Approach in a Community College General Biology Course Improves Student Performance in Subsequent Biology Courses and Increases Graduation Rate

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. ar30
Author(s):  
Ann Riedl ◽  
Fan Yeung ◽  
Tina Burke
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Graduation Rate ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
General Biology ◽  
College Biology ◽  
Biology Class ◽  
Biology Courses

A large-scale study on the efficacy of active learning in a community college biology class showed that students in active-learning sections earned higher exam scores, performed better in subsequent biology courses, and graduated at a higher rate compared with students from traditional sections.

scholarly journals Active Learning Not Associated with Student Learning in a Random Sample of College Biology Courses

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Andrews ◽  
M. J. Leonard ◽  
C. A. Colgrove ◽  
S. T. Kalinowski
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Learning Gains ◽  
College Biology ◽  
Biology Courses ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Nuanced Understanding

Previous research has suggested that adding active learning to traditional college science lectures substantially improves student learning. However, this research predominantly studied courses taught by science education researchers, who are likely to have exceptional teaching expertise. The present study investigated introductory biology courses randomly selected from a list of prominent colleges and universities to include instructors representing a broader population. We examined the relationship between active learning and student learning in the subject area of natural selection. We found no association between student learning gains and the use of active-learning instruction. Although active learning has the potential to substantially improve student learning, this research suggests that active learning, as used by typical college biology instructors, is not associated with greater learning gains. We contend that most instructors lack the rich and nuanced understanding of teaching and learning that science education researchers have developed. Therefore, active learning as designed and implemented by typical college biology instructors may superficially resemble active learning used by education researchers, but lacks the constructivist elements necessary for improving learning.

scholarly journals IMPROVEMENT OF FOUNDATION STUDENT PERFORMANCE IN BIOLOGY THROUGH INTENSIVE STATION BASED LEARNING APPROACH

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (36) ◽  
pp. 168-181
Author(s):  
Siti Nor Ani Azaman ◽  
Ezyana Kamal Bahrin ◽  
Nor Hafizah Ahmad Kamarudin ◽  
Marina Mohd Top @ Mohd Tah ◽  
Nadiatul Hafiza Hassan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
Large Classes ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Improve Student Performance ◽  
Group Members

A growing revolution is underway in teaching introductory science to foundation studies. Recent educational research explains that traditional teaching approaches in large classes often fail to reach many students. To address this problem, we conducted an intensive station rotation-based workshop called “Bio Made Easy” for a group of students who obtained F grade in the first Biology assessment, N = 120. The workshop was designed to improve students’ understanding of selected Biology topics by providing simple examples, analogy, and explanation of the concept using various active and interactive approaches. The goal was to change the students’ perception of biology and deliver the content within a short period of time. The students were divided into small groups and required to complete all stations conducted by different instructors. For each station, students were directed to perform activities that required them to actively participate, interact, and discuss among the group members. A comparison was made between their performance during the first test and the second test of the semester. From F grade in the first test, about 88.3% of the students accomplished higher performance grades in the test 2 assessment. This reflects an encouraging sign that active-learning practice and direct engagement of students in the station rotation-based learning approach improve student performance in biology subjects and serve as one of the strategies to motivate students for better grades.

scholarly journals Promoting active learning out-of-class via online “study questions” leads to higher than expected exam scores in General Biology

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan I Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
General Biology ◽  
Online Study ◽  
Covering Material ◽  
Exam Scores

A rising need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has fueled interest in improving teaching within STEM disciplines. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of active learning approaches on student learning outcomes. However, many of these studies have been conducted in experimental, rather than real-life class, settings. In addition, most of these studies have focused on in-class active learning exercises. This study tested the effects of a form of out-of-class active learning on exam performance for General Biology students at the University of Minnesota. An online database of 1,020 multiple-choice questions covering material from the first half of the course was generated, with feedback provided for 73% of the questions. Students in seven course sections (with an average of approximately 265 students per section) were given unlimited access to the online study questions. These students made extensive use of the online questions, with students answering an average of approximately 1,323 questions (94.5 questions per lecture) covering material from the half of the semester for which the questions were available. The extent to which access to the online study questions improved student learning outcomes was assessed by comparing the performance on exam questions of students in the seven course sections with access to the online study questions with the performance of students in course sections without access to the online study questions. Student performance was analyzed for a total of 89 different exams questions that were not included in the study questions, but that covered the same material covered by the study questions. Each of these 89 questions was used on one to five (average of 2.3) exams administered to students in course sections that had access to the online study questions and on three to 77 (average of 24.8) exams administered to students in sections that lacked access to the online study questions. Data from over 1,800 students in sections with access to the online study questions show that those students scored a statistically significant average of 6.6 percentage points higher on the exam questions analyzed than students in sections without access to the study questions. This difference was greater than the average amount necessary to raise students’ exam grades by one grade (e.g. from a “B-“ to a “B”). In addition, there was a higher correlation between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material related to the study questions than between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material unrelated to the study questions. The online study question system analyzed in this work required substantial effort to set up in the first year, but required minimal effort to maintain in subsequent years and was effective in significantly raising average exam scores for even very large course sections.

Impacts of Active Learning on Student Outcomes in Large-Lecture Biology Courses

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (8) ◽  
pp. 651-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy L. Daniel
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Learning Gains ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Large Lecture ◽  
Biology Courses ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Collaborative Activities

Learning theorists have provided ample evidence supporting the use of active, student-centered, social learning environments. However, little action has been taken within U.S. university curricula to transform lecture courses so that they include such teaching methods. By adding cooperative and collaborative activities into large-lecture, introductory biology courses, I was able to measure the impacts of such active-learning strategies on student attendance and performance. I gathered data from two investigations involving 378 undergraduates from paired sections of biology, one section using active-learning activities and one not. In the first investigation, I used a mixed-methods approach to measure the effects of a cooperative pre-exam group discussion on student performance, confidence, and anxiety. In the second investigation, I used a quantitative approach to measure the effects on course attendance and performance of using scenario-based collaborative activities regularly throughout a semester. Students who engaged in cooperative pre-exam discussion did not show significant individual learning gains but did show an increase in confidence and a decrease in anxiety. Students who engaged in scenario-based collaborative activities showed significantly higher learning gains and course attendance. The identified gains are promising for course reform.

scholarly journals Promoting active learning out-of-class via online “study questions” leads to higher than expected exam scores in General Biology

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan I Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
General Biology ◽  
Online Study ◽  
Covering Material ◽  
Exam Scores

A rising need for workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has fueled interest in improving teaching within STEM disciplines. Numerous studies have demonstrated the benefits of active learning approaches on student learning outcomes. However, many of these studies have been conducted in experimental, rather than real-life class, settings. In addition, most of these studies have focused on in-class active learning exercises. This study tested the effects of a form of out-of-class active learning on exam performance for General Biology students at the University of Minnesota. An online database of 1,020 multiple-choice questions covering material from the first half of the course was generated, with feedback provided for 73% of the questions. Students in seven course sections (with an average of approximately 265 students per section) were given unlimited access to the online study questions. These students made extensive use of the online questions, with students answering an average of approximately 1,323 questions (94.5 questions per lecture) covering material from the half of the semester for which the questions were available. The extent to which access to the online study questions improved student learning outcomes was assessed by comparing the performance on exam questions of students in the seven course sections with access to the online study questions with the performance of students in course sections without access to the online study questions. Student performance was analyzed for a total of 89 different exams questions that were not included in the study questions, but that covered the same material covered by the study questions. Each of these 89 questions was used on one to five (average of 2.3) exams administered to students in course sections that had access to the online study questions and on three to 77 (average of 24.8) exams administered to students in sections that lacked access to the online study questions. Data from over 1,800 students in sections with access to the online study questions show that those students scored a statistically significant average of 6.6 percentage points higher on the exam questions analyzed than students in sections without access to the study questions. This difference was greater than the average amount necessary to raise students’ exam grades by one grade (e.g. from a “B-“ to a “B”). In addition, there was a higher correlation between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material related to the study questions than between number of questions answered and success on exam questions on material unrelated to the study questions. The online study question system analyzed in this work required substantial effort to set up in the first year, but required minimal effort to maintain in subsequent years and was effective in significantly raising average exam scores for even very large course sections.

scholarly journals The use of an active learning approach in a SCALE-UP learning space improves academic performance in undergraduate General Biology

PLoS ONE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. e0197916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gokhan Hacisalihoglu ◽  
Desmond Stephens ◽  
Lewis Johnson ◽  
Maurice Edington
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
General Biology

Reaction-based Enumeration, Active Learning, and Free Energy Calculations to Rapidly Explore Synthetically Tractable Chemical Space and Optimize Potency of Cyclin Dependent Kinase 2 Inhibitors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Konze ◽  
Pieter Bos ◽  
Markus Dahlgren ◽  
Karl Leswing ◽  
Ivan Tubert-Brohman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chemical Space ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Free Energy Calculations ◽  
Computational Technique ◽  
Cyclin Dependent Kinase ◽  
Energy Calculations

We report a new computational technique, PathFinder, that uses retrosynthetic analysis followed by combinatorial synthesis to generate novel compounds in synthetically accessible chemical space. Coupling PathFinder with active learning and cloud-based free energy calculations allows for large-scale potency predictions of compounds on a timescale that impacts drug discovery. The process is further accelerated by using a combination of population-based statistics and active learning techniques. Using this approach, we rapidly optimized R-groups and core hops for inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase 2. We explored greater than 300 thousand ideas and identified 35 ligands with diverse commercially available R-groups and a predicted IC<sub>50</sub> < 100 nM, and four unique cores with a predicted IC<sub>50</sub> < 100 nM. The rapid turnaround time, and scale of chemical exploration, suggests that this is a useful approach to accelerate the discovery of novel chemical matter in drug discovery campaigns.

Reaction-based Enumeration, Active Learning, and Free Energy Calculations to Rapidly Explore Synthetically Tractable Chemical Space and Optimize Potency of Cyclin Dependent Kinase 2 Inhibitors

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyle Konze ◽  
Pieter Bos ◽  
Markus Dahlgren ◽  
Karl Leswing ◽  
Ivan Tubert-Brohman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Chemical Space ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Free Energy Calculations ◽  
Computational Technique ◽  
Cyclin Dependent Kinase ◽  
Energy Calculations

We report a new computational technique, PathFinder, that uses retrosynthetic analysis followed by combinatorial synthesis to generate novel compounds in synthetically accessible chemical space. Coupling PathFinder with active learning and cloud-based free energy calculations allows for large-scale potency predictions of compounds on a timescale that impacts drug discovery. The process is further accelerated by using a combination of population-based statistics and active learning techniques. Using this approach, we rapidly optimized R-groups and core hops for inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase 2. We explored greater than 300 thousand ideas and identified 35 ligands with diverse commercially available R-groups and a predicted IC<sub>50</sub> < 100 nM, and four unique cores with a predicted IC<sub>50</sub> < 100 nM. The rapid turnaround time, and scale of chemical exploration, suggests that this is a useful approach to accelerate the discovery of novel chemical matter in drug discovery campaigns.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document