scholarly journals Evaluating Student Preparedness and Conceptual Change in Introductory Biology Students Studying Gene Expression

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Kelly McDonald ◽  
Joseph Gomes

Conceptual difficulties experienced by introductory college biology students studying gene expression are explored in this empirical study. We used an open-ended assessment instrument and a pre-test/post-test design to measure prior knowledge and conceptual change over the course of one semester. Our findings suggest that introductory biology students struggle with the basic terminology necessary to understand complex biological systems at the molecular and genetic level. While conceptual growth from the beginning to the end of the semester was less than expected, learning gains were significant for all concepts examined by our assessment strategy. Qualitative evaluation of pre- and post-tests further highlighted the difficulty students have articulating their knowledge using scientific language. In our discussion, we emphasize the importance of assessing conceptual understanding, developing instructional strategies to promote conceptual change, and the need for closer alignment of curriculum between and within institutions. Ultimately, educational and institutional resources to support faculty development in the area of teaching and learning are critical for the retention and preparation of a diverse student population in the biological sciences.

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. ar66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura R. Novick ◽  
Kefyn M. Catley

The ability to interpret and reason from Tree of Life (ToL) diagrams has become a vital component of science literacy in the 21st century. This article reports on the effectiveness of a research-based curriculum, including an instructional booklet, laboratory, and lectures, to teach the fundamentals of such tree thinking in an introductory biology class for science majors. We present the results of a study involving 117 undergraduates who received either our new research-based tree-thinking curriculum or business-as-usual instruction. We found greater gains in tree-thinking abilities for the experimental instruction group than for the business-as-usual group, as measured by performance on our novel assessment instrument. This was a medium size effect. These gains were observed on an unannounced test that was administered ∼5–6 weeks after the primary instruction in tree thinking. The nature of students’ postinstruction difficulties with tree thinking suggests that the critical underlying concept for acquiring expert-level competence in this area is understanding that any specific phylogenetic tree is a subset of the complete, unimaginably large ToL.


Author(s):  
Albert Tarmo

The paper is about a study that investigated how the integration of assessment for learning enhances learning achievement among secondary school biology students in Tanzania. A quasi-experimental design involving pre-test and post-test of non-equivalent control and experimental groups was used to ascertain how the integration of assessment for learning into teaching and learning processes enhances students’ learning achievement. Two boarding secondary schools located in the suburbs of Dar Es Salaam were selected. Students in the two schools had maintained equivalent performances in national examinations in previous years. The results showed that the students taught using teaching and learning processes integrating assessment for learning outperformed those taught using conventional approaches. The integration of assessment for learning is likely to have contributed to the higher learning achievement in the experimental group. The study contributes to our understanding of how teachers in resource-constrained classrooms can integrate assessment for learning techniques into their day-to-day lessons, thereby harnessing the power of assessment to enhance learning and raise standards.


Penamas ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Arnianti Arnianti ◽  
Dr.Wardani Rahayu, M,si

Artikel ini menggambarkan hasil pengembangan produk modul IPA berbasis Contextual Teachig and Learning (CTL) untuk siswa kelas V di SD Negeri Lenek Lauk Desa Lenek Baru. SD ini sudah teruji kelayakan dan keunggulannya untuk meningkatkan hasil belajar dalam pembelajaran IPA. Penelitian ini dilatarbelakangi dari hasil analisis kebutuhan pembelajaran IPA di Sekolah Dasar yang kegiatan pembelajarannya berpusat pada guru. Metode penelitian menggunakan uji kelayakan oleh validator dan peserta didik. Hasil uji kelayakan validator oleh ahli media dan ahli materi menunjukkan, bahwa modul IPA berbasis CTL dinilai sangat baik dan layak diujicobakan. Hasil angket uji kelayakan peserta didik pada uji coba perorangan memperoleh skor rata-rata 90,4% (sangat baik) dan pada uji coba kelompok kecil dengan skor rata-rata78,8% (baik). Pada uji coba lapangan, sebanyak 24 orang siswa kelas V Sekolah Dasar Negeri 2 Lenek Lauk dijadikan sampel penelitian. Hasil perhitungan pada uji coba lapangan, bahwa nilai rata-rata post test lebih tinggi (76,17%) dibandingkan nilai rata-rata pre test (59,91%). Artikel ini menunjukkan, bahwa modul IPA berbasis CTL yang sedang dikembangkan memberikan efek potensial terhadap hasil belajar siswa.Kata Kunci: Pengembangan, Modul, IPA, Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL)


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Tânia Pinto ◽  
António Guerner Dias ◽  
Clara Vasconcelos

We aimed to contribute to a shift in higher education teaching and learning methods by considering problem-based learning (PBL) as an approach capable of positively affecting students from a geology and environment (GE) curricular unit. In a convenience sample from a Portuguese public university, two groups of students were defined: (1) an experimental group (n = 16), to which an intervention program (IP) based on PBL was applied, and (2) a comparison group (n = 17), subjected to the traditional teaching approach. For nine weeks, students subject to the IP faced four problem scenarios about different themes. A triangulation of methods was chosen. The study involved two phases: (1) qualitative (sustained on content analysis of driving questions raised by students, registered in a monitoring sheet) and (2) quantitative (quasi-experimental study, based on data from a prior and post-test knowledge assessment). The qualitative results point to the development of more complex cognitive-level questioning skills after increasing familiarity with PBL. The data obtained in the quantitative study, which included both a “within-subjects” and a “between-subjects” design, show higher benefits in the experimental group, documenting gains in terms of scientific knowledge when using the PBL methodology.


Author(s):  
Dedi Rohendi

Recently, game-based multimedia development has been increasing rapidly. Game-based multimedia is not only used for entertaining but also for teaching and learning process. Meanwhile, for the majority of elementary school students, numeracy learning is still considered as a difficult subject to be learned and has not attracted students’ interest because it still uses vertical methods. The objective of this research is to examine the implementation of game-based multimedia in learning horizontal numeracy. In this game-based multimedia, horizontal numeracy material is presented in the form of a game. Horizontal numeracy material begins with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Game-based multimedia is implemented to 20 students in grade 3 elementary schools in Bandung, Indonesia. Subsequently, the way students learn the materials and their learning outcomes are explored after using this multimedia. The results show that the students can learn horizontal numeracy excitingly; moreover, they can easily understand the concept of horizontal numeracy quickly. It is indicated by by the increasing of average post-test value.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 773
Author(s):  
Lia Ardiana Safitri

This study was conducted with the aim of knowing the significant role of WhatsApp in teaching vocabulary, especially staff learning achievement which was limited to vocabulary achievement as measured by a vocabulary test at Umbul Ponggok Klaten. Participants in this study amounted to 30 people consisting of 15 men and 15 women. All participants will learn English as a foreign language using WhatsApp to learn new vocabulary items via their mobile, tablet or laptop. Participants' English level will be measured. Random sampling procedure was carried out. To carry out the research, a true experimental design was used. The participants were assigned to two experimental and control groups. The assessment instrument in this study used a pre-test and post-test. The results showed that the use of the WhatsApp application in teaching vocabulary to the Umbul Ponggok Klaten staff was able to improve the achievement of new English vocabulary mastery of the Umbul Ponggok Klaten staff which was getting better.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Nurjannah Nurjannah ◽  
Taufiq Hidayah ◽  
Muhammad Nazar

This research is entitled “Using graphic organizer strategy in teaching writing on narrative paragraph (experimental research). Writing is a very important subject that should be learned by English learners. The students should be able to express their ideas and opinion either in the form of a sentence or paragraph. However, the researcher found that many students at the Second Grade Students of SMP Negeri 1 Tanah Luas could not express their ideas and develop into the paragraph. Hence, the appropriate strategy of teaching and learning is very important to help students master writing skills. This research aims to know the effect of achievement between the students who are taught writing by using graphic organizers from those taught writing in the narrative by using traditional methods. This research was experimental research and used a quasi-experimental design. The samples chosen in this research were the whole students of class VIII2 and VIII4 of SMPN 1 Tanah Luas. Class VIII2 consisted of 25 students was chosen as experimental group and class VIII4 consisted of 24 students was chosen as control group. This research was conducted in three phrases; there were pre-test, treatments and post-test. The data collection technique used in this research was test. The tests were pre-test and post-test. The researcher gave pre-test before giving treatment and post-test after giving treatment. The treatment was conducted in three meetings. The data was analyzed by using t-test formula. The research result and the hypothesis authentication found by using t-test formula in significant level 5% or α = 0.05 were obtained that ttest > ttable. The ttest found in this research was 3.91. Meanwhile, ttable was gotten from the list of distribution value with degree of freedom = 47, because the data not in the table, the researcher used interpolation approach and obtained = 1.67. So >  = 3.91 > 1.67. It meant that Ha was accepted and Ho was rejected. So, graphic organizer strategy significantly affects the students’ ability in mastering writing.   Kata Kunci: graphic organizer strategy, teaching and learning, writing narrative paragraph


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehmet Fatih Ocal

Integrating the properties of computer algebra systems and dynamic geometry environments, Geogebra became an effective and powerful tool for teaching and learning mathematics. One of the reasons that teachers use Geogebra in mathematics classrooms is to make students learn mathematics meaningfully and conceptually. From this perspective, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether instruction with Geogebra has effect on students’ achievements regarding their conceptual and procedural knowledge on the applications of derivative subject. This study adopted the quantitative approach with pre-test post-test control group true experimental design. The participants were composed of two calculus classrooms involving 31 and 24 students, respectively. The experimental group with 31 students received instruction with Geogebra while the control group received traditional instruction in learning the applications of derivative. Independent samples t-test was used in the analysis of the data gathered from students’ responses to Applications of Derivative Test which was subjected to them before and after teaching processes. The findings indicated that instruction with Geogebra had positive effect on students’ scores regarding conceptual knowledge and their overall scores. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between experimental and control group students’ scores regarding procedural knowledge. It could be concluded that students in both groups were focused on procedural knowledge to be successful in learning calculus subjects including applications of derivative in both groups. On the other hand, instruction with Geogebra supported students’ learning these subjects meaningfully and conceptually.


2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Graziela Alvarez ◽  
Grace Teresinha Marcon Dal Sasso

This study aimed to evaluate the results of the application of a virtual learning object for the simulated evaluation of acute pain in the learning of undergraduate nursing students and to verify the opinions of the students regarding the quality of the technology. This was a quasi-experimental, non-randomized, before and after study performed with 14 students in the seventh phase of the undergraduate nursing course of the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The pre (8.84) and post-test (9.31) means revealed significant differences in learning after the intervention (p=0.03). In the qualitative evaluation the flexibility of access, access independent of time/place, freedom to decide the best learning route and the similarity with reality were highlighted. It constitutes a promising educational tool, an interactive experience, similar to reality, dynamic and constructive learning. The application of the technology has brought positive results for learning about pain evaluation, contributing to fill the gap in the teaching of the thematic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Muhammad Fauzi Bafadal

Origami is a kind of method for teaching language through dialogues whichstresses on the students’ habit formation by repetition, memorizing grammatical structures through substitutions, singular-plural and tense transformations etc, using the target language and the culture where the language is spoken. The objective of this research was to find out the effect of Origami in teaching writing procedure text. Method design this research was a true-experimental method. The population of this research was the second year students of SMA Muhammadiyah Mataram in Academic year 2016/2017. This study the writer took all population as the samples that consisted of 38 students. Because the population less than 100, they divided into two classes, namely experimental class 21 and control class 17. The writer collected the data using the testing method pre and post-test. According to Hughes rubric and t-test formula theory. The result of this research showed that the mean score of experimental group 9.5 and the mean score of control group 2.9. Based on t-test it showed that t- value 11.9 and after consulting to t-table, the t-value was higher than t- table. To conclude origami teaching and learning is more effective to improve students’ writing procedure text, this can be seen from the results of test score, it shows that the experimental class which was given treatment using origami teaching and learning got a higher score than control class without taught by used origami teaching and learning method. Besides the origami could improve the students’ motivation, the origami could attract the students’ attention, the origami help the students to memorize the vocabulary and the origami make the teaching and learning activities interesting. Presentation in which the writer presented the materials by using origami as media the students clearly and easily to understand. The writer concluded that Origami can warn up the student that was done to make students interested in learning writing procedure text and has a positive effect in teaching writing procedure text.


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