Effectiveness of structured handouts lectures and oral discussion on the performance of science students in the basic biochemistry course

<p>The aim of this article was to investigate the effect of structured handouts lectures and oral discussions on the academic performance of biochemistry students. The biochemistry course of science Bachelor students was implemented through structured handouts lectures using the lecturer and the mobile as information sources , oral discussions and practical sessions. The opinion of the students about the instruction methods was investigated through a questionnaire. The academic performance of the students was compared to the performance of a previous student batch who studied the course through traditional lectures and practical sessions only. The obtained results were analyzed using the SPSS program and the t-test percent. According to the university regulations the pass mark was set as 60. 85.9% was the percentage of pass students who studied the course through the structured handouts , oral discussion and practical session while the percentage of the pass students who studied the course through traditional lectures and practical sessions was 78.8%. However, the difference between the two percentages was insignificant (p- value= 0.25). The questionnaire analysis showed that 63.2% of the students believed that the structured handouts lectures and the oral discussions were excellent and 79.4% of the students advised the course coordinator to adopt this teaching method for the future batches.<b> </b>structured handouts lectures and oral discussions improved the performance of biochemistry students and they advised to adopt the method for future batches of biochemistry. </p>

Chemistry revisited: a teacher training workshop on nutrition

This work presents a teaching training workshop on human nutrition topics with strong emphasis on the underlying chemical concepts. It was designed according to the Sustainable Conscious Cognitive Learning Model (SCCLM) and framed in a Context-Based Science Education (CBSE) approach. The proposal was implemented with 44 upper secondary school science teachers. It consisted of three phases. First, teachers were presented with ‘common-sense’ driven sentences on nutrition topics and they were asked if they agreed or disagreed with them. Through an oral discussion, the emergence of the teacher’s own cognitive conflicts was promoted in order to trigger subsequent motivation for achieving further knowledge. Next, main scientific ideas and related chemical concepts were presented for each sentence, along with teaching recommendations to complete a CBSE approach. Finally, teachers were asked their opinions on the didactic proposal. Results showed that teachers were motivated to learn beyond their strong initial non-scientific based ideas by questioning the reliability of the information sources. They were also willing to revisit their teaching on some of the canonical concepts of chemistry.

Effectiveness of structured handouts lectures and oral discussion on the performance of science students in the basic biochemistry course

<p>The aim of this article was to investigate the effect of structured handouts lectures and oral discussions on the academic performance of biochemistry students. The biochemistry course of science Bachelor students was implemented through structured handouts lectures using the lecturer and the mobile as information sources , oral discussions and practical sessions. The opinion of the students about the instruction methods was investigated through a questionnaire. The academic performance of the students was compared to the performance of a previous student batch who studied the course through traditional lectures and practical sessions only. The obtained results were analyzed using the SPSS program and the t-test percent. According to the university regulations the pass mark was set as 60. 85.9% was the percentage of pass students who studied the course through the structured handouts , oral discussion and practical session while the percentage of the pass students who studied the course through traditional lectures and practical sessions was 78.8%. However, the difference between the two percentages was insignificant (p- value= 0.25). The questionnaire analysis showed that 63.2% of the students believed that the structured handouts lectures and the oral discussions were excellent and 79.4% of the students advised the course coordinator to adopt this teaching method for the future batches.<b> </b>structured handouts lectures and oral discussions improved the performance of biochemistry students and they advised to adopt the method for future batches of biochemistry. </p>