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Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology

This study evaluates the impact of an independent postmidterm question analysis exercise on the ability of students to answer subsequent exam questions on the same topics. It was conducted in three sections (∼400 students/section) of introductory biology. Graded midterms were returned electronically...

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Autores principales: William, Adrienne E., Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M., Tsai, Michelle, Wong, Matthew, Beaupré, Marin Moravec, O’Dowd, Diane K.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228653/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22135369
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-03-0025
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author William, Adrienne E.
Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M.
Tsai, Michelle
Wong, Matthew
Beaupré, Marin Moravec
O’Dowd, Diane K.
author_facet William, Adrienne E.
Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M.
Tsai, Michelle
Wong, Matthew
Beaupré, Marin Moravec
O’Dowd, Diane K.
author_sort William, Adrienne E.
collection PubMed
description This study evaluates the impact of an independent postmidterm question analysis exercise on the ability of students to answer subsequent exam questions on the same topics. It was conducted in three sections (∼400 students/section) of introductory biology. Graded midterms were returned electronically, and each student was assigned a subset of questions answered incorrectly by more than 40% of the class to analyze as homework. The majority of questions were at Bloom's application/analysis level; this exercise therefore emphasized learning at these higher levels of cognition. Students in each section answered final exam questions matched by topic to all homework questions, providing a within-class control group for each question. The percentage of students who correctly answered the matched final exam question was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the Topic Analysis versus Control Analysis group for seven of 19 questions. We identified two factors that influenced activity effectiveness: 1) similarity in topic emphasis of the midterm–final exam question pair and 2) quality of the completed analysis homework. Our data suggest that this easy-to-implement exercise will be useful in large-enrollment classes to help students develop self-regulated learning skills. Additional strategies to help introductory students gain a broader understanding of topic areas are discussed.
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spelling pubmed-32286532011-12-02 Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology William, Adrienne E. Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M. Tsai, Michelle Wong, Matthew Beaupré, Marin Moravec O’Dowd, Diane K. CBE Life Sci Educ Articles This study evaluates the impact of an independent postmidterm question analysis exercise on the ability of students to answer subsequent exam questions on the same topics. It was conducted in three sections (∼400 students/section) of introductory biology. Graded midterms were returned electronically, and each student was assigned a subset of questions answered incorrectly by more than 40% of the class to analyze as homework. The majority of questions were at Bloom's application/analysis level; this exercise therefore emphasized learning at these higher levels of cognition. Students in each section answered final exam questions matched by topic to all homework questions, providing a within-class control group for each question. The percentage of students who correctly answered the matched final exam question was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the Topic Analysis versus Control Analysis group for seven of 19 questions. We identified two factors that influenced activity effectiveness: 1) similarity in topic emphasis of the midterm–final exam question pair and 2) quality of the completed analysis homework. Our data suggest that this easy-to-implement exercise will be useful in large-enrollment classes to help students develop self-regulated learning skills. Additional strategies to help introductory students gain a broader understanding of topic areas are discussed. American Society for Cell Biology 2011 /pmc/articles/PMC3228653/ /pubmed/22135369 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-03-0025 Text en © 2011 A. E. Williams et al.CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2011 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society of Cell Biology.
spellingShingle Articles
William, Adrienne E.
Aguilar-Roca, Nancy M.
Tsai, Michelle
Wong, Matthew
Beaupré, Marin Moravec
O’Dowd, Diane K.
Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology
title Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology
title_full Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology
title_fullStr Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology
title_short Assessment of Learning Gains Associated with Independent Exam Analysis in Introductory Biology
title_sort assessment of learning gains associated with independent exam analysis in introductory biology
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228653/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22135369
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-03-0025
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