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Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course

Integration of active-learning approaches into increased-structure postsecondary classrooms significantly improves student academic outcomes. We describe here two parallel sections of Introductory Biology that shared learning objectives and content but varied in course structure. The large-enrollmen...

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Autores principales: Wilton, Mike, Gonzalez-Niño, Eduardo, McPartlan, Peter, Terner, Zach, Christoffersen, Rolf E., Rothman, Joel H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6818464/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31675276
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.18-08-0155
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author Wilton, Mike
Gonzalez-Niño, Eduardo
McPartlan, Peter
Terner, Zach
Christoffersen, Rolf E.
Rothman, Joel H.
author_facet Wilton, Mike
Gonzalez-Niño, Eduardo
McPartlan, Peter
Terner, Zach
Christoffersen, Rolf E.
Rothman, Joel H.
author_sort Wilton, Mike
collection PubMed
description Integration of active-learning approaches into increased-structure postsecondary classrooms significantly improves student academic outcomes. We describe here two parallel sections of Introductory Biology that shared learning objectives and content but varied in course structure. The large-enrollment traditional course consisted of four 50-minute lectures coupled with minimal active-learning techniques, while an increased-structure intervention course integrated multiple active-learning approaches, had limited enrollment, and comprised three 50-minute lectures combined with a fourth peer-led team-learning discussion section. Additionally, the intervention course employed weekly review quizzes and multiple in-class formative assessments. The academic impact of these two course formats was evaluated by use of common exam questions, final grade, and student retention. We showed that academic achievement and retention of participants enrolled in the intervention course was significantly improved when compared with the traditional section. Further, we explored whether promoting in-class student–student/student–instructor interactions and peer-led discussion sections fostered a greater sense of belonging. At the end of the course, participants in the intervention course reported greater perceptions of classroom belonging. Therefore, this study begins to characterize the importance of combining pedagogical methods that promote both academic success and belonging to effectively improve retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors.
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spelling pubmed-68184642019-12-01 Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course Wilton, Mike Gonzalez-Niño, Eduardo McPartlan, Peter Terner, Zach Christoffersen, Rolf E. Rothman, Joel H. CBE Life Sci Educ Article Integration of active-learning approaches into increased-structure postsecondary classrooms significantly improves student academic outcomes. We describe here two parallel sections of Introductory Biology that shared learning objectives and content but varied in course structure. The large-enrollment traditional course consisted of four 50-minute lectures coupled with minimal active-learning techniques, while an increased-structure intervention course integrated multiple active-learning approaches, had limited enrollment, and comprised three 50-minute lectures combined with a fourth peer-led team-learning discussion section. Additionally, the intervention course employed weekly review quizzes and multiple in-class formative assessments. The academic impact of these two course formats was evaluated by use of common exam questions, final grade, and student retention. We showed that academic achievement and retention of participants enrolled in the intervention course was significantly improved when compared with the traditional section. Further, we explored whether promoting in-class student–student/student–instructor interactions and peer-led discussion sections fostered a greater sense of belonging. At the end of the course, participants in the intervention course reported greater perceptions of classroom belonging. Therefore, this study begins to characterize the importance of combining pedagogical methods that promote both academic success and belonging to effectively improve retention in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors. American Society for Cell Biology 2019 /pmc/articles/PMC6818464/ /pubmed/31675276 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.18-08-0155 Text en © 2019 M. Wilton, E. Gonzalez-Niño, et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2019 The American Society for Cell Biology. “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/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.
spellingShingle Article
Wilton, Mike
Gonzalez-Niño, Eduardo
McPartlan, Peter
Terner, Zach
Christoffersen, Rolf E.
Rothman, Joel H.
Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course
title Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course
title_full Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course
title_fullStr Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course
title_full_unstemmed Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course
title_short Improving Academic Performance, Belonging, and Retention through Increasing Structure of an Introductory Biology Course
title_sort improving academic performance, belonging, and retention through increasing structure of an introductory biology course
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6818464/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31675276
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.18-08-0155
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