How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions

ABSTRACT The high failure rate of students in “gateway” science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been a persistent problem for biology programs nationwide. Common wisdom contends that addressing this problem requires major curricular overhauls. While desirable, such large...

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Autores principales:	Kyle R. Mara, Avi Kaplan, Michael J. Balsai, Jennifer G. Cromley, Tony Perez, Ting Dai
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2021
Materias:	interventions learning motivation relevance writing worked-examples Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b01cc9075c8a451186ccf3899f838295
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b01cc9075c8a451186ccf3899f8382952021-11-15T15:04:51ZHow Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions10.1128/jmbe.00110-211935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/b01cc9075c8a451186ccf3899f8382952021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.00110-21https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885ABSTRACT The high failure rate of students in “gateway” science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been a persistent problem for biology programs nationwide. Common wisdom contends that addressing this problem requires major curricular overhauls. While desirable, such large systematic changes are often expensive or impractical. We propose an alternative approach: supplementing the regular instruction with brief online modules targeting specific cognitive (learning) and motivational mechanisms. We conducted an intervention study to test the effects of different combinations of cognitive and motivational modules on undergraduate introductory biology students’ learning, motivation, achievement, and intentions to remain in science. Introductory biology students at three research universities were randomly assigned to a no-treatment control condition or one of several combinations of cognition motivation modules. In this article, we describe the modules that are easiest for instructors to integrate with existing course content: worked examples (demonstrations of biology problem solving) and relevance writing (brief open-ended writing assignments about connections of biology concepts to one’s life). Increased student engagement in these modules led to higher motivation, biology reasoning, and course grades. These findings support the effectiveness of delivering brief online supplemental modules on students’ success in introductory biology courses. This easily implemented intervention can utilize online tools such as Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle and provides an option when major changes to course instruction are not practical.Kyle R. MaraAvi KaplanMichael J. BalsaiJennifer G. CromleyTony PerezTing DaiAmerican Society for Microbiologyarticleinterventionslearningmotivationrelevance writingworked-examplesSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 22, Iss 2 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	interventions learning motivation relevance writing worked-examples Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	interventions learning motivation relevance writing worked-examples Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Kyle R. Mara Avi Kaplan Michael J. Balsai Jennifer G. Cromley Tony Perez Ting Dai How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions
description	ABSTRACT The high failure rate of students in “gateway” science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been a persistent problem for biology programs nationwide. Common wisdom contends that addressing this problem requires major curricular overhauls. While desirable, such large systematic changes are often expensive or impractical. We propose an alternative approach: supplementing the regular instruction with brief online modules targeting specific cognitive (learning) and motivational mechanisms. We conducted an intervention study to test the effects of different combinations of cognitive and motivational modules on undergraduate introductory biology students’ learning, motivation, achievement, and intentions to remain in science. Introductory biology students at three research universities were randomly assigned to a no-treatment control condition or one of several combinations of cognition motivation modules. In this article, we describe the modules that are easiest for instructors to integrate with existing course content: worked examples (demonstrations of biology problem solving) and relevance writing (brief open-ended writing assignments about connections of biology concepts to one’s life). Increased student engagement in these modules led to higher motivation, biology reasoning, and course grades. These findings support the effectiveness of delivering brief online supplemental modules on students’ success in introductory biology courses. This easily implemented intervention can utilize online tools such as Blackboard, Canvas, or Moodle and provides an option when major changes to course instruction are not practical.
format	article
author	Kyle R. Mara Avi Kaplan Michael J. Balsai Jennifer G. Cromley Tony Perez Ting Dai
author_facet	Kyle R. Mara Avi Kaplan Michael J. Balsai Jennifer G. Cromley Tony Perez Ting Dai
author_sort	Kyle R. Mara
title	How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions
title_short	How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions
title_full	How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions
title_fullStr	How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions
title_full_unstemmed	How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions
title_sort	how instructors can enhance biology students’ motivation, learning, and grades through brief relevance writing and worked-example interventions
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b01cc9075c8a451186ccf3899f838295
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How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students’ Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions

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