Computer Science – Learning
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009aas...21431201s&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #214, #312.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.752
Computer Science
Learning
Scientific paper
Over the past two years, faculty in the we have engaged in a major course redesign effort for the undergraduate general education science requirement with the goal of improving student learning and attitudes while, at the same time, dramatically reducing costs of offering such a course. Using a reformed teaching framework of learner-centered education, the large-enrollment, introductory geosciences survey course was overhauled to include interactive lectures, just-in-time online quizzes, a next-generation textbook, and weekly discussions lead by graduate students and undergraduate peer mentors. We used a 2-group, pre-post, multiple-measures, mixed-method quasi-experimental study design. The Geosciences Concept Inventory (GCI) was given as a pre-test/post-test to students in the pre-modified course and the reformed course to compare student learning in terms of gain scores. Students in the unmodified course had a pre-test GCI percentage correct of 28.67 (SD=11.45, n=96) which increased to 45.26 (SD=11.76, n=84) on the post-test. After course redesign, students had a pre-test GCI percentage correct of 38.62 (SD=8.42, n=144) which increased a post-test GCI score of 48.73 (SD=7.49, n=132). In a similar way, the Likert-style Attitudes Toward Science Survey was given as an end-of-class post-test to students in the pre-modified course and as a pre-test/post-test the reformed course to compare student attitudes between the courses. The average ranking on a 5-point scale as a pre-test was 3.454 (SD=1.259, n=508) whereas the post-tests for the unmodified course was 3.49 (SD=1.05, n=101) and 3.50 (SD=1.127, n=369) for the reformed course. As is commonly observed in many instances, there are no statistical differences evident among the survey results. In contrast, 14 hours of interview and focus group transcripts reveal that students find the reformed course to be relevant to their lives and educationally satisfying, both of which are infrequently observed among traditional introductory science survey courses.
Earth sciences Research CAPER Team
in Astronomy Cognition
Lyons Daniel Jonathan
Physics
Slater Stephanie J.
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