Quantatative Skills
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Biglan (1973) divides academic disciplines into hard and soft, with subcategories of pure and applied, and life and non-life. We have conducted a study spanning these sub-categories in the 'hard' discipline of science, focused on... more
Biglan (1973) divides academic disciplines into hard and soft, with subcategories of pure and applied, and life and non-life. We have conducted a study spanning these sub-categories in the 'hard' discipline of science, focused on looking for common factors that impede student learning. A survey of second year undergraduate courses in Thermal Physics, Quality of Medical Practice and Molecular Biology was conducted. A common theme identified was the students' struggle with numeracy skills. Our survey results suggest this has less to do with a real weakness in mathematics, the students in these courses generally have strong mathematical backgrounds, and is more related to two factors – lack of relevance, which reduces their willingness to engage with the challenging aspects of the mathematics, and difficulties in transforming their 'pure' mathematical training into a form that allows them to use it effectively in their chosen courses.
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Barış Eğitimi Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi ile Doğan Gazetecilik tarafından ''Baba Beni Okula Gönder'' Projesi kapsamında, kız öğrenci yurtlarında çalışan görevlilerin ihtiyaçları ve yurtlar hakkında görüş ve... more
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, Barış Eğitimi Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi ile Doğan Gazetecilik tarafından ''Baba Beni Okula Gönder'' Projesi kapsamında, kız öğrenci yurtlarında çalışan görevlilerin ihtiyaçları ve yurtlar hakkında görüş ve önerilerin belirlenmesi için ihtiyaç analizi çalışmaları yapılmıştır. Bunun yanında Yurt Ortamı Ölçeği (Moos,19, Kerimol-Orçan19) ve Duygusal Zeka Ölçeği (Coleman, Bar-On) kullanılarak katılımcıların yurtlarla ilgili ölçek çerçevesinde algıları ve bireysel yaklaşımları ele alınmıştır. Yurt müdürleri ve belletmenlerin maddi manevi ihtiyaçlarını hem kendileri hem de kız öğrenciler açısından saptamak için odak grup çalışması (4 grup) ve de ölçekler kullanılmıştır.
Çeşitli illerde yaptırılan toplam 32 adet kız öğrenci yurdunda bölgesel olarak farklılıklar görünmesine rağmen koşullar genellikle birbirine benzemektedir. Kız öğrenci yurtlarında kalan kız çocuklarının çoğunlukla ilgi alanlarını geliştirebilecekleri veya sosyalleşebilecekleri alanların ve olanakların kısıtlı olması, yurttan sorumlu müdür yardımcısı ve belletmen öğretmenlerin çocuklara karşı ilgisi, iş yapabilme becerisi çocukların koşullarını etkilemekte ve gelişimlerini destekleyici yaşam alanı oluşturma ihtiyacını artırmaktadır.
Bu raporun amacı, yurt görevlileri ve öğrencilerin ihtiyaçlarının belirlenmesinden sonra geliştirilecek faaliyet modellerinin hazırlanması için daha sistemli bir alt yapı oluşturulmasıdır. Kız öğrencilerin okul-yurt arasında geçen yaşamlarında evleri sayılabilecek yurtlarının daha yaşanabilir olması, ilgi alanlarını geliştirebilecekleri, sosyalleşebilecekleri ve aynı zamanda yurt görevlilerinin de benimseyip yürütebileceği daha iyi bir yaşam alanı oluşturmak için önemli bir bilgi kaynaği oluşturmaktadır.
Çeşitli illerde yaptırılan toplam 32 adet kız öğrenci yurdunda bölgesel olarak farklılıklar görünmesine rağmen koşullar genellikle birbirine benzemektedir. Kız öğrenci yurtlarında kalan kız çocuklarının çoğunlukla ilgi alanlarını geliştirebilecekleri veya sosyalleşebilecekleri alanların ve olanakların kısıtlı olması, yurttan sorumlu müdür yardımcısı ve belletmen öğretmenlerin çocuklara karşı ilgisi, iş yapabilme becerisi çocukların koşullarını etkilemekte ve gelişimlerini destekleyici yaşam alanı oluşturma ihtiyacını artırmaktadır.
Bu raporun amacı, yurt görevlileri ve öğrencilerin ihtiyaçlarının belirlenmesinden sonra geliştirilecek faaliyet modellerinin hazırlanması için daha sistemli bir alt yapı oluşturulmasıdır. Kız öğrencilerin okul-yurt arasında geçen yaşamlarında evleri sayılabilecek yurtlarının daha yaşanabilir olması, ilgi alanlarını geliştirebilecekleri, sosyalleşebilecekleri ve aynı zamanda yurt görevlilerinin de benimseyip yürütebileceği daha iyi bir yaşam alanı oluşturmak için önemli bir bilgi kaynaği oluşturmaktadır.
Tertiary biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data (e.g. respiration and photosynthesis rates), interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then communicate their findings in the... more
Tertiary biology students are expected to calculate parameters from their experimental data (e.g. respiration and photosynthesis rates), interpret the meaning(s) of these biological parameters and then communicate their findings in the context of the published literature. Students are expected to have developed numeracy skills from their previous studies and to transfer these skills to their Biology studies. But, how sound are the numerical skills of our biology students? We know that mathematics students are anxious about learning mathematics, and our evidence tells us that many biology students, too, are less than confident about performing calculations. Intervention strategies, e.g. self-efficacy tasks, used during early stages of learning can promote critical thinking and skills development. Using both the research on student anxiety of learning mathematical skills and that of self-efficacy, a numeric skills task was designed for second year plant science students and implemented in a tutorial held in the first week of semester. The numeric skills task allowed each student to determine their confidence of concepts, calculating and converting between units of measure and quantities used in plant physiology. Data collected show that although students were able to demonstrate their understanding of a physical parameter they were not wholly confident with estimating this parameter and slightly less confident with converting between units of measure. We have evidence to show that students who are less confident with their numeracy skills had higher levels of engagement with the numeracy task compared to those students who were more confident with their numeracy skills.
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where... more
We have been exploring the extent of 'the maths problem' in science teaching and learning at tertiary level. It has been useful for us to refer to the discipline matrix of Biglan1 where science is defined as a "hard discipline", where "applied" disciplines (e.g. Medicine) are distinguished from "pure" (e.g. Physics and Biology) and where disciplines focused on "life" (e.g. Biology and Medicine) can be distinguished from "non-life" (Physics). Our investigations into the extent of 'the maths problem' have crossed the pure and applied boundary and the 'life'-'non-life' boundary. It is of interest to us to see how closely correlated thresholds concepts are to discipline boundaries.
Regardless of subject, students saw numeracy as a problem in Physics, Medicine and Biology, with specific issues being: i) maths anxiety ii) difficulty with interpreting data iii) reconciling observations and experimental data with theory2. There are striking parallels in how students in each of the sub-disciplines have responded to question: "what was it about learning in this course did you find to be problematic?" and the characteristics of practitioners on these same disciplines as described by Biglan1. For example, students of Medicine focused on how relevant the content of their statistics course was to their overall study, whereas students in Biology were grappling with the complexity of understanding a living system.The Higher Education sector has undergone changes over the past few decades3. There is now a greater number of vocational degrees being offered where 'relevance' is almost pre-requisite to learning, and a more diverse student body with equally diverse experiences of mathematics prior to entry into university. These changes in the Higher Education sector highlight as concerns the issues of: i) 'relevance' in relation to how students in an applied discipline view numeracy, and ii) students using mathematics to understand concepts in sciences. One of the challenges we will need to address as we face this more diverse student body enrolled in vocationally-focused degree programs will be the increasing number of students for whom numeracy is a threshold.
By examining numeracy across science sub-disciplines we are identifying places where students are getting stuck as they begin to practice science. We have a view that by examining our practices within our discipline territories3, we will be able to map where the learning thresholds of our students are occurring. We think that our work may provide some necessary clues to devise teaching approaches to better connect students with the discipline by addressing issues with academic numeracy.
References:
1. Biglan, A. 1973. Relationships between subject matter characteristics and the structure & output of university departments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57: 204-213.
2. LeBard, R, Micolich, A, Thompson, R & Quinnell, R. 2009. Identifying common thresholds in learning for students working in the ‘hard’ discipline of Science. Proceedings of the 2009 Uniserve Science conference Motivating Science Undergraduates: Ideas and Interventions: 72 - 77. http://science.uniserve.edu.au/images/content/2009_papers/LeBard.pdf
3. Becher, T and Trowler, P. (2001). Academic Tribes and Territories: intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines (2nd edition). Buckingham: Open University Press/SRHE.
Regardless of subject, students saw numeracy as a problem in Physics, Medicine and Biology, with specific issues being: i) maths anxiety ii) difficulty with interpreting data iii) reconciling observations and experimental data with theory2. There are striking parallels in how students in each of the sub-disciplines have responded to question: "what was it about learning in this course did you find to be problematic?" and the characteristics of practitioners on these same disciplines as described by Biglan1. For example, students of Medicine focused on how relevant the content of their statistics course was to their overall study, whereas students in Biology were grappling with the complexity of understanding a living system.The Higher Education sector has undergone changes over the past few decades3. There is now a greater number of vocational degrees being offered where 'relevance' is almost pre-requisite to learning, and a more diverse student body with equally diverse experiences of mathematics prior to entry into university. These changes in the Higher Education sector highlight as concerns the issues of: i) 'relevance' in relation to how students in an applied discipline view numeracy, and ii) students using mathematics to understand concepts in sciences. One of the challenges we will need to address as we face this more diverse student body enrolled in vocationally-focused degree programs will be the increasing number of students for whom numeracy is a threshold.
By examining numeracy across science sub-disciplines we are identifying places where students are getting stuck as they begin to practice science. We have a view that by examining our practices within our discipline territories3, we will be able to map where the learning thresholds of our students are occurring. We think that our work may provide some necessary clues to devise teaching approaches to better connect students with the discipline by addressing issues with academic numeracy.
References:
1. Biglan, A. 1973. Relationships between subject matter characteristics and the structure & output of university departments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 57: 204-213.
2. LeBard, R, Micolich, A, Thompson, R & Quinnell, R. 2009. Identifying common thresholds in learning for students working in the ‘hard’ discipline of Science. Proceedings of the 2009 Uniserve Science conference Motivating Science Undergraduates: Ideas and Interventions: 72 - 77. http://science.uniserve.edu.au/images/content/2009_papers/LeBard.pdf
3. Becher, T and Trowler, P. (2001). Academic Tribes and Territories: intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines (2nd edition). Buckingham: Open University Press/SRHE.
Undergraduate science students are given opportunities to link the descriptions of scientific phenomena presented in lectures to their own observations of similar scientific phenomena in practical classes so as to reinforce key concepts.... more
Undergraduate science students are given opportunities to link the descriptions of scientific phenomena presented in lectures to their own observations of similar scientific phenomena in practical classes so as to reinforce key concepts. Being able to conceptually move between the scientific phenomena and the abstracted figures or equations that represent those phenomena is a key skill. Developing this skill, and confidence with applying this skill, is the implicit objective of many undergraduate practical classes. However, students seem unable to adequately explain their observations, despite the implementation of many “how to” guides, and this is of concern, which is why we seek to identify some of the factors that seem to impede students from being able to correctly translate and explain scientific data.
We audited 118 laboratory reports in from second year molecular biology students to assess students’ abilities to correctly record and calculate data, appropriately present data, and clearly explain the representation of their data. Each of these abilities were linked to criteria in the report marking scheme students had been provided and for the purpose of our audit, graded as to whether the students completed the task poorly or not at all (1), adequately with some errors (2), or correctly and clearly (3). The data showed that a high proportion of students could not complete these tasks correctly and confirms that students have difficulty moving between the phenomena they observe and its abstract presentation. Having identified and quantified where students are having difficulties, we will use this information to inform the design of an online learning module to improve the conceptual linkages between a) an observed scientific phenomenon, b) the experimental data c) how these data are presented and d) interpreted. We expect to be able to determine the efficacy of this approach by re-auditing laboratory reports, after the online module is in place.
We audited 118 laboratory reports in from second year molecular biology students to assess students’ abilities to correctly record and calculate data, appropriately present data, and clearly explain the representation of their data. Each of these abilities were linked to criteria in the report marking scheme students had been provided and for the purpose of our audit, graded as to whether the students completed the task poorly or not at all (1), adequately with some errors (2), or correctly and clearly (3). The data showed that a high proportion of students could not complete these tasks correctly and confirms that students have difficulty moving between the phenomena they observe and its abstract presentation. Having identified and quantified where students are having difficulties, we will use this information to inform the design of an online learning module to improve the conceptual linkages between a) an observed scientific phenomenon, b) the experimental data c) how these data are presented and d) interpreted. We expect to be able to determine the efficacy of this approach by re-auditing laboratory reports, after the online module is in place.
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