Tu Hsiao-Wei, Jones Brett D
School of Neuroscience, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061.
Educational Psychology Program, School of Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2017 Jun 15;15(2):A137-A143. eCollection 2017 Spring.
The purpose of our action research project was to improve students' motivation in a multi-section introductory neuroscience laboratory course. In this paper, we present: (a) how we collected data related to students' motivation and engagement, (b) how we analyzed and used the data to make modifications to the courses, (c) the results of the course modifications, and (d) some possible explanations for our results. Our aim is not only to provide the results of our study, but also to explain the process that we used, with the hopes that other instructors can use similar approaches to improve students' motivation in their courses. Our attempts to improve students' motivation-related perceptions were successful in some instances, but not in others. Of particular note was our finding that some of the students' perceptions varied even though the course syllabus was the same across sections. We attributed this variation to the learning environment developed by the teaching assistants (TAs) who taught the different sections. We provide some strategies that faculty instructors can use to redesign courses with high enrollments and help TAs motivate their students.
我们行动研究项目的目的是提高多节次的神经科学入门实验课程中学生的学习积极性。在本文中，我们阐述：(a) 我们如何收集与学生学习积极性和参与度相关的数据；(b) 我们如何分析并利用这些数据对课程进行调整；(c) 课程调整的结果；以及 (d) 对我们研究结果的一些可能解释。我们的目的不仅是提供研究结果，还解释我们所采用的过程，希望其他教师能够采用类似方法提高他们课程中学生的学习积极性。我们提高学生与学习积极性相关认知的尝试在某些情况下取得了成功，但在其他情况下则不然。特别值得注意的是，我们发现尽管各节次的课程大纲相同，但一些学生的认知却存在差异。我们将这种差异归因于授课的不同教学助理所营造的学习环境。我们提供了一些策略，供教师用于重新设计高注册人数的课程，并帮助教学助理激发学生的学习积极性。
