Flanagan K M, Einarson J
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Calgary Board of Education, Calgary, AB T2R 0L4, Canada.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2017 Fall;16(3). doi: 10.1187/cbe.16-08-0253.
In a world filled with big data, mathematical models, and statistics, the development of strong quantitative skills is becoming increasingly critical for modern biologists. Teachers in this field must understand how students acquire quantitative skills and explore barriers experienced by students when developing these skills. In this study, we examine the interrelationships among gender, grit, and math confidence for student performance on a pre-post quantitative skills assessment and overall performance in an undergraduate biology course. Here, we show that females significantly underperformed relative to males on a quantitative skills assessment at the start of term. However, females showed significantly higher gains over the semester, such that the gender gap in performance was nearly eliminated by the end of the semester. Math confidence plays an important role in the performance on both the pre and post quantitative skills assessments and overall performance in the course. The effect of grit on student performance, however, is mediated by a student's math confidence; as math confidence increases, the positive effect of grit decreases. Consequently, the positive impact of a student's grittiness is observed most strongly for those students with low math confidence. We also found grit to be positively associated with the midterm score and the final grade in the course. Given the relationships established in this study among gender, grit, and math confidence, we provide "instructor actions" from the literature that can be applied in the classroom to promote the development of quantitative skills in light of our findings.
在一个充斥着大数据、数学模型和统计学的世界里，培养强大的定量技能对现代生物学家来说变得越来越关键。该领域的教师必须了解学生如何获得定量技能，并探究学生在培养这些技能时所遇到的障碍。在本研究中，我们考察了性别、毅力和数学信心之间的相互关系，这些因素关乎学生在定量技能前后测评估中的表现以及本科生物学课程的整体成绩。在此，我们表明，在学期开始时的定量技能评估中，女生的表现明显低于男生。然而，女生在整个学期中的进步显著更大，以至于到学期末成绩上的性别差距几乎消除。数学信心在定量技能前后测评估的表现以及课程整体成绩中都起着重要作用。然而，毅力对学生表现的影响是通过学生的数学信心来调节的；随着数学信心的增加，毅力的积极影响会减小。因此，对于那些数学信心较低的学生，其毅力的积极影响最为明显。我们还发现毅力与课程的中期成绩和最终成绩呈正相关。鉴于本研究中确立的性别、毅力和数学信心之间的关系，我们根据研究结果提供了文献中的“教师行动”，可应用于课堂以促进定量技能的发展。
