Carter Kelli P, Prevost Luanna B
Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida , Tampa, Florida.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2018 Dec 1;42(4):576-585. doi: 10.1152/advan.00182.2017.
The relationship between structure and function is a core concept in physiology education. Written formative assessments can provide insight into student learning of the structure and function relationship, which can then inform pedagogy. However, question order may influence student explanations. We explored how the order of questions from different cognitive levels affects student explanations. A junior level General Physiology class was randomly split in half. One-half of the students answered, "Define the principle: form reflects function," followed by "Give an example of the principle: form reflects function" (format DX), whereas the other half answered, "Give an example of the principle: form reflects function," followed by "Define the principle: form reflects function" (format XD). Human grading and computerized lexical analysis were used to evaluate student responses. Two percent of students in the format DX group related structure and function in their definition, whereas 48% of students related structure and function in their examples. In the format XD group, 17% related structure and function in their definition, and 26% related structure and function in their example of the principle. Overall, students performed better on the last question in the sequence, which may be evidence for conceptual priming. Computerized lexical analysis revealed that students draw on only a few levels of organization and may be used by instructors to quickly assess the levels of organization students use in their responses. Written assessment coupled with lexical analysis has the potential to reveal student understanding of core concepts in anatomy and physiology education.
结构与功能之间的关系是生理学教育中的一个核心概念。书面形成性评估可以深入了解学生对结构与功能关系的学习情况，进而为教学提供参考。然而，问题顺序可能会影响学生的解释。我们探讨了来自不同认知水平的问题顺序如何影响学生的解释。一个初级水平的普通生理学班级被随机分成两半。一半学生先回答“定义原则：形态反映功能”，然后回答“给出一个形态反映功能原则的例子”（DX格式），而另一半学生先回答“给出一个形态反映功能原则的例子”，然后回答“定义原则：形态反映功能”（XD格式）。使用人工评分和计算机词汇分析来评估学生的回答。DX格式组中有2%的学生在定义中关联了结构与功能，而在例子中有48%的学生关联了结构与功能。在XD格式组中，17%的学生在定义中关联了结构与功能，26%的学生在原则的例子中关联了结构与功能。总体而言，学生在序列中的最后一个问题上表现更好，这可能是概念启动的证据。计算机词汇分析表明，学生仅利用了几个组织层次，教师可以利用这一点快速评估学生在回答中使用的组织层次。书面评估与词汇分析相结合有潜力揭示学生对解剖学和生理学教育中核心概念的理解。
