Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 30;16(11):e0260789. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260789. eCollection 2021.
Evidence-based teaching practices are associated with improved student academic performance. However, these practices encompass a wide range of activities and determining which type, intensity or duration of activity is effective at improving student exam performance has been elusive. To address this shortcoming, we used a previously validated classroom observation tool, Practical Observation Rubric to Assess Active Learning (PORTAAL) to measure the presence, intensity, and duration of evidence-based teaching practices in a retrospective study of upper and lower division biology courses. We determined the cognitive challenge of exams by categorizing all exam questions obtained from the courses using Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domains. We used structural equation modeling to correlate the PORTAAL practices with exam performance while controlling for cognitive challenge of exams, students' GPA at start of the term, and students' demographic factors. Small group activities, randomly calling on students or groups to answer questions, explaining alternative answers, and total time students were thinking, working with others or answering questions had positive correlations with exam performance. On exams at higher Bloom's levels, students explaining the reasoning underlying their answers, students working alone, and receiving positive feedback from the instructor also correlated with increased exam performance. Our study is the first to demonstrate a correlation between the intensity or duration of evidence-based PORTAAL practices and student exam performance while controlling for Bloom's level of exams, as well as looking more specifically at which practices correlate with performance on exams at low and high Bloom's levels. This level of detail will provide valuable insights for faculty as they prioritize changes to their teaching. As we found that multiple PORTAAL practices had a positive association with exam performance, it may be encouraging for instructors to realize that there are many ways to benefit students' learning by incorporating these evidence-based teaching practices.
循证教学实践与学生学业成绩的提高有关。然而，这些实践涵盖了广泛的活动，确定哪种类型、强度或持续时间的活动最能提高学生的考试成绩一直难以捉摸。为了解决这一不足，我们使用了先前经过验证的课堂观察工具——实用观察量表评估主动学习（PORTAAL），以回顾性研究方式测量上、下生物课程中存在的、强度和持续的循证教学实践。我们通过使用布鲁姆认知领域的分类法对从课程中获得的所有考试问题进行分类，来确定考试的认知难度。我们使用结构方程模型来关联 PORTAAL 实践与考试成绩，同时控制考试的认知难度、学生学期开始时的 GPA 和学生的人口统计学因素。小组活动、随机点名学生或小组回答问题、解释替代答案以及学生思考、与他人合作或回答问题的总时间与考试成绩呈正相关。在更高布鲁姆水平的考试中，学生解释他们答案背后的推理、学生独自工作以及从教师那里获得积极反馈也与考试成绩的提高相关。我们的研究首次证明了在控制考试布鲁姆水平的情况下，基于证据的 PORTAAL 实践的强度或持续时间与学生考试成绩之间存在相关性，并且更具体地研究了哪些实践与低和高布鲁姆水平的考试成绩相关。这种详细程度将为教师提供有价值的见解，因为他们优先考虑对教学进行更改。由于我们发现多个 PORTAAL 实践与考试成绩呈正相关，因此这可能会鼓励教师意识到，通过采用这些基于证据的教学实践，可以有很多方法使学生受益于学习。
