Department of Biology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada.
FEBS Open Bio. 2022 Jan;12(1):24-37. doi: 10.1002/2211-5463.13345. Epub 2021 Dec 13.
Failure is hard-wired into the scientific method and yet teaching students to productively engage with failure is not foundational in most biology curricula. To train successful scientists, it is imperative that we teach undergraduate science students to be less fearful of failure and to instead positively accept it as a productive part of the scientific process. In this article, we focus on student perceptions of the stigma of failure and their associated concerns to explore how failure could be better supported within and beyond a university context. Through a survey of first-year biology students, we found that societal and familial pressures to succeed were the greatest contributing factors to students' fear of failure. In student suggestions on how to reduce the stigma of failure within and beyond the university context, the most common theme identified across both contexts was for increased discussion and open communication about experiences of failure. Importantly, student comments in this study bring attention to the role of factors beyond the classroom in shaping student experiences of failure within their biology courses.
失败是科学方法的固有组成部分，但在大多数生物学课程中，并没有将教授学生如何有效地应对失败作为基础内容。为了培养成功的科学家，我们必须教导本科理科学生减少对失败的恐惧，而是将其积极地视为科学过程的有益组成部分。在本文中，我们重点关注学生对失败耻辱感的看法及其相关担忧，以探讨如何在大学内外更好地支持失败。通过对一年级生物学学生的调查，我们发现，在社会和家庭的成功压力是导致学生害怕失败的最大因素。在学生提出的如何在大学内外减少失败耻辱感的建议中，两个背景下最常见的主题都是增加关于失败经历的讨论和公开交流。重要的是，本研究中的学生评论提醒人们注意课堂以外的因素在塑造学生在生物学课程中失败经历方面的作用。
