Mendez Lilyan, Rivera Angelita T, Vasquez Izabella, Godínez Aguilar Alfonso, Owens Melinda T, Meaders Clara L
School of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
Department of Developmental Psychology, Stanford Graduate School of Education, Stanford, California, USA.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2024 Dec 12;25(3):e0011124. doi: 10.1128/jmbe.00111-24. Epub 2024 Aug 20.
Student experiences learning chemistry have been well studied in chemistry courses but less so in biology courses. Chemistry concepts are foundational to introductory biology courses, and student experiences learning chemistry concepts may impact their overall course experiences and subsequent student outcomes. In this study, we asked undergraduate students enrolled in introductory biology courses at a public R1 institution an open-response question asking how their experiences learning chemistry topics affected their identities as biologists. We used thematic analysis to identify common ideas in their responses. We found that while almost half of student respondents cited learning chemistry as having positive impacts on their experiences learning biology, students who struggled with chemistry topics were significantly more likely to have negative experiences learning biology. We also found significant relationships between prior chemistry preparation, student background, and the likelihood of students struggling with chemistry and negative experiences learning biology. These findings emphasize the impact of learning specific content on student psychosocial metrics and suggest areas for biology educators to focus on to support learning and alleviate student stress in introductory biology.
学生在化学课程中的学习经历已得到充分研究，但在生物课程中的研究较少。化学概念是生物学入门课程的基础，学生学习化学概念的经历可能会影响他们的整体课程体验以及后续的学习成果。在本研究中，我们向一所公立R1机构中参加生物学入门课程的本科生提出了一个开放式问题，询问他们学习化学主题的经历如何影响他们作为生物学家的身份认同。我们使用主题分析来识别他们回答中的共同观点。我们发现，虽然近一半的学生受访者表示学习化学对他们学习生物学的经历有积极影响，但在化学主题上遇到困难的学生在学习生物学时更有可能有负面经历。我们还发现，先前的化学准备、学生背景与学生在化学学习上遇到困难以及在生物学学习上有负面经历的可能性之间存在显著关系。这些发现强调了学习特定内容对学生心理社会指标的影响，并为生物学教育工作者指出了需要关注的领域，以支持学习并减轻学生在生物学入门课程中的压力。
