Premo Joshua, Davis William B, Wyatt Brittney N
Department of Biology, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT 84058.
School of Molecular Biosciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-1046.
CBE Life Sci Educ. 2025 Sep 1;24(3):ar39. doi: 10.1187/cbe.24-07-0199.
Interacting with others is an important aspect of life. Especially in education, collaborations can help students learn. Unfortunately, there are often systemic barriers of science being perceived as individualistic, which may impact student success in science. Therefore, this study investigated how college students' ( = 672) social experiences (including learning benefits from peer ideas, LBP) in an introductory biology laboratory course was related to their science motivation and performance. Initial correlational analysis showed positive associations amongst students' social experiences, science motivation, and course performance. Regression analysis demonstrated a change in LBP and interaction of this with first-generation student (FGS) status, were important predictors of final science motivation. Science motivation, in turn, was able to predict student performance in the course. Interestingly, although science motivation was predictive of performance for all students, FGS status interacted with science motivation to predict performance only in the laboratory that featured a more collaborative curriculum. Results suggest that experiencing LBP may impact all students' science motivation and through this course performance. Yet these relationships may be more critical for FGS in collaborative classroom environments. Implications for optimizing LBP in introductory life science courses will be explored.
与他人互动是生活的一个重要方面。特别是在教育领域，合作有助于学生学习。不幸的是，科学常常被视为个人主义的，存在一些系统性障碍，这可能会影响学生在科学方面的成功。因此，本研究调查了大学生（n = 672）在生物学入门实验课程中的社会经历（包括从同伴想法中获得的学习益处，即LBP）与他们的科学动机和成绩之间的关系。初步的相关性分析表明，学生的社会经历、科学动机和课程成绩之间存在正相关。回归分析表明，LBP的变化及其与第一代学生（FGS）身份的相互作用，是最终科学动机的重要预测因素。反过来，科学动机能够预测学生在课程中的表现。有趣的是，尽管科学动机对所有学生的成绩都有预测作用，但FGS身份与科学动机相互作用，仅在采用更具合作性课程的实验室中预测成绩。结果表明，经历LBP可能会影响所有学生的科学动机，并进而影响课程成绩。然而，在合作性的课堂环境中，这些关系可能对FGS更为关键。将探讨优化生命科学入门课程中LBP的意义。
