Tonight I watched JMBE Live! Heather Bergan-Roller, Tina Ballard, and Jaime Sabel presented the work they are doing. Ballard spoke about how students may note be prepared for class. They noted that sometimes instructors assign readings but these may not be completed before the session. Ballard shared that research has found that outside and in class assignments improve learning outcomes. However, these strategies are not used widely. Bergan-Roller shared the research question: if and how students prepared for an introductory biology class. This research was at an R2 Ph.D. granting university. For the assignment, students were asked to choose a resource and report how they prepared for each class. Each entry was captured with a form. With these entries (over 1,000!) the team did thematic content analysis. The team developed a code book and analyzed the results. The researchers asked: did the treatment affect if students prepared for class? There were 39 possible entries throughout the semester. Students in both treatments submitted 24.4 entries/student. Sabel spoke about how the students prepared for class. For this, Sabel noted that they performed an analysis and found that reading was reported most frequently for choice and text. There was a high percentage of those watching a video. Many didn’t do anything to prepared for class. Students typically. used one resource per entry. The text group used textbooks more, as expected. The choice group used videos most frequently. Next, Sabel shared data for the grade bins between the choice and text groups. The team found no differences. They also used ANOVA and found no significant differences within choice group. However, there were significant differences in the number of entries for the text group. Bergan-Roller summarized the findings, noting that students did prepare when provided with guidance. Providing the resources may help students engage more, and for this they used cognitive load to explain the findings. Choice students favored websites. This work was done before COVID, and students may choose differently now. They all spoke about their backgrounds. Bergan-Roller did a postdoc in Nebraska to learn about science education and biology education research. This is where she met Sabel who did a Ph.D. in STEM education. Ballard was a high school teacher for a couple of years. Both groups (choice and textbook) received a list of topics to prepare for classes. One question was whether students had access to a list of OER. Ballard was not surprised by the low number of students taking notes. Explaining how to take notes and why can be very helpful, Ballard noted. The supplemental materials of the article include some of the resources shared. Classroom observations were noted as the next possible study to learn more about student decisions.
