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A Familiar(ity) Problem: Assessing the Impact of Prerequisites and Content Familiarity on Student Learning
Justin F Shaffer1, Jennifer V Dang2, Amanda K Lee2
1Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California, United States of America.
Prerequisite courses in STEM do not always improve later learning. A new familiarity scale shows that only deeply covered topics significantly boost student performance, suggesting curriculum review.
Area of Science:
- STEM Education
- Biology Education Research
Background:
- Prerequisite courses are common in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) curricula.
- The effectiveness of prerequisite content in enhancing learning in subsequent courses is often assumed but not rigorously verified.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if concepts taught in prerequisite courses improve student learning in later STEM courses.
- To develop and validate a novel familiarity scale for assessing prerequisite effectiveness.
Main Methods:
- Developed a familiarity scale to quantify student exposure to prerequisite concepts.
- Classified exam questions in later biology courses into "Very Familiar," "Familiar," and "Not Familiar" categories based on prerequisite coverage.
- Compared student exam scores across these categories.
Main Results:
- Students scored higher on exam questions related to concepts covered in depth ("Very Familiar") in the prerequisite course.
- Performance on concepts only briefly covered ("Familiar") was similar to that of novel concepts ("Not Familiar").
Conclusions:
- Simply "covering" topics in a prerequisite course does not guarantee improved future learning.
- Curricula may benefit from re-evaluation to remove less impactful topics, potentially freeing up time for active learning strategies.
- The developed familiarity scale offers a tool for assessing prerequisite course effectiveness.
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