Student Motivation from and Resistance to Active Learning Rooted in Essential Science Practices

Owens, David C.; Sadler, Troy D.; Barlow, Amy; Smith-Walters, Cindi

doi:10.1007/s11165-017-9688-1

Cited by 117 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Since embarking on this project, we have been asked many times “Why should anyone care what graduate students think of active learning?”. Research indicates that AL is beneficial in essentially all contexts (e.g., 3,4,13) and that positive perceptions, positive experiences, and buy-in are important to and predictive of AL implementation by instructors and TAs (e.g., 14,17–19,29,30). Therefore, we argue, and the evidence indicates, that one should care about graduate student opinions for the same reasons that we should care about undergraduate and faculty perceptions: because graduate students are currently in classrooms taking and teaching courses.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Student perceptions of AL are also important and can influence whether faculty implement such practices in their courses; concern that students will avoid their courses due to more “difficult” or involved coursework or students simply not liking the technique have prevented some faculty from implementing pre-prepared AL modules (14). Students themselves may perceive that they learn and retain information better through AL, however this doesn’t necessarily mean that they like or fully engage in classes that implement AL (15,17,19,20). Much of this resistance seems to stem from the desire to passively acquire information from an expert – the instructor – which is perceived to require less effort than actively constructing their own knowledge and dealing with the uncertainty of having the “right” answer, in spite of the fact that these are features not only of AL, but also of the scientific process in general (17,19).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students themselves may perceive that they learn and retain information better through AL, however this doesn’t necessarily mean that they like or fully engage in classes that implement AL (15,17,19,20). Much of this resistance seems to stem from the desire to passively acquire information from an expert – the instructor – which is perceived to require less effort than actively constructing their own knowledge and dealing with the uncertainty of having the “right” answer, in spite of the fact that these are features not only of AL, but also of the scientific process in general (17,19). This suggests that students often fail to realize or appreciate that the thinking skills associated with AL are important for their professional development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Roles matter: Graduate student perceptions of active learning in the STEM courses they take and those they teach

Wischusen

Patrick

Howell

2018

Preprint

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17 Despite many calls to reform undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) 18 education to incorporate active learning into classes, there has been little attention paid to 19 graduate level classrooms or courses taught by graduate students. Here, we set out to understand 20 if and how STEM graduate students' perceptions of active learning change in the classes they 21 take versus those they teach by administering surveys to STEM graduate students at our 22 institution. We found that graduate students had taken relatively few graduate level classes using 23 active learning and they felt that more time should devoted to active learning in the courses they 24 were taking. Teaching assistants felt that they were devoting the right amount of class time to 25 active learning in the classes they taught. Graduate students also felt that they were using 26 teaching methods in the classes they taught that were different from those they thought should be 27 used when teaching undergraduates and were different from how they preferred to learn when 28 taking classes. These findings suggest that graduate students' perceptions of teaching and 29 learning changed based on their role in the classroom, which have implications for graduate level 30 course work and professional development programs. 31 3 32 Introduction 33 "Active learning is an instructional method in which students 34 become engaged participants in the classroom. Students are 35 responsible for their own learning through the use of in-class: 36 written exercises, games, problem sets, clickers, debates, class 37 discussions, etc."-Miller and Metz (2014) 38 39 Active learning (AL) techniques encompass a variety of teaching practices in which students 40 actively engage with the course content and each other to construct their own knowledge. AL 41 increases student engagement, learning, and course grades, and reduces failure rates (e.g., 1-5); 42 these findings are so ubiquitous (but see 6), that researchers have shifted their focus from 43 proving the benefits of active learning to determining which techniques are most useful for 44 which students in which contexts (7). Despite the preponderance of evidence, AL is not yet used 45 in all classrooms, particularly at the college level (8,9) and much work has sought to identify and 46 lower barriers to implementing AL and other evidence-based teaching practices for faculty 47 teaching undergraduate courses (10-14). Commonly identified barriers for faculty include class 48 size, insufficient class time, and insufficient time to prepare materials (11,13,15). 49Faculty and student perceptions of and attitudes toward AL have also been identified as 50 potential barriers to AL adoption (14-20). Unsurprisingly, if faculty don't perceive that AL is 51 useful or beneficial, they report not using AL in their classrooms; a survey of faculty across 52 disciplines found that attitudes toward AL was the most important predictor AL adoption (18).53 Student perceptions of AL are also important and can influen...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Roles matter: Graduate student perceptions of active learning in the STEM courses they take and those they teach

Wischusen

Patrick

Howell

2018

Preprint

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“…Os dados obtidos por Owens et al (2017) ajudam a dar sentido à tensão observada na percepção dos nossos licenciandos. Características intrínsecas à aprendizagem ativa, como maior engajamento do estudante, desenvolvimento de habilidades de raciocínio, uso da criatividade e troca de ideias com os pares são consideradas motivadoras na maioria dos casos.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…Dentre os principais impedimentos que os professores experimentam para implementar o EnCI estão a pouca motivação e habilidade dos estudantes, a falta de habilidades pedagógicas, o conhecimento inadequado de NdC, a falta de suporte administrativo e de materiais curriculares adequados (Roehrig, & Luft, 2004); além das dificuldades em guiar os estudantes no processo de investigação, como auxiliálos a formular questões científicas e planejar a investigação (van Uum et al, 2016). Os professores sofrem resistência dos alunos que também agem de acordo com seus sistemas de crenças e conhecimentos (Owens, Sadler, Barlow, & Smith-Walters, 2017) que envolve a imagem de estudantes passivos recebendo conhecimento transmitido pelos professores.…”

Section: Os Desafios De Ensinar Ciências Por Investigaçãounclassified

Que Desafios e Possibilidades Expressam os Licenciandos que Começam a Aprender sobre Ensino de Ciências por Investigação? Tensões entre Visões de Ensino Centradas no Professor e no Estudante

Campos

Scarpa

2018

RBPEC

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Neste estudo, apresentamos as concepções que estudantes de Ciências Biológicas expressam em escritos reflexivos sobre as possibilidades e desafios do Ensino de Ciências por Investigação (EnCI), após os primeiros contatos com essa abordagem em uma disciplina do curso de licenciatura. Conhecimentos, crenças e concepções dos professores influenciam sua prática profissional. Conhecer as concepções dos licenciandos sobre EnCI é importante para compreendermos o que pode inibi-los de adotar essa abordagem, trazendo implicações para os processos de formação docente. Foi realizada a análise de conteúdo de escritos reflexivos de 46 licenciandos. Os dados apontam que os licenciandos reconheceram satisfatoriamente as principais qualidades do EnCI relacionadas ao conhecimento pedagógico e ao conhecimento do tema. Os desafios citados relacionam-se principalmente ao conhecimento pedagógico. Foi possível identificar concepções limitantes ao uso do EnCI que se relacionam em parte à falta de experiência em ensino, esperada para esse estágio de formação e, em parte, a mitos culturais e tensões entre uma visão de ensino tradicional, centrada no professor, e uma visão de ensino centrada no estudante. Tornar as concepções explícitas e analisá-las profundamente junto aos professores em formação pode ser um passo inicial na desconstrução das concepções limitantes.

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A mixed method analysis of student satisfaction with active learning techniques in an online graduate anatomy course: Consideration of demographics and previous course enrollment

Bradley

Meyer

Robertson

et al. 2023

Anatomical Sciences Ed

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Online learning has become an essential part of mainstream higher education. With increasing enrollments in online anatomy courses, a better understanding of effective teaching techniques for the online learning environment is critical. Active learning has previously shown many benefits in face‐to‐face anatomy courses, including increases in student satisfaction. Currently, no research has measured student satisfaction with active learning techniques implemented in an online graduate anatomy course. This study compares student satisfaction across four different active learning techniques (jigsaw, team‐learning module, concept mapping, and question constructing), with consideration of demographics and previous enrollment in anatomy and/or online courses. Survey questions consisted of Likert‐style, multiple‐choice, ranking, and open‐ended questions that asked students to indicate their level of satisfaction with the active learning techniques. One hundred seventy Medical Science master's students completed the online anatomy course and all seven surveys. Results showed that students were significantly more satisfied with question constructing and jigsaw than with concept mapping and team‐learning module. Additionally, historically excluded groups (underrepresented racial minorities) were generally more satisfied with active learning than non‐minority groups. Age, gender, and previous experience with anatomy did not influence the level of satisfaction. However, students with a higher‐grade point average (GPA), those with only a bachelor's degree, and those with no previous online course experience were more satisfied with active learning than students who had a lower GPA, those holding a graduate/professional degree, and those with previous online course experience. Cumulatively, these findings support the beneficial use of active learning in online anatomy courses.

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Student Motivation from and Resistance to Active Learning Rooted in Essential Science Practices

Cited by 117 publications

References 65 publications

Roles matter: Graduate student perceptions of active learning in the STEM courses they take and those they teach

Roles matter: Graduate student perceptions of active learning in the STEM courses they take and those they teach

Que Desafios e Possibilidades Expressam os Licenciandos que Começam a Aprender sobre Ensino de Ciências por Investigação? Tensões entre Visões de Ensino Centradas no Professor e no Estudante

A mixed method analysis of student satisfaction with active learning techniques in an online graduate anatomy course: Consideration of demographics and previous course enrollment

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