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Semester-long Engagement in Science Inquiry Improves Students' Understanding of Experimental Design

The author of this TIEE Research Paper assessed changes in students' understanding of experimental design during a semester-long, inquiry-based, plant ecology laboratory. Students learned about and designed experiments to address four hypotheses about invasive species. Students were given similar pre- and post- tests in both years. Student knowledge self assessment questions were added in 2005. Also in 2005, students analyzed an experimental design on an interim assessment. In 2004, 4 of the 8 questions showed a significant shift to more correct answers on the post-test. In 2005, 2 of the 10 questions showed a significant shift to more correct answers. In both 2004 and 2005, the percent correct answers per student on experimental design questions increased between the pre- and post-test. The majority of students correctly described 8 of 9 components of an experiment on the interim assessment. The results suggest that participation in the laboratory improved student understanding of experimental design.
Associated files
Format
Resource Group TIEE
Resource Group Link https://ecoed.esa.org/index.php?P=SearchResults&F46=TIEE
Primary or BEN resource type
Discipline Specific Core Concepts
Life science discipline (subject)
Keywords research practitioner; TIEE; pedagogy; student active; assessment; teaching; experimental design; inquiry based
Audience
Intended End User Role
Language
Educational Language
Pedagogical Use Category
Pedagogical Use Description The article is a useful resource for faculty who are teaching experimental design, since the author describes his results using a TIEE Experiment that he developed for a previous TIEE volume. The article is also a useful resource for faculty who are interested in using student-active teaching methods and assessing them. This article was published in Volume 5 of TIEE.
Aggregation Level
Structure
Url http://tiee.esa.org/vol/v5/research/griffith/article.html
Full Name of Primary Author Alan Griffith
Primary Author Controlled Name
Primary Author Affiliation University of Mary Washington, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Primary Author email agriffit@umw.edu
Added By Id
  • educationintern
Rights Copyright 2007 by Alan B. Griffith and the Ecological Society of America.
License
Publisher
Review type
Drought and Water Ecosystem Services Collection Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection Off
Big Data Collection Off
Editors Choice No
Resource Status
Date Of Record Submission 2003-10-23
I Agree to EcoEdDL's Copyright Policy & Terms of Use No
Date Of Record Release 2010-02-16 01:30:45
Last Modified By Id
  • educationintern
Date Last Modified 2018-07-25 11:08:49
Release Flag Published

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