Using online decision trees to support students' self-efficacy in the laboratory
| Autor: | Austin Heffernan, Sarah McLean, Nicole Campbell, Ken N. Meadows |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
020205 medical informatics
Physiology Decision tree Metacognition 02 engineering and technology Education Resource (project management) ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Humans Students Protocol (science) Self-efficacy Medical education Motivation 05 social sciences Decision Trees 050301 education Wet laboratory General Medicine Self Efficacy Blended learning Active learning Psychology Laboratories 0503 education |
| Zdroj: | Advances in physiology education. 44(3) |
| ISSN: | 1522-1229 |
| Popis: | Failed experiments are a common occurrence in research, yet many undergraduate science laboratories rely on established protocols to ensure students are able to obtain results. While it is logistically challenging to facilitate students’ conducting their own experiments in the laboratory, allowing students to “fail” in a safe environment could help with the development of problem-solving skills. To allow students a safe place to fail and encourage them to think through a laboratory protocol, online decision trees were created to lead students through protocols and give them timely feedback. The online decision trees present students with a scenario, then students execute a protocol by selecting options that will lead them down different paths and result in various realistic results from their experiments. They receive feedback and instructional tutorials throughout the simulation that are dependent on their choices. The significance of this new resource for student learning is that it allows students to practice their problem-solving skills and gain theoretical knowledge about the purpose of various experimental steps. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate whether online decision trees affected students’ self-efficacy, metacognition, and motivation for completing a wet laboratory. A mixed-methods approach was used; three surveys were administered throughout the academic term. For survey 1, students completed the decision tree and survey before the wet laboratory. For survey 2, students completed the survey before the wet laboratory but completed the decision tree after the wet laboratory. Students’ reported self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation were increased with the administration of the online decision trees before the wet laboratory, but their extrinsic motivation and metacognitive scores were unchanged. For survey 3, students provided written feedback about the impact of the online decision trees, and their responses highlighted the importance of the visual components of the approach. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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