Improving Retention of Science Student Teachers

Our on-going research aims to try and find out why some Science graduates on one year (PGCE) teacher training courses are not successful in completing the course. The course itself has been judged ‘Outstanding’ (Ofsted, 2010), so we have focused on the student teachers (trainees). Some key characteristics of trainees ‘at risk’ of being unsuccessful were identified in a variety of ways, including data analysis of records for trainees who left the course early and those who successfully completed the course, focus groups, questionnaires and case studies. Loss of trainees during PGCE courses appears to be a characteristic across many providers of initial teacher education for Science in the UK. Key factors emerging include gender, age, previous experiences/careers, support (or otherwise) of family/partner, caring issues (children/parents), subject knowledge, attendance at a subject knowledge enhancement course and more. If characteristics of ‘at risk’ trainees can be identified, strategies can be put into place to identify applicants, who might be at risk, at the selection stage and to support them during the course to reduce the drop-out rate. Recent work, described in the paper, appears to be improving our retention. Further research is needed to confirm and extend our current approach, which could, perhaps, be applied in other institutions and across other disciplines

Towards a model for evaluating student learning via e-assessment

The need for practical tools to assess student learning at the course level is becoming a more pressing goal for all academic institutions. This is because learning assessment tools which monitor both student performance and conceptual change events that lead to improved learning ultimately provide the basis for the subsequent assessments of programs and institutions. In performing effectively in this capacity, a viable and efficient assessment tool at the course level possesses the following characteristics; 1) the ability to be integrated effectively within the existing course structure, 2) the ability to generate quantitative, measurable results, and 3) the ability to provide timely feedback. This paper proposes a model for assessing student learning at the course level which utilizes, in part, online assessment methods (eAssessments) to achieve these characteristics. More specifically, the model provides a description of how assessment may be embedded into an existing course and illustrates the utilization of online pre/post-tests and knowledge surveys as a source of assessment data. The data analysis, based in part upon Bloom's revised taxonomy, is then discussed together with how the results are used to determine the level of learning achieved. The paper concludes with a proposal for an experiment wherein the model is tested to determine its ability to detect changes in student learning originating from the implementation of a pedagogical strategy such as online tutoring

Attrition in STEM Fields at a Liberal Arts College: The Importance of Grades and Pre-Collegiate Preferences

There is widespread concern, both in the private and public sectors, about perceived declines in U.S. college graduates in STEM fields. In our sample, the proportion of science majors has remained steady over the sample period; however, the number entering our college intending to major in STEM fields has fallen. In this paper we use administrative data from the graduating classes of 2001-2009, roughly 5000 graduates, from a northeastern liberal arts college to model the progression of students through STEM majors. A series of selection models predicts the choice of whether to take a second course in the department, conditional upon having taken a first course. This choice is modeled as a function of pre-college characteristics and preferences, characteristics of the student, the course, the professor, the peers in the course, and the grade received in the course. Using the selected sample that progresses to a second course, the choice to progress to a third is modeled conditional on having taken the second. The covariates in these models are similar to those in the first stage. Models are estimated for the Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology majors. Results suggest that gender effects are important, both in terms of the influence of the absolute and relative grades received, and in some cases in terms of the peers in the course and the gender of the instructor. The intended major (as reported on the admissions application) is a strong indicator of the likelihood of taking initial courses in a discipline and progression to a second course. AP credits are also strongly correlated to taking a first course, but diminish in the more selected samples. Grades and pre-collegiate intended major, have the most consistent and important influence on the decision to progress in a STEM major. When comparing across men and women, grades play a more important role in men’s decision-making while preferences play a bigger role in women’s choices

Scientific and Practical Approaches to Form the List of Social-psychological Characteristics for Pharmacy Specialist

Nowadays according to employers, pharmacy specialist should be not only competent professional, but versed in the consumer psychology and result oriented, at the same time, i.e. concentrated on the pharmacy competitiveness increase and on maximal income and customer satisfaction.The aim of the presented work was to investigate the social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist essential in his or her professional activity, and to substantiate the list of these characteristics.Materials and methods. Analytical, graphical and comparative methods, methods of descriptive and abstract modeling, system analysis and synthesis, taxonomy and cluster analysis were applied in the study.Results. Social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist methodologically should be selected and substantiated by the main stakeholders: employers, pharmacists, doctors, customers and graduation course students. The research algorithm to define the professionally important social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist was suggested. The professionally important social-psychological characteristics regarding the requirements of employers from different countries to pharmacy specialists include sociability, responsibility, attentiveness, orderliness, and command-orientation. The main social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialists based on content analysis are attentiveness, sociability, indulgence, goodwill, responsibility, neatness, sensitivity, patience. Comparison of four research results for pharmacists, doctors, customers and graduation course students form specialty "Pharmacy" allowed to select and to substantiate the social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist essential in his or her professional activity. They are goodwill, stress-stability, honesty, command-orientation, neatness, affability, decency, purposefulness, desire for learn and develop, grammatically correct language, non-conflictedness.Conclusion. The approaches to define the professionally important social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist were analyzed. The research of the professionally important social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist was conducted with the main stakeholders: employer, pharmacist, doctor, and customer. The list of the professionally important social-psychological characteristics for pharmacy specialist was formed on the base of conducted research

Promoting engagement and learning in first year university studies: The role of personalisation

Student engagement in higher education can be conceptualised as involving three components: students’ social needs and circumstances, the cognitive characteristics of academic studies, and the prevailing institutional ethos or philosophy that specifies the relationships that students have with learning and knowledge. This paper reports on an investigation into student engagement in a first-year human development course at the University of Waikato at Tauranga, New Zealand where the teaching staff has a commitment to relating learning to individual experiences. Information from an end-of-course survey indicates that a philosophy of personalisation promotes learning engagement. Students reported that they were required to think a lot or a great deal, that they put time into the course assessments, and that they valued the human development course itself

National student survey findings and trends 2006 to 2010

This report provides an overview of the results from the sixth annual National Student Survey carried out in 2010 and a five-year time series of the overall scores for the higher education sector. It provides details of the satisfaction scores spit by student and course characteristics

The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network: Results of the naturalistic follow-up study after 2.5 years of follow-up in the German centres

The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network (SFBN) is an international, multisite network investigating the characteristics and course of bipolar disorder. Methods (history, ratings and longitudinal follow-up) are standardized and equally applied in all 7 centres. This article describes demographics and illness characteristics of the first 152 German patients enrolled in them SFBN as well as the results of 2.5 years of follow-up. Patients in Germany were usually enrolled after hospitalisation. More than 72% of the study population suffered from bipolar I disorder and 25% from bipolar 11 disorder. The mean +/- SD age of the study participants was 42.08 +/- 13.5 years, and the mean SD age of onset 24.44 +/- 10.9 years. More than 40% of the sample reported a rapid-cycling course in history, and even more a cycle acceleration overtime. 37% attempted suicide at least once. 36% had an additional Axis I disorder, with alcohol abuse being the most common one, followed by anxiety disorders. During the follow-up period, only 27% remained stable, 56% had a recurrence, 12.8% perceived subsyndromal symptoms despite treatment and regular visits. 27% suffered from a rapid-cycling course during the follow-up period. Recurrences were significantly associated with bipolar I disorder, an additional comorbid Axis I disorder, rapid cycling in history, a higher number of mood stabilizers and the long-term use of typical antipsychotics. Rapid cycling during follow-up was only associated with a rapidcycling course in history, a higher number of mood stabilizers and at least one suicide attempt in history. Copyright (c) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

Comparison of course completion and student performance through online and traditional courses

Abstract: Enrollment in online courses has outpaced overall university enrollment for the past several years. The growth of online courses does not appear to be slowing. The purpose of this study was to compare course completion and student academic performance between online and traditional courses. Archival data from the host university student records system was collected using the Structured Query Language. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze student characteristics. Chi-square analysis was used to determine if statistically significant differences existed between students enrolled in online and traditional courses when comparing course completion and academic performance. Analysis found statistically significant differences existed in both course completion and academic performance for students enrolled in online versus traditional courses. Additional analysis indicated statistically significant differences existed in course completion by course discipline

National student survey: findings and trends 2006 to 2009

This report provides an overview of the results from the fifth annual National Student Survey in 2009 and a four-year time series of the overall scores for the higher education sector. We intend to publish these data annually, and provide details of the satisfaction scores split by student and course characteristics