Struggling first-year science students – who’s gonna fix them?

Research examining the first-year transition experience demonstrates that students struggle in finding a balance between academic, social and personal demands on their time (McInnis, 2001). This results in a misperception of the amount of work and time required to accomplish academic tasks (Watson et al., 2002). Most institutions attempt to ease this transition by offering a variety of academic and non-academic supplemental programs and services. When it comes to improving academic skills, another approach that is commonly used is to intentionally integrate these skills into the first-year curriculum. However, these efforts still occur during the period when students are struggling to adapt to their new social and physical environments, and to cope with the psychological and cognitive demands of higher education. Since there is limited time available in the university semester, a third approach to easing the first-year academic transition is to allow for more practice time between the introduction and the use of a particular academic skill. We will present our SPOT (Science Portal for Ontario Teachers) online module as an example of this third approach to facilitate the introduction of university-level academic skills within the high school curriculum. In this session, participants will identify key skill areas for development among first year students. This will provide the basis for the exploration of mechanisms through which university faculty and staff can work together with high school instructors to communicate the post-secondary academic skill expectations of students prior to their entering university. As a group, we will brainstorm “How can we introduce university-level academic skills into the high school setting?” and “Who is responsible?” McInnis, C. (2001). Researching the first year experience: Where to from here? Higher Education Research and Development, 20(2), 105-114. Watson, G., Johnson, G., & Billett, S. (2002). Ready or not? Results of an orientation week survey of education students. Paper presented at 6th Pacific Rim Conference on First Year in Higher Education, Christchurch NZ, July

Students’ perceptions of the value of an anonymous peer review activity

Peer assessment is often incorporated into undergraduate courses because it is associated with improved academic performance; however, reaction from students can be mixed. The objectives of this study were to assess students\u27 perceptions of the value of a peer assessment activity in a 2nd-year biology course. Students’ opinions were collected using an online questionnaire delivered at each of three time periods: first at the beginning of the course, second after receiving training and conducting two peer assessments, and third after submitting a revised draft and receiving feedback from the instructors. Interviews with students were also conducted after the completion of the course to gather contextual data about students’ experiences with the peer review activity. Initially, students’ comments revealed a theme of concern that their peers would do a poor job by not taking the process seriously. However, after completing the training session and conducting peer reviews, students showed a significant increase in their perception of the easiness and fairness of the process. Feedback from students also provided insight into whether they recognized the value of a peer assessment in improving their writing and whether they would rather have a TA mark the paper instead of a peer. The results of this study provide both clear direction for improving the peer assessment assignment offered in our course and valuable insight to others using peer assessment in their courses