Enhancing Assessment of Performance in Biology Courses Exploring Note Taking Strategies to Support Comprehension, Retention and Recall Erin Duckett & Danilo M. Baylen University of West Georgia

What are Concept Maps? Concept Maps Graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge (Novak) Concepts enclosed in circles or boxes Relationships between concepts described by connecting line linking concepts

What are Concept Maps?... Represented with a hierarchal structure (Novak) Broad concepts located at top Less general concepts on bottom Construct maps in reference to question Helpful to organize ideas/knowledge Reorganize existing knowledge with already acquired knowledge (Briscoe & LaMaster, 1991)

Why Concept Mapping? Science education is heavily teacher- centered (Brinkerhoff & Booth, 2013) Relies on rote learning Focuses on test scores Students do not know how to take notes Do not know how to recognize key ideas/concepts Students do not know how to study Easily overwhelmed by amount of information covered Students lack critical thinking skills

Principles of Biology I Overview Large Lecture Class Little Effort Principles of Biology I Pre-Nursing Undeclared Non-Science Science Competitive High Admission Standards to Pro. School High DFWs Content-Driven No effective Note Taking Strategies Expect A or B

Note Taking Strategies Concept Mapping Difficulty Retaining/Recalling Information Better Study Strategies Beyond Written Notes Visual Mapping

Notebooks Collected & Graded Procedures Visual Mapping * 139 Students Categorized Comp. Final Exam Concept Mapping ** 4 Unit Exams Student Performance Notebooks Collected & Graded Traditional Notes ***

Data Collection Exam Scores Affect on Student Performance Demographic Information: Gender, Major, Credits Earned Exam Scores Notebook Grades Demographic information: Gender, major, earned credits (year in college) Exam Scores Notebook Grades

Significant Relationships? No significant relationship among gender, academic major, prior credits earned with any of the note taking strategies focusing on performance (final average) No significant relationship for students who are freshmen or have GPAs above B in all note taking strategies focusing on performance However, there is a significant relationship between a GPA of <B and note taking strategy, specifically traditional note taking strategy, focusing on performance It seems that the traditional note taking strategy is not helping students with GPA of less than a B perform better in the course

Prior GPA and Note Taking Strategies 95% Confidence Interval Mean Std Error Lower Bound Upper Bound Freshmen, first semester Concept Mapping 83.894 1.678 80.573 87.214 Visual Mapping 81.617 2.056 77.550 85.684 Traditional Note Taking 86.902 1.625 83.687 90.117 Prior GPA Below B 83.490 3.064 77.428 89.552 80.802 74.740 86.864 70.811 2.772 65.327 76.294 Prior GPA Above B 3.475 76.813 90.561 87.066 80.192 93.940 86.959 2.457 82.098 91.819

Lessons Learned Provide students with a better understanding of what is expected from the notebooks Provide a rubric Discuss how submissions will be assessed Do check for plagiarism Do not allow “swappers” Remove traditional notes as a submission option

Lessons Learned… Using concept or visual mapping strategies does make a difference in student performance Design better study Demonstrate how the use of note taking strategies impact comprehension, retention and recall Collect more data Combined averages: Exam #1 Exam #2 Exam #3 Exam #4 Final Exam Fall 2014 (214) 73.885 76.37 65.67 71.88 73.03 Fall 2015 (218) 80.12 79 79.175 78.215 85.655

References Brinkerhoff, J. L., & Booth, G. M. (2013). The Effect of Concept Mapping on Student Achievement in an Introductory Non-Majors Biology Class. European International Journal of Science and Technology, 2(8), 43-72. Briscoe, C., & LaMaster, S. U. (1991). Meaningful Learning in College Biology through Concept Mapping. National Association of Biology Teachers, 53(4), 214-219. Novak, J. D. (2010). Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. New York, NY: Routledge. Patrick, A. O. (2011). Concept Mapping as a Study Skill: Effects on Students Achievement in Biology. International Journal of Education, 3(1), 49-57. Sakiyo, J. & Waziri, K. (2015) Concept Mapping Strategy: An Effective Tool for Improving Students’ Academic Achievement in Biology. Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health (JESEH), 1(1), 56-62.