PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) pass rates and previous biological knowledge

PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) pass rates and previous

biological knowledge Phil Bishop, Lisa Russell (Department of Zoology) and Jacques van der Meer (Student Learning Centre, HEDC) - University of Otago

FYBEC1 – OtagoOrokonui Ecosanctuary

Large class size

Diversity of student population

Insufficient knowledge of students’ backgrounds

Strong ‘Health Science’ focus

Tighter financial constraints


Some of the issues associated with first year

biology teaching at Otago

First year biology class size and biology staffing at Otago University

over last 14 years

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

CLASS SIZE1840 students

1035

No. of ACADEMIC STAFF

No. of DEMONSTRATORS


5/lab/96 students

13 lecturers, 3

teaching fellows

(Total number of students = 20,453)

(1 lab per week) (1 lab per fortnight)

Student diversityTwo main entrance options at Otago

i) University Entrance (NCEA L3)ii) Special admissions (>20 years old)

There are no subject requirements for entry into the Health Sciences First Year programme

High number of International students


Amazing diversity of students

Vast range of students’ prior knowledge in class

GoalsBetter understanding of the skills students bring to the class

Better understanding of their background biological knowledge (at the start)

How would Peer Assisted Study Sessions help a group of students with poor to average prior knowledge of biology?



Peer Assisted Study Sessions

PASS @ Otago

What is PASS?Based on Supplemental Instruction programmes from overseas (high stakes vs remedial)Study sessions – NOT tutorialsTrained leaders facilitate interactive understanding and problem solvingResearch shows that studentswho participate in PASS clearly do better



PASS @ Otago

Learners should be in the driving seat!

PASS programme survey – Students’ comments……

“One hour in PASS is worth 3 or 4 hrs struggling on my own”“More personal, easier to talk amongst peers without feeling stupid”“Makes us think instead of asking teacher/leader”“Students working togetherto complete problems you probably wouldn't do by yourself”FYBEC1 – Otago

Orokonui Ecosanctuary


PASS @ Otago


PASS @ OtagoOne Peer Facilitator to 20 students, 12 sessions per semester

With over 1800 students you need about 90 Peer Facilitators to present 1080 sessions, @$25 per session = $27,000!

How could you select a group of students for PASS?


Give them a test - Prior Knowledge Survey!

Prior Knowledge Survey

Conducted on first day of the first semester in their first lecture!

8 general questions (school subjects, preferred career path, residence, preparation for the course etc)

11 cell biology multiple choice question (range of difficulties)


Prior Knowledge Survey


Enabled us to select a group of 400 ‘poor -average’ students (based on their prior knowledge), who were invited to participate in PASS

Three groups in total:

Group 1 – average students invited and participated in PASS (89)

Group 2 – average students invited, but turned down PASS (311)

Group 3 – all other students, not invited & didn’t participate

Group X - above average students, self-invited and participated in PASS (49)

Selecting students

N = 400


How did they do?



How did they do?

Max mark = 20

BB-

C

B-

B- C B B

ConclusionsOur Prior knowledge survey was a good predictor of how well the students were going to do.


ConclusionsOur Prior knowledge survey was a good predictor of how well the students were going to do.

Although PASS usually involves ‘self-selected’ students (and therefore the most motivated), in this study we selected ‘poor/average’ students and helped them improve their predicted marks by two grades.


Documents

PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions) pass rates and previous biological knowledge