Student Attitudes Contribute to the Effectiveness of a Genomics CURE

Abstract

The Genomics Education Partnership (GEP) engages students in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). To better understand the student attributes that support success in this CURE, we asked students about their attitudes using previously published scales that measure epistemic beliefs about work and science, interest in science, and grit. We found, in general, that the attitudes students bring with them into the classroom contribute to two outcome measures, namely, learning as assessed by a pre- and postquiz and perceived self-reported benefits. While the GEP CURE produces positive outcomes overall, the students with more positive attitudes toward science, particularly with respect to epistemic beliefs, showed greater gains. The findings indicate the importance of a student's epistemic beliefs to achieving positive learning outcomes.

Keywords: CUREs; active learning; bioinformatics; genomics; undergraduate education.

FIG 1

Positive perceptions of science scores differentiate outcome measures. (A and B) The postcourse positive perceptions of science scores were grouped into quartiles to examine the postcourse quiz scores (A) and the postcourse self-reported mean benefits derived from the student survey (B). For each figure, the x axis shows the four quartiles with the range of perceptions scores shown below the bars. (A) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the mean quiz scores grouped by positive perceptions quartiles. The result yielded a significant difference between groups (F = 39.1; df = 3, 984; P < 0.001; r² = 0.10). Pairwise comparisons analyzed via the Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) test showed that the mean quiz scores for students in quartiles 3 and 4 did not differ from each other, but both were significantly higher than quiz scores for students in quartiles 1 and 2. The mean quiz scores for quartile 2 were significantly higher than the mean quiz scores for quartile 1 (P < 0.05). Error bars represent 2 standard errors of the mean (SEM). (B) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the mean self-reported benefits from the postcourse survey grouped by positive perceptions quartiles. The result yielded a significant difference between groups (F = 51.5; df = 3, 1,040; P < 0.001; r² = 0.13). Pairwise comparisons made with the Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean self-reported benefits for students in quartile 4 were significantly higher than those for students in the other three groups. The means for students in quartiles 3 and 2 were higher than those for quartile 1 students (P < 0.05), but groups 2 and 3 did not differ from each other. Error bars represent 2 SEM.

FIG 2

Negative perceptions of science scores differentiate outcome measures. (A and B) The postcourse negative perceptions of science scores were grouped into quartiles to examine the postcourse quiz scores (A) and the postcourse mean self-reported benefits derived from the student survey (B). For each figure, the x axis shows the four quartiles with the range of negative perceptions scores shown below the bars. (A) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the postcourse quiz scores grouped by negative perceptions quartiles. The result yielded a significant difference between groups (F = 54.0; df = 3, 955; P < 0.001; r² = 0.14). A Tukey HSD pairwise comparison analysis showed that the mean postcourse quiz score for students in quartile 4 (highest score for negative perceptions) was significantly lower than the mean quiz scores for each of the other three groups. The mean for quartile 3 students was significantly lower than the means of each of quartiles 2 and 1, which in turn differed from each other (P < 0.01). Error bars represent 2 SEM. (B) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the self-reported benefits from the postcourse survey grouped by negative perceptions quartiles. The result yielded a significant difference between groups (F = 3.14; df = 3, 1,010; P < 0.05; r² = 0.01). Tukey HSD pairwise comparisons indicated that the mean self-reported benefits score for quartile 3 students was significantly lower than the mean self-reported benefits score for quartile 1 students (P < 0.05). Other differences were not significant. Error bars represent 2 SEM.

FIG 3

TOSRA scores differentiate outcome measures. The groups used here are based on scores from three TOSRA scales, Enjoyment of Science (“enjoyment,” median score of 21 of 25 possible points), Interest in Science Beyond the Classroom (“interest,” median score of 19 of 25 possible points), and Career Interest in Science (“career,” median score of 28 of 35 possible points). To generate a student TOSRA profile, in each case a student receives a 1 for a score below the median or a 2 for a score above the median. Thus, the profile group labeled 3 scored lower than the median on all three scales, while the profile group labeled 6 scored higher than the median on all three scales. The postcourse TOSRA profiles were used to analyze the postcourse quiz scores (A) and the postcourse mean self-reported benefits (B). Finally, mean scores from the two extreme TOSRA profile groups were compared to each other with respect to the individual items on the survey of self-reported benefits (C). (A) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the quiz scores grouped by TOSRA profiles. The result yielded a significant difference between groups (F = 17.6; df = 3, 574; P < 0.001; r² = 0.08). A Tukey HSD test for pairwise differences indicated that the mean postcourse quiz scores for the students with the three higher TOSRA profile scores (4, 5, and 6) were all significantly higher than the mean postcourse quiz scores for students with the lowest TOSRA profile score (P < 0.05) but not different from each other. Error bars represent 2 SEM. (B) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the self-reported benefit means grouped by TOSRA profiles. The result yielded a significant difference between groups (F = 5.1; df = 3, 629; P < 0.003; r² = 0.02). A Tukey HSD for pairwise comparisons indicates that the mean self-reported benefits for students with a profile score of 6 were significantly higher than those for students with a profile score of 3 or 4 (P < 0.05) but not significantly higher than the mean for students with a profile score of 5. Error bars represent 2 SEM. (C) Mean self-reported benefits for students who scored below the median on all three aspects of the postcourse TOSRA survey (resulting in an overall TOSRA score of 3) are shown as red triangles. Mean SURE scores for students who scored above the median on all three aspects of the TOSRA survey (resulting in an overall TOSRA score of 6) are shown as green diamonds. Higher self-reported benefits are reported by the latter group for most items on the survey.

FIG 4

Postcourse quiz scores are not differentiated by Grit score, while self-reported benefits are differentiated by Grit score using the postcourse survey data. (A and B) The postcourse Grit scores were divided into 4 quartiles to permit the comparisons of postcourse quiz scores (A) and comparisons of the postcourse self-reported benefits derived from the student survey (B). Following general practice, the Grit scores are represented as an average score per item (range 1 to 5). The range of Grit scores within a quartile is shown above the quartile label at the bottom of the figures. Error bars represent 2 SEM. (A) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the quiz scores grouped by Grit quartiles. The analysis indicated no significant differences. (B) A one-way between-groups ANOVA test was performed using the mean self-reported benefits grouped by Grit quartiles. The result indicates a significant difference between groups (F = 12.4; df = 3, 842; P < 0.001; r² = 0.04). A Tukey HSD test for pairwise differences indicated that the students in the highest Grit quartile group had mean self-reported benefits scores significantly higher than those of the other three groups (P < 0.03). In addition, the mean for group 3 was higher than the mean for group 1 (P < 0.01). Error bars represent 2 SEM.