Abstract |
- The study was undertaken to determine if a university-level
preliminary class concentrating upon the formalism and techniques
germane to success in science would serve to improve minority
academic performance, minority here being defined to include certain
Asian Americans, Black Americans, Native Americans, Spanish
surnamed Americans, and those white Americans who do not qualify
for inclusion in the society of the white majority. Three hypotheses
were investigated; namely:
Ho
₁
There is no significant difference in academic performance
in a typical university biology class between those societally
liabiled freshmen who are exposed to preclass treatment and
those who are not.
Ho
₂
There is no significant difference between the academic
performances exhibited in a typical university biology
class by societally liabiled freshmen and societally liabiled
sophomores who have had identical preclass treatment.
Ho
₃
No significant difference in academic performance in a
typical university biology class will be noted between societally
liabiled sophomores who have been exposed to preclass
treatment and societally liabiled freshmen who have
not.
Though some mortality later developed, a random selection of
64 students--24 freshman experimental, 24 freshman control, 16
sophomore experimental--had administered to them the pretest, Science
Form 2A of Sequential Tests of Educational Progress-II. The
converted scores were used as a measure of student background
preparation in the sciences and as the covariant for a quantitative
analysis.
Treatment for the experimental groups was provided through
Selected Topics-Science Education 199X. Utilizing a composite curriculum
involving concepts and techniques from Science Curriculum
Irrprovement Study, Elementary Science Study, Experiences in
Science, and the more traditional secondary and post-secondary
curricula, the class focused upon seven major areas: Science as a
Way of Knowing; Assumptions upon which Science is Based; Unification
of the Sciences; Formalization of the Sciences; The Role of
Science in a Technocracy; The Role of Science in One's Private Life; The Psychology of Science. Treatment was effected for one entire
school term during which the class met three times a week for 11
weeks. Major emphasis in the course was upon the development
and intensification of skills necessary to successful verbalization,
laboratory testing, and hypothesis formation in science. Conducted
in an informal manner, the class utilized exploration and discovery
as incentives for invention, the more cognitive element in the curricular
model.
Following the term of experimental group treatment, all sample
subjects were enrolled in General Science-Biology 102 which served
as the second source of data for the empirical analysis. The curricular
model for the class included traditional lecture sessions, informal
recitation- problem sessions, laboratories, and staggered television
presentations. Because of the routine randomization of students into
general science classes, the sample populations were exposed to
several different lecture instructors, class sections, and laboratories
which afforded contact, in many cases, with instructors other than
those who handled the lecture sessions. Academic evaluation of the
students was based on points obtained from recitations, examinations,
and laboratories. These points were used in the study as data for
analysis.
For a comparative investigation of the effect of the preliminary
class, covariance analysis with the F test as a statistic was employed.
The functional relationship involving adjustment means and variances
in conjunction with the t test as a statistic was the model for a test
of significant differences among groups.
Findings
1. Students who are exposed to a preliminary science languagetechnique
class exhibit academic performances in a subsequent
typical university-level science class which are superior to
those of students who have not been so exposed. Significant
differences were obtained with each of the four test parameters:
recitations, laboratories, examinations, and the total scores.
2. Freshmen and sophomores who have had identical preclass
treatment do not differ significantly in academic performance
in a subsequent typical university-level science class though
some slight difference was observable in the area of examinations.
|