Just the Facts? Introductory Undergraduate Biology Courses Focus on Low-Level Cognitive Skills

CBE Life Sciences Education - Tập 9 Số 4 - Trang 435-440 - 2010
Jennifer L. Momsen1, Tammy M. Long2, Sara A. Wyse3, Diane Ebert‐May3
1Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824 USA
2Center for Integrative Studies in Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824
3Department of Plant Biology and

Tóm tắt

Introductory biology courses are widely criticized for overemphasizing details and rote memorization of facts. Data to support such claims, however, are surprisingly scarce. We sought to determine whether this claim was evidence-based. To do so we quantified the cognitive level of learning targeted by faculty in introductory-level biology courses. We used Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives to assign cognitive learning levels to course goals as articulated on syllabi and individual items on high-stakes assessments (i.e., exams and quizzes). Our investigation revealed the following: 1) assessment items overwhelmingly targeted lower cognitive levels, 2) the cognitive level of articulated course goals was not predictive of the cognitive level of assessment items, and 3) there was no influence of course size or institution type on the cognitive levels of assessments. These results support the claim that introductory biology courses emphasize facts more than higher-order thinking.

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CBE Life Sciences Education

Tập 9 Số 4

435-440

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