Attendance and grades in a human physiology course.

Abstract

Teaching a lecture course in introductory human physiology with 40-183 students provided an opportunity to test the hypothesis that regular attendance is correlated with higher examination scores. Data on 556 students were recorded during five semesters, each consisting of three classes per week for 14 weeks. The students were in the second year of pharmacy, nursing, physical education, and dental hygiene programs. Attendance was recorded in each class. Regular attendance was encouraged but was not used to influence scores. The maximum possible score was 400 points, based on two 1-h examinations and a 2-h final examination. Examinations consisted of multiple-choice questions derived from reading assignments in a required textbook. Linear regression analysis indicated a small negative relation between total point scores and absences, amounting to an average decrease of 2 points for each absence, or a decrease of 0.5% per absence. Correlation coefficients averaged -0.33. The results suggest that regular attendance was helpful in a statistical sense but was not a decisive factor in learning human physiology as presented in current textbooks.

Asistencia a clase y rendimiento académico en estudiantes de medicina: La experiencia de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

“…Por una parte no encontramos relación entre asistir regularmente a clase y la superación o no de la asignatura pero, por otra, vimos como las mejores notas estaban asociadas a la asistencia. Estos dos resultados estarían en consonancia con estudios anteriores realizados en asignaturas de cirugía 1,2 , de obstetricia y ginecología 3 , o de fisiología humana 4 donde se observa una relación positiva pero no determinante entre asistencia y rendimiento.…”

“…Dicha relación, en consonancia con estudios anteriores [2][3][4] , no solo afectaba a las asignaturas de los cursos bási-cos sino también a la de los cursos clínicos, especialmente en las Patologías médicas y quirúrgicas. Queremos recordar que en todas las asignaturas de primer curso se dio una relación positiva significativa, hecho que se convierte en relevante sabiendo que es el curso más susceptible al fracaso [8][9][10] .…”

Predictors of academic performance of medical undergraduate students of microbiology class in Kolkata

“…The literature review in this area suggests that students with higher attendance perform better than students who miss class regularly. [4] However, more recent studies suggest that a student's academic performance don't entirely depend on attendance but also on several other infl uencing factors. [5][6][7] While the effect of absenteeism, gender and previous academic performance on students' academic grade is well-established among students of other professional courses and foreign medical students, [6][7][8][9] the effect of the same on the grades of India medicos received little attention in the literature.…”

Reasons of Absenteeism among Undergraduate Medical Students: A Review

“…Absenteeism at higher education level affects the learning process of the students as well as the final result at the end of academic session. 7,8 Several studies identify internal and external factors associated with academic performance. Class absenteeism is one of the factor that has negative effect on the mastery of the academic curriculum.…”