Concept Inventory Development Reveals Common Student Misconceptions about Microbiology

Self Cite

Identifying misconceptions in student learning is a valuable practice for evaluating student learning gains and directing educational interventions. By accurately identifying students’ knowledge and misconceptions about microbiology concepts, instructors can design effective classroom practices centered on student understanding. Following the development of ASM’s Curriculum Guidelines in 2012, we developed a concept inventory, the Microbiology for Health Sciences Concept Inventory (MHSCI), that measures learning gains and identifies student misconceptions in health sciences microbiology classrooms. The 23-question MHSCI was delivered to a wide variety of students at multiple institution types. Psychometric analysis identified that the MHSCI instrument is both discriminatory and reliable in measuring student learning gains. The MHSCI results correlated with course outcomes, showing the value of using the instrument alongside course level assessments to measure student learning. The MHSCI is a reliable and efficient way to measure student learning in microbiology and can be used both as a faculty development tool and an effective student assessment tool.

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 67%

Development and Validation of the Microbiology for Health Sciences Concept Inventory

Seitz

Horak

Howard

et al. 2017

Self Cite

“…In this paper, we report the development of the MCI and subsequent analysis to demonstrate that the instrument is valid and reliable in measuring students’ conceptual understanding in microbiology. An accompanying paper in this issue ( 30 ) discusses common misconceptions students bring into microbiology courses, with suggestions on how to address them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development, Validation, and Application of the Microbiology Concept Inventory

Paustian

Briggs

Brennan

et al. 2017

Self Cite

If we are to teach effectively, tools are needed to measure student learning. A widely used method for quickly measuring student understanding of core concepts in a discipline is the concept inventory (CI). Using the American Society for Microbiology Curriculum Guidelines (ASMCG) for microbiology, faculty from 11 academic institutions created and validated a new microbiology concept inventory (MCI). The MCI was developed in three phases. In phase one, learning outcomes and fundamental statements from the ASMCG were used to create T/F questions coupled with open responses. In phase two, the 743 responses to MCI 1.0 were examined to find the most common misconceptions, which were used to create distractors for multiple-choice questions. MCI 2.0 was then administered to 1,043 students. The responses of these students were used to create MCI 3.0, a 23-question CI that measures students’ understanding of all 27 fundamental statements. MCI 3.0 was found to be reliable, with a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.705 and Ferguson’s delta of 0.97. Test item analysis demonstrated good validity and discriminatory power as judged by item difficulty, item discrimination, and point-biserial correlation coefficient. Comparison of pre- and posttest scores showed that microbiology students at 10 institutions showed an increase in understanding of concepts after instruction, except for questions probing metabolism (average normalized learning gain was 0.15). The MCI will enable quantitative analysis of student learning gains in understanding microbiology, help to identify misconceptions, and point toward areas where efforts should be made to develop teaching approaches to overcome them.

“…Topics related to the core concept of energy transformation (2,3), such as cellular respiration and metabolism, typically comprise a substantial part of an undergraduate biology curriculum. Learners, however, struggle with metabolism-related concepts, such as understanding the purpose of oxygen in cellular respiration, recognizing and describing the link between nutrient intake and cellular breakdown of glucose, and knowledge about the process and products of fermentation pathways (6)(7)(8). Based on the literature and our collective teaching experiences, we designed an IVV called To Ferment or Not To Ferment: That is the Question, referred to hereafter as the Fermentation IVV, as a resource to help students fill in knowledge gaps about metabolism and the relationship between the processes of glycolysis, fermentation, and respiration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Online Interactive Video Vignette that Helps Students Learn Key Concepts of Fermentation and Respiration

Cardinale

Newman

Wright

2020

Topics related to energy transformation and metabolism are important parts of an undergraduate biology curriculum, but these are also topics that students traditionally struggle with. To address this, we have created a short online Interactive Video Vignette (IVV) called To Ferment or Not to Ferment: That is the Question . This IVV is designed to help students learn important ideas related to cellular respiration and metabolism. Students in various courses across four institutions were assigned the IVV as an out-of-class preinstruction homework assignment. To test the effectiveness of this IVV on student learning, we collected and analyzed data from questions embedded in the IVV, open response reflection questions, and pre- and postassessments from IVV watchers and nonwatchers. Our analysis revealed that students who completed the IVV activity interacted productively with this online tool and made significant learning gains on important topics related to cellular respiration and metabolism. This IVV is freely available via https://www.rit.edu/cos/interactive/MINT for instructors to adopt for class use.