Mediating Students' Fixation With Grades in an Inquiry-Based Undergraduate Biology Course

Abstract

The paper analyzes focus group data to explore student perceptions of an inquiry-based undergraduate biology course. Though the course was designed to mimic the scientific process by incorporating uncertainty, peer review, and self-reflection, students came to class focused on getting As and with a developed schema for didactic instruction and passive learning. They perceived the autonomy and self-directedness of the learning experience as a threat to their grades, and responded with strategies that protected their grades and ego, but were deleterious to learning. Students could identify merits of the inquiry-based approach; however, they made clear: they prioritized grades, and were unwilling to trust an unfamiliar pedagogy if they perceived it jeopardized their grades. In the framework of self-regulated learning, the discussion considers how to scaffold students to foreground learning over achievement.

Why Students Struggle in Undergraduate Biology: Sources and Solutions

“…Many works have demonstrated the importance of grades to undergraduate students ( Sabot and Wakeman-Linn, 1991 ; Lewis et al. , 2017 ; DeFeo et al. , 2021 ), which likely carries over into their perceptions of struggle.…”