Minimal Impact of Organic Chemistry Prerequisite on Student Performance in Introductory Biochemistry

Wright, Robin; Cotner, Sehoya; Winkel, Amy

doi:10.1187/cbe.07-10-0093

Cited by 27 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Entering GPA tended to be the variable most highly correlated to student grades in each course studied (Table 1), similar to previous results (Wright et al ., 2009; Rauschenberger and Sweeder, 2010). When each class was analyzed using our HLM, Entering GPA was the single best predictor, accounting for the most variance in all models (22.3–58.0%), followed frequently by Gender (1–3%).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Analysis of Student Performance in Large-Enrollment Life Science Courses

Creech

Sweeder

2012

LSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study examined the historical performance of students at Michigan State University in 12 life sciences courses over 13 yr to find variables impacting student success. Hierarchical linear modeling predicted 25.0–62.8% of the variance in students’ grades in the courses analyzed. The primary predictor of a student's course grade was his or her entering grade point average; except for the second course in a series (i.e., Biochemistry II), in which the grade for the first course in the series (i.e., Biochemistry I) was often the best predictor, as judged by β values. Student gender and major were also statistically significant for a majority of the courses studied. Female students averaged grades 0.067–0.303 lower than their equivalent male counterparts, and majors averaged grades were 0.088–0.397 higher than nonmajors. Grades earned in prerequisite courses provided minimal predictive ability. Ethnicity and involvements in honors college or science residential college were generally insignificant.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 90%

Analysis of Student Performance in Large-Enrollment Life Science Courses

Creech

Sweeder

2012

LSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While students who completed a recommended prerequisite human physiology laboratory course earned significantly higher grades in a follow-up human anatomy course compared to students who did not enroll in the prerequisite, the effect was small (Table 3). This result is similar to those previously reported (Steele and Barnhill 1982, Canaday and Lancaster 1985, Wright et al 2009, Sato et al 2017.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Other studies have reported a lack of correlation. Wright et al (2009) examined performance in a biochemistry course and found that students performed equally well whether they had completed an organic chemistry prerequisite or not. Canaday and Lancaster (1985) found that there was no impact of undergraduate courses in biochemistry, vertebrate anatomy, histology, or embryology on the GPA of first-year medical students, courses that would presumably provide students with an advantage in medical school.…”

Section: Continued On Next Pagementioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Physiology Prerequisites on Future Anatomy and Physiology Courses

Shaffer¹,

Schriner²,

Loudon³

et al. 2018

HAPS ED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Universities use prerequisites to regulate the path of students through a program or major. However, the impact of prerequisites on follow-up courses in anatomy and physiology is not well understood. If success in follow-up courses depends on completion of prerequisite courses, then students should earn higher grades on exam questions that assess prerequisite knowledge. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the potential impact of a required prerequisite human physiology lecture course on a followup human physiology laboratory course and a follow-up molecular pharmacology course. We also investigated the potential impact of a recommended prerequisite human physiology laboratory course on a follow-up human anatomy course. We assessed student exam performance in the follow-up courses based on their familiarity with the material from the required prerequisite course or the recommended prerequisite course. Our results were mixed and demonstrated limited performance gains in the follow-up courses despite overlap of material among the courses. These results suggest that prerequisite courses may not have a significant impact on the outcome of future related courses and that individual academic programs should evaluate the effectiveness of prerequisite courses in a local context.

show abstract

“…Similar to our investigation, prior work outside CS has examined the relationship between course grades in prerequisites and followon courses, finding that prerequisite grades predict subsequent course grades [7,12,13,24]. Wright et al found that biochemistry course grades are not impacted by taking the recommended organic chemistry prerequisite, but did find a strong relationship between cumulative GPA and biochemistry course grade [29]. Similarly, we found a relationship between non-prerequisite non-major courses and subsequent course grade.…”

Section: Previous Work 21 Role Of Prerequisite Coursessupporting

confidence: 85%

Exploring the Link Between Prerequisites and Performance in Advanced Data Structures

Krause-Levy

Valstar

Porter

et al. 2020

Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent work has identified a mismatch between instructor expectations of students' mastery of prerequisite course content and their actual ability. This invites the question of why this mismatch exists. We first examined grades in prerequisite courses and found they meaningfully correlated with performance on an assessment testing their knowledge of prerequisite material. In addition, we found neither taking alternatives to the primary identified prerequisites nor the delay between taking prerequisite courses and the follow-on course meaningfully impacts performance. Second, we confirmed that prerequisite course grades are significantly correlated with the grade in the follow-on course-confirming that the grades in the previous courses convey some information about student understanding of those topics. Perhaps surprisingly, we found that grades in courses outside computing were similarly correlated as those courses inside computing, suggesting that underlying factors such as general study skills may be as important as the domain-specific knowledge itself.

show abstract

Minimal Impact of Organic Chemistry Prerequisite on Student Performance in Introductory Biochemistry

Cited by 27 publications

References 5 publications

Analysis of Student Performance in Large-Enrollment Life Science Courses

Analysis of Student Performance in Large-Enrollment Life Science Courses

The Impact of Physiology Prerequisites on Future Anatomy and Physiology Courses

Exploring the Link Between Prerequisites and Performance in Advanced Data Structures

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About