Perceptions of Science Graduating Students on their Learning Gains

Abstract

In this study, the Science Student Skills Inventory was used to gain understanding of student perceptions about their science skills set developed throughout their programme (scientific content knowledge, communication, scientific writing, teamwork, quantitative skills, and ethical thinking). The study involved 400 responses from undergraduate science students about to graduate from two Australian research-intensive institutions. For each skill, students rated on a four-point Likert scale their perception of the importance of developing the skill within the programme, how much they improved it throughout their undergraduate science programme, how much they saw the skill included in the programme, how confident they were about the skill, and how much they will use the skill in the future. Descriptive statistics indicate that overall, student perception of importance of these skills was greater than perceptions of improvement, inclusion in the programme, confidence, and future use. Quantitative skills and ethical thinking were perceived by more students to be less important. t-Test analyses revealed some differences in perception across different demographic groups (gender, age, graduate plans, and research experience). Most notably, gender showed significant differences across most skills. Implications for curriculum development are discussed, and lines for further research are given.

We Want to be More Involved: Student Perceptions of Students as Partners Across the Degree Program Curriculum

“…This creates space for further SaP research that captures large numbers of students' perceptions about SaP that can guide further SaP practices focused at the whole of degree program level. Similar studies have been conducted with a focus on whole of degree program curriculum development of graduate learning outcomes by drawing on students' perceptions (Matthews, Adams, & Goos, 2015;Varsavsky et al, 2014). The study also established an evidential baseline at a particular institution, which suggests that follow-up studies linked to efforts to further scaffold SaP activities across the degree program would be beneficial.…”

“…The SSSI is an established survey tool that collects student perception data about degree-program learning outcomes at the wholeprogram level using several indicators and has been used in many studies (see Dvorakova & Matthews, 2016;Matthews & Mercer-Mapstone, 2016;Varsavsky, Matthews, & Hodgson, 2014). The SSSI was adapted to focus on partnership activities across two indicators: importance and inclusion.…”

Toward curriculum convergence for graduate learning outcomes: academic intentions and student experiences

“…The majority of research into graduate learning outcomes in undergraduate science has focused on either student or academic perceptions in isolation (e.g. Varsavsky, Matthews, and Hodgson 2013, Herok, Chuck, and Millar 2013, Mercer-Mapstone and Matthews 2015; employer perspectives (e.g. Schull et al 2012); the development of outcomes in unit-specific contexts (e.g.…”

Teaching Scientists to Communicate: Evidence-based assessment for undergraduate science education

“…The discussed implications should be interpreted as such. It is appropriate to infer that the results are likely to be representative of the Go8 research-intensive Australian universities given that the student demographics, assessment practices, teaching missions, and breadth and depth of the BSc at this group of tertiary institutions are comparable Rowland, 2012;Stevens, 2013;Universities Australia, 2014;Varsavsky et al, 2013). It is also fair to expect that the following implications may resonate with science teaching academics on a broader national and international scale given other reports from the literature on the subject.…”

“…Contemporary students often have substantial commitments within and outside of university and do not have the time or cognitive capacity to wade through tacit or implicit teaching practices to reach valid learning outcomes, and nor should that be the expectation. Varsavsky, Matthews, and Hodgson (2013) outline the need for an examination of teaching and assessment practices in Australian higher education science programs to elucidate how graduate skills are integrated throughout the program, and to address the question: Are graduate skills included explicitly in teaching and assessment tasks? Colthorpe et al (2013) state that 'despite the central nature of communication to student success, many undergraduate courses do not explicitly teach scientific communication skills; instead, the skills are implicit within assessment design'.…”