Call on me! Undergraduates’ perceptions of voluntarily asking and answering questions in front of large‐enrollment science classes

Abstract

Allowing students to voluntarily ask and answer questions in front of the whole class is a common teaching practice used in college science courses. However, few studies have examined college science students’ perceptions of this practice, the extent to which students choose to engage in this practice, and what discourages students from participating. In this study, our research questions were: (1) To what extent do students perceive that instructors allowing students to ask and answer questions in front of the whole class is helpful to them and why? (2) To what extent do students report asking and answering questions in front of large-enrollment college science courses? (3) What factors discourage students from asking and answering questions in front of large-enrollment science courses? and (4) To what extent do student demographics predict whether students perceive asking and answering questions to be helpful and the factors that discourage them from participating? This study was conducted by 19 students enrolled in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) at the University of Central Florida. The study built upon a pilot interview study of 50 undergraduates about their experiences asking and answering questions in science courses, which was used to develop a framework of factors that influenced student participation in class. This framework informed the development of the survey for this study. To answer our research questions, we surveyed 417 undergraduates at a research-intensive institution about their experiences asking and answering questions in large-enrollment college science courses. Using binary logistic regression, we examined whether there were differences among students of different demographic groups regarding their opinions about asking and answering questions. We found that overwhelmingly students reported that other students voluntarily asking and answering instructor questions is helpful to them. Notably, compared to continuing generation students, first generation students were more likely to perceive other students asking questions to be helpful. Despite perceiving asking and answering questions to be helpful, over half of students reported that they never ask or answer questions in large-enrollment college science courses during a semester, and women were more likely than men to report never asking questions. We identified fear of negative evaluation, or students’ sense of dread associated with being unfavorably evaluated, as a primary factor influencing their decision to answer instructor questions. This work adds to a growing body of literature on student participation in large-enrollment college science courses and begins to uncover underlying factors influencing student participation.