Class participation correlates with academic performance in a Biochemistry and Metabolism course for first-year veterinary school students

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to investigate whether class participation correlates with academic performance in a Biochemistry and Metabolism Course for first-year veterinary school students. Veterinary Biochemistry and Metabolism is a required course for first-year veterinary students at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. The course is a large lecture course with approximately 100 students enrolled each year. Topics covered in the course include the metabolism of carbohydrates, nucleic acids, lipids, proteins, vitamins, and microminerals. In the fall of 2021, students had three options for lecture attendance. Students could attend in person, could listen to lectures streamed live, or could watch lectures at a later time since class sessions were all recorded. To increase engagement in the course, students receive Poll Everywhere questions during most of the lectures in this course. These questions were mainly in multiple-choice format and delivered to students at various times (beginning, middle, and end) during the class. Students who earned A, B, or C grades were compared with how often those cohorts participated in the Poll Everywhere questions. The results indicate that students who earned an A in the course have statistically significant higher participation in Poll Everywhere questions when compared to students who earned a B or C. The results do not distinguish between students who attended the lecture in person and those who watched the live stream since all those students could answer the Poll Everywhere questions during class time. The results demonstrate an association between class participation and academic performance. Namely, higher involvement as measured by answering Poll Everywhere question participation increases the likelihood of getting an A. Many professional schools (medical, dental, and veterinary) routinely record most lectures and do not require attendance. While lecture recordings may provide a valuable study tool for students, these results suggest that students who do not actively engage with class material miss an opportunity to maximize learning. No funding to disclose This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.