Abstract
We studied the effect grade aspiration, confidence in achieving that grade, prior learning and university entrance ranking had on first year biology students’ final grade. We hypothesised that (1) students with higher aspiration will achieve higher grades than those with lower aspiration; (2) students with prior biology learning will have a higher grade aspiration and a higher confidence of achieving that aspiration than those without such learning; (3) university entrance rank will impact students’ final grade; and (4) students with prior biology learning will achieve a higher final grade than those without such study. We found that Hypotheses 3 and 4 were supported, Hypothesis 2 was partially supported, and that Hypothesis 1 was unsupported. If these results reflect broader patterns - that undergraduate student grade aspiration is not a predictor of their subsequent final grade - then targeted information and curricula scaffolding must be provided to better align student aspirations with their actual academic achievement.
Highlights
The aspiration of commencing university students is a topical area of scholarly endeavour, with a broad range of researchers investigating links with gender (Arnold, 1993; Cundiff, Vescio, Loken, & Lo, 2013), ethnicity (Carter, 2001; Osler, 1999; Walpole, 2008), socio-economic status (Walpole, 2008), and emotional maturity (Jun, 2008), among other factors
We investigated whether student aspiration for a particular grade impacted academic achievement in a large cohort, first year biology unit
Aspiration: What impact does prior biology learning have on final grade aspiration? (H2, H-4) Students’ final grade aspiration was not affected by prior learning, with aspirations for each cohort being almost equivalent (Figure 1)
Summary
The aspiration of commencing university students is a topical area of scholarly endeavour, with a broad range of researchers investigating links with gender (Arnold, 1993; Cundiff, Vescio, Loken, & Lo, 2013), ethnicity (Carter, 2001; Osler, 1999; Walpole, 2008), socio-economic status (Walpole, 2008), and emotional maturity (Jun, 2008), among other factors. Aspiration and achievement may be linked, in that students with high aspirations often achieve better grades (Abu-Hilal, 2000), accounting for individual and family factors. Exceptions to this have been reported, including young people belonging to some minority ethnic groups (Gutman & Akerman, 2008) and incoming precollege business students (Smith & Wertleib, 2005). The discordance among these findings calls for more in-depth examinations of the relationship between aspiration and academic achievement
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