“It's Complex”: Student Preconceptions about the Difficulty of Physiology Courses

Abstract

Students' pre‐conceived ideas about the difficulty of specific classes can affect their experience in these courses. Anxiety, uncertain motivation, and potential reticence to engage with topics regarded as difficult to learn can impact student success in these courses. In our student population, informal student feedback suggests that our physiology courses are widely regarded as difficult and challenging. Faculty who teach physiology at other institutions have noted this student perception as well, and suggest that students find this discipline difficult because of its complexity and the requirement for mechanistic reasoning (J. Michael, Adv Physiol Edu 2006). This study aimed to evaluate students' perceptions about physiology, including its relevance to other aspects of biology, levels of biological organization that it encompasses, and overall difficulty. The study population was drawn from students enrolled in two different biology majors courses at Missouri Western State University, a regional, comprehensive, primarily undergraduate institution with a large proportion of first‐generation college students. An anonymous survey, using 10 questions scored on a Likert‐type scale plus an open‐ended question, was administered on the first day of class. 40% of the respondents had previously taken a physiology course (anatomy & physiology, animal physiology, or plant physiology). Ninety‐seven percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that it is important to understand how cells communicate with each other to understand organismal function. However, interestingly, fewer students (71% of respondents) agreed or strongly agreed that “it is important to understand the molecules and ions that are involved in specific organ functions.” Survey responses to the statement “numbers and equations are rarely used when describing physiological events” were neutral on the Likert scale, suggesting that students may not anticipate using math in physiology courses. Open‐ended responses to the question “Do you view physiology as a difficult subject to learn?” frequently included comments about “complexity of the organism” and “a lot of information to learn”. Data from this survey can be used to help address specific student concerns about course content and may be useful to inform teaching strategies.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.