Knowledge Acquisition of Biology and Physics University Students—the Role of Prior Knowledge

Torsten Binder,Philipp Schmiemann,Heike Theyssen

doi:10.3390/educsci9040281

Torsten Binder, Philipp Schmiemann + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9040281

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Journal: Education Sciences	Publication Date: Nov 27, 2019
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract

This study investigates the knowledge acquisition of biology and physics freshmen students with special regard to differences between high school (HS) high performing and low performing students. Our study is based on a prior knowledge model, which describes explicit knowledge as a composite of four knowledge types: knowledge of facts, knowledge of meaning, integration of knowledge, and application of knowledge. As a first outcome-oriented approach, we operationalize knowledge acquisition via the changes in these knowledge types between the beginning and the end of the first year. To investigate the knowledge acquisition, a test set was constructed that covers these knowledge types. It was administered to 162 biology and 101 physics students at university. We used an Item Response Theory approach to scale the data. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyze the acquisition of the knowledge types. We separated HS low, medium, and high achievers by high school grade point average (HS GPA). The knowledge acquisition of the HS low achievers did not differ from other groups. However, the HS low achievers did not only start with less prior knowledge but also were not able to reach the prior knowledge of the HS high achievers within the first year. Our findings concerning knowledge acquisition may be used to support and improve students’ knowledge acquisition in a targeted way by focusing on selected knowledge types.

Highlights

Science students in the introductory phase of university courses often struggle with mastering new subject-specific challenges [1]
To answer our research question, namely, how the different knowledge types develop over the first year for high school (HS) high achievers and HS low achievers in biology and physics courses, we examined the acquisition of the four knowledge types over the first year
In biology and physics courses knowledge in all knowledge types is acquired during the first year at university and this holds for students with different preconditions from high school in a very similar way

Summary

Introduction

Science students in the introductory phase of university courses often struggle with mastering new subject-specific challenges [1]. If a student can withstand these subject-specific challenges or not, was part of numerous prediction studies on academic achievement (e.g., [2,3,4,5,6]). Potential reasons for high predictive power of the HS GPA may be differences in the students’ subject specific prior knowledge as well as in their knowledge acquisition during the first year. Up to now, much remains unknown about the (differences in) subject specific prior knowledge of HS low and high achievers and their knowledge acquisition during the first year at university. To improve students’ performance and to contribute to the development of more effective science courses, it seems necessary to understand how students’ knowledge changes during the first year

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