Who's Helped by Help-Sessions in Introductory Science Courses?

Abstract

The academic success of students in introductory science courses is influenced by a variety of factors, the most important of which is academic motivation (Moore, 2005, 2006, 2007; Thomas & Higbee, 2000). Students express their levels of academic motivation in many ways, including their class attendance, amount of studying, compliance with assignments, and participation in course-related activities. However, many of these motivation-related behaviors are difficult to study because they involve self-reported data (e.g., asking students how much they studied for an exam) that are highly unreliable (Caron et al., 1992; Sappington et al., 2002). Class attendance is a clear expression of students' academic motivation because it requires a clear and ongoing effort that is directly related to academic success (Launius, 1997). Although some studies have concluded that class attendance is not related to academic performance in non-science courses (e.g., Berenson et al.,1992; Hammen & Kelland, 1994; Thompson & Plummer, 1979), most studies of science courses have reported a strong correlation of class attendance and academic success (Launius, 1997; Moore, 2003, 2007). Does this correlation of grades and attendance extend to optional help-sessions that are often associated with introductory science courses? The purpose of this study was to determine how attendance at optional help-sessions is associated with students' grades in an introductory biology course. I wanted to answer several questions. For example, what students attend help- sessions? Students who are earning the lowest grades would presumably have the greatest need for (and would presumably reap the greatest benefit from) attending help-sessions; do these students attend help-sessions more often than other students? Is attendance at help-sessions associated with other motivation-related behaviors such as class attendance? Students who have not attended class would presumably have the greatest need to catch up on the course material; do these students come to help-sessions? Or are help-sessions attended by students who are earning the highest grades and who presumably have the least need for the sessions? Methods This study included 617 first-year students enrolled in several sections of an introductory biology course taught at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. The course covered topics typical of a traditional introductory biology course for non-majors. All of the classes were taught by the same instructor, in the same way (e.g., same syllabus, textbook, grading policy), in the classroom, and with the same grading criteria. Students in the study had an average high school graduation percentile of 57 and an average ACT composite score of 21. Before each of the four exams, there was at least one help-session for students wanting help with course-related questions. Attendance at these help-sessions was optional; students received no points for attending, nor were they penalized for not attending, any of the sessions. The dates and times of the help-sessions were: * announced both orally and in the course syllabus on the first day of classes * announced in class one to two days before each session * posted on a classroom bulletin-board throughout the semester. On the first day of classes all students agreed that they would be able to attend at least one of the help-sessions. I tracked the following academic behaviors and performances: 1. Grades. I tracked students' grades on lecture exams and a comprehensive final. 2. Attendance in lecture and lab. I recorded attendance at every class. Students were told that effort (e.g., class attendance) is associated with academic success, but students received no points for coming to class. 3. Attendance at optional help-sessions. All of the help-sessions were conducted by graduate teaching assistants (TAs) who had no knowledge of, access to, or input regarding exams. …