Influence of different types of subject-specific prior knowledge on academic success in biology and physics

学业成功受各种一般性和特定学科因素的影响。到目前为止，大多数关于学生学业成功模型的研究主要集中在一般的、非特定的因素上，如就业或平均成绩。然而，在改善大学教学方面，特定学科的因素尤其令人感兴趣。尤其是学生，特定学科的先验知识可以很好地预测他们的学业成功。各学科大学入学考试的预测效度进一步强调了这一点。然而，关于不同类型的先验知识似乎存在一些差异。一些研究表明，不同类型的先验知识对学生学业成功的影响可能取决于学科领域。这个项目的目的是分析这些类型的先验知识对学生在生物和物理方面的学业成功的影响。在一个理论模型的基础上，我们区分了四种类型的知识：事实知识、意义知识、知识整合和知识应用。我们提出的假设是，由于两门学科在第一学期的成绩要求不同，这些类型的先验知识对学业成功的预测是不同的。例如，对于生物学入门课程(例如动物学的分类学)，关于事实和意义的知识以及知识的整合似乎比知识的应用更重要。然而，对于物理入门课程，我们假设知识的应用对解决物理问题非常重要(例如，使用力学中的守恒定律)。为了分析这四种知识的重要性，我们将为每一门学科和每一种知识类型开发一个测试。使用这些测试，我们将在大学一年级的三个时间点评估学生的知识。此外，我们将收集其他潜在影响学生学业成功的因素(如兴趣、认知能力)的数据。因此，我们将有一个有效的测试工具来评估不同类型的生物和物理先前知识，我们将能够就这些类型的知识对学生学业成功的影响做出详细的陈述。此外，这个项目将提供对学业成功与特定学科因素以及更一般因素之间的相关性的洞察。S项目的研究结果可用于开发大学入学科目测试和改进大学教学。

Academic success is influenced by a variety of general and subject-specific factors. So far, most studies on the modelling of students¿ academic success have mainly focused on general, non-specific factors like employment or grade point average. With regard to the improvement of university instruction, however, subject-specific factors are of particular interest. Especially students¿ subject-specific prior knowledge is a good predictor of their academic success. This is further emphasized by the predictive validity of subject-specific university admission tests. Nevertheless, there seem to be some differences concerning different types of prior knowledge. Some studies suggest that the influence of different types of prior knowledge on students¿ academic success might depend on the subject area. The purpose of this project is to analyze the influence of these types of prior knowledge on students¿ academic success in biology and physics. On the basis of a theoretical model, we differentiate between four types of knowledge: knowledge of facts, knowledge of meaning, integration of knowledge, and application of knowledge. We put forward the hypothesis that these types of prior knowledge predict academic success differently in the two subjects, as the performance requirements differ between the two subjects in the first semesters. For instance, for the introductory biology courses (e.g. taxonomy in zoology), knowledge of facts and knowledge of meaning as well as the integration of knowledge seem to be more important than the application of knowledge. For the introductory physics courses, however, we assume that the application of knowledge is very important to solve physical problems (e.g. using conservation laws in mechanics). In order to analyze the importance of the four types of knowledge, we will develop a test for each subject and type of knowledge. Using these tests, we will assess students¿ knowledge at three time points during their first year at university. Moreover, we will gather data on other potential influencing factors on students¿ academic success (e.g. interest, cognitive abilities). As a result, we will have a valid testing tool to assess different types of prior knowledge in biology and physics and we will be able to make detailed statements about the influence of these types of knowledge on the students¿ academic success. In addition, this project will provide insight into the correlation between academic success and subject-specific factors as well as more general factors. The project¿s findings can be used to develop subject-specific tests for university admission and to improve university instruction.