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

不同类型的特定学科先验知识对生物学和物理学学术成功的影响

• 批准号: 259032430
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Philipp Schmiemann
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Arbeitsgruppe Didaktik der Biologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Units
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2013-12-31 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/259032430?language=en
• 关键词: Influence; different; types; subject; specific

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.

学术成功受到各种一般和主题特定因素的影响。到目前为止，大多数关于学生建模的研究主要集中在一般的非特异性因素上，例如员工或平均成绩。但是，关于大学指示的改善，特定于主题的因素特别感兴趣。特别是学生特定学科的先验知识是他们学术上成功的良好预测指标。特定学科的大学入学检验的预测有效性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的影响可能取决于学科领域。该项目的目的是分析这些类型的先验知识对学生的学术成功的影响。根据理论模型，我们区分了四种类型的知识：事实知识，意义知识，知识的整合和知识的应用。我们提出了这样一个假设，即这两个学科在两个学科中的学术成功都有所不同，因为在第一学期中，两个学科之间的表现要求不同。例如，对于引言生物学课程（例如，动物学中的分类法），对事实和意义知识以及知识的整合似乎比知识的应用更重要。但是，对于物理学课程，我们假设知识的应用对于解决身体问题非常重要（例如，在机械中使用保护法）。为了分析四种知识的重要性，我们将为每个主题和知识类型开发测试。使用这些测试，我们将在大学第一年的三个时间点评估学生的知识。此外，我们将收集有关其他潜在影响者学术成就的数据（例如有趣的，认知能力）。结果，我们将拥有一个有效的测试工具来评估生物学和物理学领域的不同类型的先验知识，我们将能够详细介绍这些知识对学生的学业成功的影响。此外，该项目将洞悉学术成功与特定学科因素以及更一般的因素之间的相关性。该项目的发现可用于开发特定学科的大学录取测试并改善大学的指导。