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- Title
Transforming the Lowest-Performing Students: An Intervention That Worked.
- Authors
Deslauriers, Louis; Harris, Sara E.; Lane, Erin; Wieman, Carl E.
- Abstract
We conducted a small-scale study to investigate if a brief timely intervention focusing on specific study strategies would improve student performance in university science courses. We targeted low-performing students after the first midterm exam in two courses (enrollments of 67 and 185) with different student populations, one with students in a very selective physics program and the other with a broad range of students in a general science elective course. In this intervention, instructors either met personally with students or sent them a personalized e-mail. Students who met with an instructor and discussed specific study strategies improved their performance from one exam to the next by up to 32 ± 7%, without increasing their study time. These students also reported changing their study strategies during the term more than other students. Students who received an e-mail also improved their performance but not more than would be expected without an intervention. These results show that a focused discussion advising a small number of specific study strategies can have a large impact on the lowest-performing students in contexts in which the new study strategies are aligned with course structure, expectations, and assessments. This is in sharp contrast to results obtained from most general study-skills interventions.
- Subjects
SCIENCE education (Higher); EMAIL systems in education; MIDTERM examinations; STUDY skills instruction; STUDY skills research; EDUCATIONAL intervention
- Publication
Journal of College Science Teaching, 2012, Vol 41, Issue 6, p76
- ISSN
0047-231X
- Publication type
Article