Print PageJust as the dynamics of ecological systems are often influenced by complex direct and indirect effects of a large number of factors, the same is true in terms of learning gains in science courses. Especially in laboratory courses where the number of students is small and the effect sizes of any pedagogical change may be small, determining what factors influence learning gains is difficult using traditional statistical approaches. As a result, we used a structural equation modeling approach to examine the factors that influence changes in student self-efficacy and student scientific reasoning skills. We used a standard pre-test/post-test approach with students in laboratory courses from five different colleges and universities in courses ranging from introductory biology to advanced courses for majors.
Results/Conclusions
At the end of the course, student confidence and student scientific reasoning skills were strongly influenced by their confidence and scientific reasoning skills at the beginning of the semester, as well as their perception of instructional and assessment practices in the course. Gains in confidence and scientific reasoning were significantly related to positive student’s perceptions of authentic laboratory activities. However, other aspects of instructional and assessment practices that influenced post-test scores differed for student confidence and scientific reasoning. As might be expected, STEM majors and those students who had taken more laboratory courses scored higher on the post-test of scientific reasoning skills, although these two factors did not influence student self-efficacy. Interestingly, gender and racial/ethnicity group did not influence post-test scores. Together, our results suggest that instructional practices can greatly influence learning gains in laboratory courses.
