Successful mentoring program in an introductory biology course

Background/Question/Methods

Students in a large-lecture first semester introductory biology course were enrolled in a developmental math course, enrolled in a math course as part of the NSF-funded Science Talent Expansion Program (STEP), or not enrolled in a math course.  We present results from the second year when all students in the class, not just the students in a STEP math course, have the opportunity to attend outside of class mentoring sessions offered by undergraduate students skilled in facilitating mentoring sessions.  Based on our previous studies, we hypothesize that students attending more sessions will perform better in the course and that session attendance will not differ due to enrollment in a STEP math course.  We also hypothesize that in agreement with past years, the grade in the course for students in STEP college algebra and students not in a STEP math class will not be significantly different.  

Results/Conclusions

During the fall 2012 semester 48 students attended 0 sessions, 140 attended 1-8 sessions, 45 attended 9-16 sessions, and 59 attended 17 or more sessions.  An ANOVA indicates that students attending more sessions have a higher grade in the course (P < 0.0001) supporting our hypothesis that as in past years students attending more sessions do better in the course.  The percentage of STEP math students and non-STEP math students attending sessions was similar supporting our hypothesis that session attendance does not differ due to enrollment in a STEP math course.  As in past years, enrollment in a math course is a significant factor in determining grades in this course (P = 0.00185).  Results of a Tukey’s test indicate that students enrolled in the STEP calculus course have significantly higher grades in the course than do students in STEP pre-calculus, STEP college algebra, and students not enrolled in a math course but that there are no significant differences for students in the latter three categories.