Mastering Biology homework leads to increased student success
Pearson | October 7, 2021 in Meaningful Outcomes
by Pearson
How Mastering Biology contributes to student success
In Spring 2018, Professor Charles Galt from Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, CA partnered with Pearson to investigate the impact Modified Mastering™ Biology for Campbell Essential Biology with Physiology by Simon, Dickey, Hogan, and Reece had on student success in his Introduction to Principles of Biology course.
Researchers found that:
- The group of students with above average Mastering scores had a higher exam average than students with at or below average Mastering scores.
- Students who attempted all Mastering extra credit assignments had a significantly higher exam average than students who skipped one or more extra credit assignments.
- 87% of student survey respondents agreed that Mastering homework helped them do better on exams.
Click here to read the full case study or continue reading to learn more.
Why does Professor Charles Galt utilize Mastering Biology?
The department has used a version of the Campbell Biology text for many years and added Mastering Biology (MB) in 2010 to allow for auto-graded homework and to provide different resources to help students study and remediate as needed on their own time. Just prior to Spring 2018, he changed from MB to Modified MB which is integrated with the school’s current LMS, Canvas.
How was Mastering Biology implemented?
Galt’s course comprises two weekly lectures and one lab. Course components include three lab exams, Clickers, five lab assignments, five chemistry assignments, three midterm exams, one comprehensive final exam, 16 quizzes, and MB work.
Mastering assignments consists of one required MB one required MB homework per chapter. The assignments are open and available from the beginning of the semester and are due approximately one week after the lecture on the corresponding chapter. His assignments contain a mix of approximately 20–25 questions including multiple choice and activities. In addition, extra credit homework was offered. MB assignments make up 10% of the total course grade.
Were students successful in the course?
The average scores for the required MB homework and extra credit MB homework were calculated.
- Those students who earned above average MB scores had a higher lecture exam average than those students who scored at or below the MB average.
- The group of students who attempted all of the EC assignments had an exam average of 83%, while the group that skipped one or more had an exam average of 71%.
Did students like using Mastering Biology?
An end-of-semester survey was conducted in Spring 2018, which indicated students valued MB.
- 88% of responding students strongly agreed or agreed that Mastering gave them more tools to learn than paper-and-pencil homework.
- 87% of responding students strongly agreed or agreed that Mastering homework helped them do better on exams.
One student said:
“The best feature is that it helps you understand why you picked a wrong answer and provided an explanation so that you could learn from the mistake.”
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