A moderate-structure Cell Biology course improves student performance
but fails to alleviate destructive friction of a final comprehensive
exam
Abstract
The transition from secondary to higher education remains problematic
given low retention figures in science courses, in particular in
open-enrolment universities. Adjustment to a new learning environment
and dealing with the mass experience are factors at play. We looked for
ways to ease the adjustment and to moderate the mass experience by
creating a moderate-structure Cell Biology course, characterized by
broup-based activities, frequent in-course assessment and reduced
weighting of the final exam score. Comparison of 4 years of
low-structure with 4 years of moderate-structure courses, after
corretion for annual cohort ability, revealed that moderate-structure
yields 8% higher grade points and 5% higher retention. However, the
overall gain in performance was largely dependent on in-course scores
and improvements were only weak for the final exam. The frequency of
students underperforming on the final exam, relative to their in-course
scores, increased enormously in moderate-structure courses, rom 53 to
90.3%. We see this as a sign that for a substantial number of students,
the final exam remained a destructive friction. As a result, we are
still dealing with a population that has not assimilated a considerable
portion of the Cell Biology knowledge and is starting the second year
with significant gaps.