Lindsay Portnoy and Talia Lemberger
Approaches to learning have the ability to influence knowledge acquisition, comprehension, retention and even motivation to learn. Previous work indicates that despite age…
Abstract
Purpose
Approaches to learning have the ability to influence knowledge acquisition, comprehension, retention and even motivation to learn. Previous work indicates that despite age, experience, or prior knowledge, students have a tendency to approach learning differently as a function of the presented content. The purpose of this study is to explore how context influences student approaches to learning science.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors adopt a question-asking methodology to evaluate if approaches to learning the same science content vary when presented within the context of Pure Science or the History of Science.
Findings
Results indicate that contextualizing the presentation of science content, shifts the approaches students take in attempting to learn science content as evidenced by the questions they ask to deepen their understanding. Additional variables of prior experience with each scientific concept, task persistence at a distractor task and later recall of the presented concepts were related to different inquiry strategies.
Research limitations/implications
Implications for instructional design and pedagogy are discussed.
Practical implications
The framework in which scientific information is presented may impact how students modify existing and create a new schema, impacting their beliefs about scientific knowledge and the way in which students question, hypothesize and engage within the domain of science.
Social implications
By studying the role of inquiry while students engage in science learning, the authors explore the role of context, content and knowledge retention.
Originality/value
The current study probes at the nature of student questioning and its reliance on the content, context and its relationship to outcome variables such as learning and, perhaps, even persistence as it relates to students’ prior knowledge within content areas which may, in turn, lead to varying levels of student self-efficacy.
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Lindsay Portnoy, Ash Sadler and Elizabeth Zulick
Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century…
Abstract
Purpose
Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century lies the opportunity to address persistent societal needs: increasing access for underrepresented minority students to educational pathways that lead to careers in lucrative fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Design/methodology/approach
Student participants enrolled in the biotechnology pathway Associates, Bachelors and Masters programs share programmatic experience in an accelerated biotechnology program through a bi-annual survey grounded in the central tenets of social-cognitive career theory aimed at understanding requisite academic, social and financial support for student success.
Findings
The pathway program described in this paper emerged to address the need to support underrepresented students in degree attainment and taking on roles in the growing field of biotechnology through a novel, multi-degree, multi-institutional pathway to STEM degree attainment and career success.
Social implications
This work has advanced understanding about how to effectively align higher education institutions with each other and with evolving STEM labor market demands while documenting the impact of essential academic, career and social supports recognized in the literature as high impact practices in broadening participation and increasing retention of underrepresented minority students in lucrative STEM careers.
Originality/value
Pathway programs which best support student success include robust mentoring, experiential learning and robust student scholarship support, part of the design of this unique pathway program. The authors share how this program utilizes high impact practices to provide low-income, underrepresented minority students with supportive, accelerated biotechnology degrees in preparation for success in the job market. What's more, of all our BS-level graduates thus far, 100% are employed and 93% within the biotechnology field. For many, the opportunity to raise their family out of poverty via a stable, high paying job is directly tied to their successes within this program.
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Joseph Eastwood, Mark D. Snow and Stuart Freedman
The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of innocent suspects to produce accurate alibis, as well as to identify procedures police interviewers can use to increase the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of innocent suspects to produce accurate alibis, as well as to identify procedures police interviewers can use to increase the probability of generating accurate alibis.
Design/methodology/approach
In Study 1, 54 university students had a lecture (target event) end at either the normal time (schema group) or 25 min early (non-schema group) and then attempted to generate an alibi for the target event after either a short, moderate or long delay. In Study 2, 20 students had a lecture end 25 min early and underwent an interview regarding their whereabouts using a reverse-order interview technique designed to disrupt schema usage.
Findings
Results from Study 1 suggested that participants relied on schemas to generate their alibis, which led to false alibis for the non-schema group, and this reliance was more pronounced as the delay between event and recall increased. In Study 2, all but one participant produced a false alibi, suggesting reverse order is ineffective in increasing accurate recall in alibi situations.
Practical implications
Results from the two studies revealed that people can produce false alibis easily in mock police interviews – a finding that appears to result from the reliance on schemas. These findings highlight the relative ease with which innocent individuals can produce false alibis. Further research, specific to the alibi generation process, is needed to give police interviewers the tools to produce more accurate and detailed alibis.
Originality/value
This research provides additional evidence regarding the role of schemas in alibi generation. Contrary to findings from the eyewitness area, reverse-order instructions failed to disrupt schema reliance and do not appear to be an effective alibi-elicitation technique.