Dataset Information

Is the undergraduate microbiology curriculum preparing students for careers in their field?: an assessment of biology majors' conceptions of growth and control of microorganisms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

We present an analysis of students' responses to application-based questions on the topic of growth and control of microorganisms, from a questionnaire administered to 348 second and third year students of an Indian university who were enrolled in its undergraduate programs in Biotechnology or Microbiology. We examined aspects of the laboratory practice as reported by teachers and of the university assessment patterns that may explain our findings. Reports by teachers also included their views on the impact of the laboratory curriculum on building student capabilities. Studies such as this play an important role in informing the ongoing discourse in the country about much-needed reforms in undergraduate education.

Results

Our analysis revealed several lacunae in students' understanding. Students' performance on the questionnaire was also found to be poorly correlated with their academic achievement in the university examinations. Teachers' reports revealed that there was a minimal student involvement in planning and designing of the experiments in their laboratory course; rather, cookbook protocols were commonly used by the students. There was a striking disparity between students' stated career aspirations and their preparedness for them.

Conclusions

Our analysis points to underlying issues in the teaching-learning and assessment process; we discuss these issues and possible alternatives to the current practices. This study, to the best of our knowledge, is the first in the country that has explored students' conceptions for an elementary topic in biology education at the tertiary level. We believe that the results of the study will be useful in shaping the ongoing educational reforms in higher education and will also be useful in developing a concept inventory on this topic.

SUBMITTER: Sawant AP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6310449 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Is the undergraduate microbiology curriculum preparing students for careers in their field?: an assessment of biology majors' conceptions of growth and control of microorganisms.

Sawant Aakanksha Purushottam AP Patil Swapnaja Arvind SA Vijapurkar Jyotsna J Bagban Needa Nasir NN Gupta Deepti Bhushan DB

International journal of STEM education 20181019 1

<h4>Background</h4>We present an analysis of students' responses to application-based questions on the topic of growth and control of microorganisms, from a questionnaire administered to 348 second and third year students of an Indian university who were enrolled in its undergraduate programs in Biotechnology or Microbiology. We examined aspects of the laboratory practice as reported by teachers and of the university assessment patterns that may explain our findings. Reports by teachers also inc ...[more]

PMID: 30631732

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Resistance to antimicrobial agents has become a problem in modern society. Antibiotic resistant bacteria undermine the prevention and treatment of infections. Undergraduate dental students in Europe are required to receive information in aspects of microbiology relevant for dental practice, including oral microbial pathogens and resistance mechanisms against antimicrobial compounds. The objective of this study was to implement a research-based strategy to aid the understanding of the increase in antimicrobial resistance in undergraduate dental student training. The primary outcome of this project is the efficacious delivery of the learning objectives. METHODS:Ten volunteer undergraduate student "ambassadors" were recruited to manage the project with assistance from lead academics. Student ambassadors were a source of peer learning for their colleagues. The project consisted of three phases: Pre-project preparation (in which the ambassadors received special instruction and training); Practical experience (in which the ambassadors worked with volunteer student colleagues to carry out the project); Public presentation of results (in which ambassadors presented study results at a scientific conference of their choosing). RESULTS:A total of 1164 students volunteered for the project, corresponding to an average participation rate of 76.4% students per year of the course. Following final debriefing, student participants and ambassadors were strongly positive in their evaluation of the achievement of 8 key student learning objectives. The results demonstrate that most volunteers improved their knowledge related to antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in microbiology. Additional benefits of participation in this project included an improvement in dental knowledge and ethics in biomedical research for the student volunteers, whilst the student ambassadors reported improved knowledge about critical thinking and study design, as well as a deeper understanding about microbiological analysis methods. CONCLUSIONS:To the best of our knowledge, this the first instance of the application of project-based methodologies to the teaching of a traditionally non-laboratory component of a subject taught in the dentistry curriculum. Results from both students and ambassadors highlighted the increase in dental knowledge and an increased awareness of antimicrobial resistance as the key outcomes of this project.

Dataset Information

Is the undergraduate microbiology curriculum preparing students for careers in their field?: an assessment of biology majors' conceptions of growth and control of microorganisms.

Background

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Is the undergraduate microbiology curriculum preparing students for careers in their field?: an assessment of biology majors' conceptions of growth and control of microorganisms.

Similar Datasets

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