Student Achievement in Biology 101 at Iowa State University Roy Marshall Bennett Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1970 Student achievement in biology 101 at Iowa State University Roy Marshall Bennett Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Curriculum and Instruction Commons Recommended Citation Bennett, Roy Marshall, "Student achievement in biology 101 at Iowa State University " (1970). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 4284. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/4284 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 71-7245 BENNETT, Roy Marshall, 1927- STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY 101 AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1970 Education, curriculum development University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN BIOLOGY 101 AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY by Roy Marshall Bennett A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Subject: Education Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Work Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Dej Iowa State University Of Science and Technology Ames, Iowa 1970 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Need for the Study 6 Statement of the Problem 8 Null Hypotheses 8 Purposes of the Study 10 Objectives of the Study 11 Limitation and Scope of the Study 12 Basic Assumptions 13 Definitions of Terms and Symbols 14 Organization of the Study 16 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 17 Introduction 17 BSCS Background 17 Objectives of the Three Biological Science Curriculum Studies Texts 20 Important Questions Concerning BSCS 22 Statistical Studies of High School Biology 29 Relationship between High School Biology and Transition to College Programs 31 CHAPTER III. PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY 101 AT IOWA STATE 39 Biology 101 Goals 40 CHAPTER IV. METHOD OF PROCEDURE 42 Selecting the Sample , 42 Description of the Instruments 45 Criterion Variable 47 Collection of the Data 48 Treatment of the Data 50 Model for Final Grade 55 Model for AT 55 CHAPTER V. FINDINGS 57 Results of a General Nature 58 Analysis of Biology 101 Data 72 Achievement Tests 74 Final Grades Si Test of Hypotheses 93 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) CHAPTER VI. DISCUSSION 99 Recommendations 103 Recommendations for Further Research 104 CHAPTER VII. SUMMARY 105 Method of Procedures 105 BIBLIOGRAPHY 109 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 113 APPENDIX A 114 APPENDIX B 124 iv LIST OF TABLES Page Distribution of AT and final grade grouped by h.s. biology versions for the sample of freshmen students enrolled in Biology 101 60 2 Distribution of means of AT and final grade grouped by college matriculation for the sample of freshmen students enrolled in Biology 101 60 3 Distribution of means of AT and final grade grouped by labor atory for the sample of freshmen students enrolled in Biology 101 61 4 Distribution of means of AT and final grade grouped by h.s. chemistry for the sample of freshmen students enrolled in Biology 101 62 5 Distribution of means of AT and final grade grouped by sex for the sample of freshmen students enrolled in Biology 101 63 6 Distribution of AT scores by h.s. biology versions for sample of students in Biology 101 64 7 Distribution of final grades by h.s. biology versions for the sample of students in Biology 101 65 8 Distribution of AT scores by college of matriculation for the sample of students in Biology 101 66 9 Distribution of final grade scores by college matriculation for the sample of students in Biology 101 66 10 Distribution of AT scores by laboratory groups for the sarn^ pie of students in Biology 101 68 11 Distribution of final grade by laboratory groups for the sam ple of students in Biology 101 69 12 Distribution of AT scores by h.s. chemistry groups for the sample of students in Biology 101 69 13 Distribution of final grade scores by h.s. chemistry groups for the sample of students in Biology 101 70 14 Distribution of AT by sex of student groups for the sample of students in Biology 101 70 V LIST OF TABLES (continued) Distribution of final grade by sex of student groups for the sample of students in Biology 101 71 Analysis of covariance on AT scores for the sample of stu dents in Biology 101 75 17 Adjusted means of AT scores by h.s. biology versions for the sample of students in Biology 101 76 18 Multiple comparison ISD on AT by h.s. biology versions for the sample of students in Biology 101 77 19 Adjusted means of AT by college for the sample of students in Biology 101 78 20 Adjusted means of AT by laboratory for the sample of stu dents in Biology 101 79 21 Multiple comparison ISD for AT by laboratory groups for the sample of students in Biology 101 80 22 Adjusted means for AT by the two h.s. chemistry groups for the sample of students in Biology 101 80 23 Adjusted means for AT by the two sex groups in the sample of students in Biology 101 82 24 Adjusted means for the college by chemistry interactions for the sample of students in Biology 101 83 25 Analysis of covariance of final grade for the sample of students in Biology 101 84 26 Adjusted means for final grade by h.s. biology versions for the sample of students in Biology 101 85 27 Multiple comparisons LSD on final grade by h.s, biology ver sions for the sample of students in Biology 101 86 28 Adjusted means for final grade by college for the sample of students in Biology 101 88 29 Adjusted means for final grade by laboratory for the sample of students in Biology 101 88 vi LIST OF TABLES (continued) Tab le Page 30 Adjusted means for final grade by chemistry for the sample of students in Biology 101 89 31 Adjusted means for final grade by sex of students for the sample of students in Biology 101 90 32 Adjusted^ means for Biology by laboratory interaction for the sample of students in Biology 101 91 33 Adjusted^ means for chemistry by sex interaction of the sample of students in Biology 101 91 34 Multiple comparisons I5D on final grade for chemistry by sex interaction for the sample of students in Biology 101 92 35 Item analysis for Achievement Test 122 36 Correlation matrix for total sample variables for the group on page 50 (N = 857) 125 37 Correlation matrix for Blue version group on page 50 (N = 94) 125 38 Correlation matrix for Green version on page 50 (N = 76) 126 39 Correlation matrix for Yellow version group on page 50 (N = 153) 126 40 Correlation matrix for the Brown version on page 50 (N = 272) 127 41 Correlation matrix for other biology versions on page 50 (N = 227) 127 42 Correlation matrix for no biology group on page 50 (N •= 35) 128 43 Biology version means for the variables listed on page 60 129 44 College means for the variables of group on page 60 130 45 Laboratory means for the group variables on page 61 131 46 Chemistry means for the group on page 62 131 47 Sex means for the group on page 62 132 vii LIST OF GRAPHS Graph Page 1 Level of emphasis in BSCS course (Blue, Green and Yellow versions) and conventional texts 21 1 CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION The pre-biology era reaches back to the decade of 1890 to 1900 which was a period of change for secondary education and the nature of education in the sciences. High school and college enrollment were on the increase. College faculties were disturbed by the lack of uniformity of students en tering college. A National Education Association Committee established as its main purpose improvement of teaching biological sciences at the secondary level (20, pp. 17-18). Their main concerns were as follows: 1. The desirability of continuous offering of biological science from the first grade through high school. 2. The establishment of a required course in biological science at the tenth grade level. 3. The requirement of one year of biology for entrance into college. 4. The need for more uniformity of content in high school biology. 5. The teaching of biology as a laboratory science. 6. The need for an emphasis in biology teaching of the broader principles of the discipline. 7. The importance for all young people to receive instruction in hygiene and human physiology before completing high school. In the decade of 1900 to 1910 the high school course "biology" was born. This beginning was small indeed with only 1.1 percent of all high school students enrolled. This was forced because of a decrease in enroll ments in the three other discrete courses: botany, zoology, and physiology. The "new" biology course was established to present a unification of these courses, but they were actually three sub-courses combined into one. A statement by Hargitt in 1905 noted (17, p. 27): 2 I plead for biology in the schools--biology rather than botany or zoology, whether singly or in successive courses. Biology means more than either alone, is more than either. It deals with organ isms as being, acting, interacting; sensitive, irritable, respon sive and adoptive to a degree seldom realized by those untrained to observe.