Publicação: Volume 36, Number 6, 13 April 2014 , pp.
929-951(23)
Título do artigo: Perceptions of Science
Graduating Students on their Learning Gains
Abstract:
In this study, the Science
Student Skills Inventory was used to gain understanding of student perceptions
about their science skills set developed throughout their programme (scientific
content knowledge, communication, scientific writing, teamwork, quantitative
skills, and ethical thinking). The study involved 400 responses from
undergraduate science students about to graduate from two Australian
research-intensive institutions. For each skill, students rated on a four-point
Likert scale their perception of the importance of developing the skill within
the programme, how much they improved it throughout their undergraduate science
programme, how much they saw the skill included in the programme, how confident
they were about the skill, and how much they will use the skill in the future.
Descriptive statistics indicate that overall, student perception of importance
of these skills was greater than perceptions of improvement, inclusion in the
programme, confidence, and future use. Quantitative skills and ethical thinking
were perceived by more students to be less important. t-Test
analyses revealed some differences in perception across different demographic
groups (gender, age, graduate plans, and research experience). Most notably,
gender showed significant differences across most skills. Implications for
curriculum development are discussed, and lines for further research are given.
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