We report on a curriculum assessment project investigating genetics education across a four-semester introductory to intermediate biology course sequence called Biocore. The curriculum integrates three inquiry-based laboratory courses with four large lecture courses that focus heavily on development of science reasoning skills, written and oral communication, group learning, and integrative learning. The courses utilize instructional strategies that challenge students to reach higher cognitive levels, including active learning through small group problem solving, progressive independence in developing and doing research projects, iterative work and feedback on scientific writing, and the use of peer-mentored study groups. In order to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum and the potential impact of these strategies on genetics education in particular, we implemented a cross-sectional study investigating student performance on a standard Genetics Concept Assessment (GCA), developed by Smith et al (2008), paired with a survey of student behavior. We utilized backward design to frame this curriculum assessment beginning with university essential learning outcomes aligned with program goals, course goals and individual assessment items. As a means of comparison, students in Biocore were matched to non-Biocore students enrolled in a comparable sequence considered equivalent for genetics instruction. Both Biocore and non-Biocore groups were given pre-, middle, and post-assessments, that were analyzed for learning gains associated with self-reported learning behaviors.
Results/Conclusions
We report on results of ~2400 students monitored from January 2009 to May 2010. Preliminary results to date demonstrate that the Biocore student group meet and surpass learning gains for genetics education as compared to students in the non-Biocore group after one year (two semesters) of course work. We will present additional data and analysis of clinical interviews that follows students into subsequent semester courses, investigating how systematic implementation of inquiry-based, group focused instructional strategies, integrated over a multi- semester curriculum impacts student learning gains.