Browsing by Author "John Park, Committee Chair"

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Academic impact of learning styles and other factors in a college botany course
(2004-04-07) Pottmyer, Laura Marie; John Park, Committee Chair; Glenda Carter, Committee Member; C. Gerald Van Dyke, Committee Member
The purpose of this research has been to determine if students with particular learning styles were at an academic advantage over other students in a college botany course. The professor for this course used methodologies within his lectures to reach the needs of all types of learners. The participants were students in the Botany 200 course, an introductory science course taught at North Carolina State University. Each of the 146 participants took the Gregorc Style Delineator at the beginning of the semester to determine their learning style and completed a survey about their views of the class and techniques being used in the class. The student scores on course exams and the associated laboratory course were analyzed with respect to learning style, gender, year in school, academic major, academic college and previous college biology courses. Learning style proved to be a significant predictor of student performance only in terms of the laboratory grades. Academic performance in the lecture part of the course was not impacted by student learning style. The female students did better than the males on three of the six measures of academic performance. Students with greater background in college level biology did better in the course than those with less experience. It appears that, when an instructor makes a conscious effort to use a variety of teaching methodologies to reach different learning preferences, the tendencies for students with particular learning styles to outperform the other students is not evident.
An In-Depth Analysis of Personality and Other Participant Characteristics in a Web-Based Course for Science Teachers
(2002-12-02) Boyette, Todd Randall; John Park, Committee Chair; Glenda Carter, Committee Member; David Haase, Committee Member; Jack Wheatley, Committee Member
The purpose of this study was to analyze the role students' personality and other characteristics play in their experience and achievement in a web-based course for teachers. Participants in the study were 17 inservice teachers enrolled in Technology Tools for Science Teachers in the 2002 spring semester. 'Tech Tools' is a web-based class designed to teach teachers how to use various technology such as digital cameras in the science classroom. As part of the class, students are required to attend four face-to-face sessions during the semester. Personality data was generated by the administering of three instruments: The Simmons Personal Survey, The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory. Students also completed an entrance survey at the beginning of the course. All e-mails and Instant Messages sent to the instructors and all posts to the class listserv were collected for quantitative and qualitative analysis. Additional data was collected through Instant Message interviews with ten of the students conducted at the end of the course. Results indicated that characteristics such as assertiveness, courage, sociability, self-esteem, rule consciousness, and teaching experience, were strongly correlated with students' final grades. Traits such as anxiety, tension, apprehension and Privateness strongly correlated with students' amount of communication. Qualitative results indicated that students who are open and receptive to new ideas were better able to handle the rigor of the course, while students that enjoy change appreciated the content and format of the course. Self-esteem seems to impact the opinions of students regarding their experience in Tech Tools and Social Boldness seems to impact their opinions about the value of the face-to-face sessions. Other findings included how the amount of teaching experience of the students affected their perceptions of the workload involved in Tech Tools, how the requirements of North Carolina's Lateral Entry program forces students to make decisions about courses that they would not normally make, and how the class listserv was not utilized by students until they had no other alternatives for help.
Pre-Service Science Teachers' Mental Models Regarding Dissolution and Precipitation Reactions.
(2010-12-13) McBroom, Rachel; John Park, Committee Chair; Maria Oliver-Hoyo, Committee Member; Glenda Carter, Committee Member; Shawn Holmes, Committee Member