Cluster Analysis of Learning Approaches and Course Achievement of General Chemistry Students at a Hispanic Serving Institution

Autor/inn/en	An, Jiwoo; Guzman-Joyce, Gabriella; Brooks, Alexandra; To, Kailey; Vu, Lisa; Luxford, Cynthia J.
Titel	Cluster Analysis of Learning Approaches and Course Achievement of General Chemistry Students at a Hispanic Serving Institution
Quelle	In: Journal of Chemical Education, 99 (2022) 2, S.669-677 (9 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Luxford, Cynthia J.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0021-9584
DOI	10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00759
Schlagwörter	Multivariate Analysis; Learning Strategies; Academic Achievement; Chemistry; College Students; Hispanic American Students; Minority Serving Institutions; Introductory Courses; Racial Differences + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Multivariate Analyse; Learning methode; Learning techniques; Lernmethode; Lernstrategie; Schulleistung; Chemie; Collegestudent; Hispanic; Hispanic Americans; Student; Students; Hispanoamerikaner; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Einführungskurs; Rassenunterschied
Abstract	Introductory chemistry courses tend to suffer from high failure rates. Success in an introductory course has been linked to how students approach learning. The aim of this study was to explore how students' learning approach was related to their success in the introductory chemistry courses measured by the ACS exam and the final course grade. Additionally, the study sought to understand how the level of success varied between Hispanic and non-Hispanic students at a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Students in general chemistry courses were surveyed at the beginning and the end of the semester using a shortened version of the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI). The survey consisted of 18 Likert-scale items that measured three approaches to learning: surface, strategic, and deep. K-means cluster analysis was performed to explore patterns of students' learning approaches and how they relate to success in the introductory chemistry courses. Five cluster profiles emerged, and the results indicated students with high strategic, high deep, and low surface learning approach scores had the highest average score of 53.8% on the ACS final exam, while students who had low strategic, low deep, and high surface leaning approach scores had the lowest average score of 42.1% on the ACS final exam. Overall cluster characteristics between Hispanic and non-Hispanic student groups were identical. However, for the ideal clustering of low surface and high strategic and deep learning approach scores, there was a small but statistically significant (p < 0.05) difference in the average ACS exam scores between the two demographic groups. The non-Hispanic group showed a mean ACS exam score of 55.3%, whereas a mean score of 50.7% was observed for the Hispanic student group. Additionally, the average final course grade for all but one cluster was slightly lower for the Hispanic group. The results of this study serve as another motivation to understand how to better support underserved students in chemistry courses at an HSI. Furthermore, these findings contribute to the existing literature of undergraduate students' learning approaches, particularly in relation to Hispanic and non-Hispanic demographic groups. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01