Dennis Learning Center and CLSE team publish R&I grant-supported study

A Research and Implementation Grant award from the Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning supported a Dennis Learning Center and Center for Life Sciences Education team whose work was recently published in CBE-Life Sciences Education online.

“Supporting Undergraduate Biology Students’ Academic Success: Comparing Two Workshop Interventions” looks at cocurricular workshops for 17 laboratory sections of an undergraduate biology course. Each section was randomly assigned to a workshop. One workshop focused on metacognition, and the second on metacognition plus time management.

“Based on three exams and self-report surveys administered before the intervention and at the end of the semester, students who participated in the Metacognition+TM intervention experienced greater increases in their exam scores and degree commitment than those in the baseline intervention. Additionally, group status moderated the effect of the intervention, as the Metacognition+TM intervention was especially effective in increasing use of time management tools by students from minoritized groups.”

The paper is available here and will be part of the December 2021 issue. Authors include Hensley and Joshua Peri, Anna C. Brady and Christopher Wolters, Dennis Learning Center, as well as Caroline Breitenberger and David Sovic of CLSE. 

Lauren Hensley, senior associate director of the Dennis Learning Center, reported that the team received both Institute for Teaching and Learning R&I grant support, as well as an additional Student Academic Success Research grant.

“The support from R&I and SASR grants gave us the resources necessary to invest appropriate time into developing workshop interventions, as well as to undertake in-depth analyses using both quantitative and qualitative lenses,” Hensley explained. 

In addition to the CBE-Life Sciences Education publication, the team has also had a paper accepted by the College Student Affairs Journal titled, “What Makes a Study Strategy Intervention Impactful? An Interview-Based Study.”