Abstracts
Abstract
The research was carried out to determine whether the use of group tests for undergraduate science students to augment lecture material in a second-year core course in microbiology would improve the retention of material on a subsequent regular mid-term/final exam. On three separate occasions, the students were asked to complete short multiple-choice tests individually and then were asked to get together in groups of 4 to re-answer the same questions. The discussions they had in the groups improved their individual marks by 10.9% in the first test, 14.5% in the second test and 20.9% in the third test. Overall, the class average was 2.5% better than the previous year. The majority of the students indicated that the group tests improved their understanding and helped them to learn the lecture material.
Keywords:
- Group-testing,
- collaborative testing,
- science,
- active learning,
- knowledge retention
Résumé
Le projet de recherche présenté ici a été conduit afin de déterminer si l’utilisation de tests de groupe pour supplémenter le matériel présenté dans un cours obligatoire de microbiologie de deuxième année de baccalauréat en science augmenterait la rétention de la matière dans une évaluation de mi-session ou de fin de session. À trois moments différents, les étudiants ont eu à compléter de courts tests à choix multiples et à ensuite se réunir en équipes de 4 afin de répondre aux mêmes questions. Ces discussions en groupes ont mené à une augmentation de 10,9% de leurs résultats individuels au premier test, de 14,5% au deuxième test et de 20,9% au troisième test. Dans l’ensemble, la moyenne du groupe a augmenté de 2,5% par rapport à l’année précédente. La majorité des étudiants ont indiqué que les tests de groupe les ont aidés à améliorer leur compréhension de la matière.
Mots-clés :
- tests de groupe,
- évaluation collaborative,
- science,
- apprentissage actif
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Appendices
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