Attitude to the subject of chemistry in undergraduate nursing students at Fiji National University and Federation University, Australia
- Authors: Brown, Stephen , Wakeling, Lara , Peck, Blake , Naiker, Mani , Hill, Dolores , Naidu, Keshni
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Collegian Vol. 22, no. 4 (2015), p. 369-375
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- Description: Attitude to the subject of chemistry was quantified in first-year undergraduate nursing students, at two geographically distinct universities. A purpose-designed diagnostic instrument (ASCI) was given to students at Federation University, Australia (. n=. 114), and at Fiji National University, Fiji (. n=. 160). Affective and cognitive sub-scales within ASCI showed reasonable internal consistency. Cronbach's α for the cognitive sub-scale was 0.786 and 0.630, and 0.787 and 0.788 for affective sub-scale for the Federation University and Fiji National University students, respectively. Mean (SD) score for the cognitive sub-scale was 10.5 (5.6) and 15.2 (4.1) for students at Federation University and Fiji National University, respectively (. P<. 0.001, t-test). Mean (SD) score for the affective sub-scale was 13.1 (5.1) and 20.7 (4.3) for students at Federation University and Fiji National University, respectively (. P<. 0.001, t-test). An exploratory factor analysis (. n=. 274) confirmed a two-factor solution consistent with affective and cognitive sub-scales, each with good internal consistency. Quantifying attitude to chemistry in undergraduate nursing students using ASCI may have utility in assessing the impact of novel teaching strategies used in the education of nursing students in areas of bioscience and chemistry. However, geographically distinct populations of undergraduate nurses may show very different attitudes to chemistry. © 2014 Australian College of Nursing Ltd.
Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) in an introductory course in chemistry
- Authors: Brown, Stephen , White, Sue , Wakeling, Lara , Naiker, Mani
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice Vol. 12, no. 3 (2015), p. 1-12
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- Description: Approaches to study and learning may enhance or undermine educational outcomes, and thus it is important for educators to be knowledgeable about their students’ approaches to study and learning. TheApproaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students(ASSIST) – a 52 item inventory which identifies three learning styles (Deep, Strategic, and Surface), was given to first year undergraduate students undertaking an introductory chemistry course. Completed inventories (n=103, 85% response), included 30 BSc Biomedicine, 15 BSc Food and Nutrition, 22 BSc Geology, 18 BSc Science students, and a further 18 students on unnamed BSc pathways. The dominant learning style adopted was the Surface approach, with a mean score (SD) of 2.94 (0.54). The preference of the surface approach was consistent for all BSc pathways.There was a higher mean score for the strategic learning style in males (n= 59) compared to females (n=44) with no gender-based differences in either the deep or the surface learning styles.A surface approach may not necessarily indicate a lack of interest in chemistry, rather chemistry may be perceived as being peripheral to the students’ interests – this may be a problem when students with a diverse range of career aspirations study common content in large, first year introductory courses. Identifying students that adopt a surface learning style at an early stage in the undergraduate education journey is an important step in effectively targeting educational resources aimed at enhancing students’ learning habits.
Attitude to the study of chemistry and its relationship with achievement in an introductory undergraduate course
- Authors: Brown, Stephen , White, Sue , Sharma, Bibhya , Wakeling, Lara , Naiker, Mani , Chandra, Shaneel , Gopalan, Romila , Bilimoria, Veena
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Vol. 15, no. 2 (2015), p. 33-41
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- Description: A positive attitude to a subject may be congruent with higher achievement; however, limited evidence supports this for students in undergraduate chemistry – this may result from difficulties in quantifying attitude. Therefore, in this study, the Attitude to the Study of Chemistry Inventory (ASCI) – a validated instrument to quantify attitude, was used to measure attitude to chemistry in 125 undergraduates studying an introductory course in chemistry, as part of a BSc Chemistry major. The 13 week course contained 4 summative assessments: practical (PRAC), tutorial (TUT), on-line web-based learning (OWL), and a final exam (FE). Sub-scales within ASCI which quantify the ‘affective’ and ‘cognitive’ components of attitude were determined. Firstly, for all 125 students, weak correlations (r) between the affective scale score and FE (r=0.275, P<0.01) and TOTAL (r=0.228, P<0.05), were recorded. Secondly, a low achieving (LA, n=48) and a high achieving (HA, n=77) group were identified using a cluster analysis procedure. The HA group scored higher than the LA group in PRAC, OWL, FE and TOTAL (all P<0.001), but the clusters were not different in their scores for either the affective or the cognitive components of attitude. There was no correlation between attitude and achievement in the HA group, and only one weak positive correlation (0.409), between the affective score and achievement in the LA group. We suggest that although a positive attitude may be an important part of the undergraduate experience, it is at best only weakly associated with achievement in undergraduate chemistry.
Approaches to study in undergraduate nursing students in regional Victoria, Australia
- Authors: Brown, Stephen , Wakeling, Lara , Naiker, Mani , White, Sue
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship Vol. 11, no. 1 (2014), p. 1-10
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- Description: In developmental research to devise a strategy to identify students who may benefit from assistance with learning habits, approaches to study were explored in undergraduate nursing students (n=122) enrolled in a compulsory first-year course in physiology at a regional Australian university. The course constituted 30 credits (25%) of their first year of study. Using the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory (ASSIST), students were identified as adopting a deep (n=38, 31%), strategic (n= 30, 25%), or a surface (n=54, 44%) approach to study. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha [
Attitudes and experiences among first-year regional australian undergraduate students toward the study of chemistry
- Authors: Naiker, Mani , Wakeling, Lara , Johnson, Joel , Brown, Stephen
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice Vol. 18, no. 4 (2021), p.
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- Description: Both attitude and previous experiences play a large role in shaping a student’s approach to and achievement in a given subject. Similarly, students’ enjoyment of their learning experiences is an important factor in determining their retention in their course of choice. Here, we explore the attitudes toward the study of chemistry amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students at a regional Australian university, including assessing these parameters at the beginning of their first term, the end of the first term and the end of their second term. In addition, metrics on the students’ experiences of studying chemistry were collected at the latter two timepoints. Generally, student attitudes toward chemistry were positive, as were student learning experiences in most instances. Two-step cluster analysis revealed the presence of two distinct clusters of students within the data, differing significantly in their overall attitude toward the study of chemistry. Students who had studied chemistry in Year 12 did not show any significant differences in their attitudes toward chemistry, when compared to students who had not studied Year 12 chemistry; however, their learning experiences in first-year chemistry were rated as being significantly more positive. We attribute this to their increased ability to engage with and successfully learn from the topic material presented in lectures and tutorials, as their previous exposure to the ‘language’ of chemistry may provide them with an advantage over chemistry-naïve students. © 2021, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.
Attitude and achievement of first-year chemistry undergraduate students at the university of the South Pacific
- Authors: Johnson, Joel , Reddy, Pritika , Sharma, Sushita , Wakeling, Lara , Mani, Janice , Benveniste, Tessa , Naiker, Mani , Brown, Stephen
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Frontiers in Education Vol. 7, no. (2022), p.
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- Description: Student attitude toward chemistry may influence engagement and achievement in chemistry-related courses, however, equivocal results in studies conducted in Western countries to date indicate this relationship requires further investigation. In this study, we investigated the correlation between attitude toward chemistry and achievement amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students from The University of the South Pacific (USP). A cluster analysis was used to identify low- and high-achieving groups of students to further explore potential correlations. There was a positive correlation between the cognitive and affective components of attitude among low-achieving students, but not among high-achieving students. The cognitive component of attitude did not appear to be strongly correlated with achievement in students from either group, although the affective component was positively correlated with achievement. The single item most strongly correlated with student achievement was their response on the Worthless-Beneficial scale. One of the notable findings was the differences in the attitude-achievement relationship between low-achieving and high-achieving students, suggesting that combining these clusters of students into a single group for analysis may obscure underlying correlations. Chemistry educators should continue to target their teaching styles to cater to different learning styles and achievement levels of students, including cognitive and non-cognitive learning styles. Copyright © 2022 Johnson, Reddy, Sharma, Wakeling, Mani, Benveniste, Naiker and Brown.