Date of Award

8-16-2024

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

First Advisor

Spencer Platt

Abstract

Up to 78% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students experience poor academic achievement as defined by course grades of D, F and W in college. Students entering these fields are often not prepared (Chen & Soldner, 2013) and struggle to succeed in gateway STEM courses, with one-third of them possibly failing (Freeman et al., 2011). The success rates are lower among first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minoritized groups (Doerschuk et al., 2016). At Tri-County Technical College, 30-40% of introductory biology students are unsuccessful and receive low grades (Institutional Research, n.d.). Low academic achievement has a huge impact on our students and their success in future biology courses and other college courses. It affects their career journey, graduation, and employability in the job market.

This dissertation describes the use of improvement science principles to investigate low academic achievement in biology courses. We used the following improvement science principles: 1) be problem-focused and user-centered, 2) attend to variability, 3) see the system, 4) embrace measurement, and 5) learn through disciplined inquiry. Through an improvement team and improvement science methods including empathy interviews, process mapping, five whys, fishbone diagrams, driver diagram, and Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles, we gathered information to gain an understanding of the problem before we tested change ideas. The results showed that we addressed our aim to develop and provide access to useful teaching resources for faculty and laid a foundation for future continuous improvements.

Rights

© 2024, Marianne Yohannan

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