Minimal Impact of Organic Chemistry Prerequisite on Student Performance in Introductory Biochemistry
Description: Robin Wright, Sehoya Cotner, and Amy Winkle (2009). In CBE Life Sciences Education 8(1), pp 44–54.
Underlying most undergraduate curricula is the assumption that completion of courses in a particular sequence is important for student success. In most cases, this assumption has not been directly tested, and where it has, the results are mixed. [1-9] As a result, the sequence of courses in a curriculum is typically based upon faculty wisdom and experience or on tradition, rather than on actual data concerning the impact of particular course sequences on student performance. Testing these assumptions may help faculty develop more flexible and effective curricula, ultimately improving retention in and completion of rigorous programs in science, engineering, and math.
Until several years ago, University of Minnesota registration software could not automatically limit registration in a course to only those students who had completed the prerequisites. As a result, courses often included a mixture of students who had and who had not completed the published prerequisite(s). In this study, we exploited this mixture to explore the impact of the organic chemistry prerequisite and other factors such as GPA on student performance in introductory biochemistry. Our dataset included all 2823 students enrolled in introductory biochemistry between fall 2003 and summer 2006.
Surprisingly to us, we found that students had similar average grades in biochemistry, whether or not they had completed the prerequisite: 2.77 for students who had completed organic chemistry; 2.70 for those who had not. When new students who failed all courses in their first semester were excluded from the analysis, students who had not completed the organic chemistry prerequisite actually had a slightly higher average biochemistry grade (2.81) than students who had completed the prerequisite.
In addition to similar average grades, the distribution of grades in the two groups was also similar, with the exception of withdrawals: students who had not completed organic chemistry were more than twice as likely to withdraw as students who had (10.7% withdrawals for non-completers vs. 4.8% withdrawals for completers). Interesting differences were also observed between transfer students and students who had entered the University of Minnesota from high school. For example, among those students who had not completed the organic chemistry prerequisite, only about 20% of transfer students earned an A, compared to about 33% of those entering from high school.
Perhaps not unexpectedly, we observed a highly significant (p=<0.0001) positive correlation between students’ grades in biochemistry and their overall GPA. Other than the similar relationship between biochemistry grades and semester GPAs, this relationship was the only strong correlation, positive or negative, that we uncovered in our pairwise analyses of other factors, including transfer credits, total credits, grade in General Chemistry 1 and 2, organic chemistry, college of enrollment, or major.
The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that completion of the organic chemistry prerequisite improves performance in biochemistry. Thus, this study reinforces the value of directly testing assumptions about curriculum and prerequisites. In addition, the data suggest that significant improvement in student success would result from supporting all students who enter the course with a GPA below 2.5.
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Author 1: Robin Wright; wrightr@umn.edu
Author 2: Sehoya Cotner; harri054@umn.edu
Author 3: Amy Winkel; a-wink@umn.edu
Article Link: http://www.lifescied.org/cgi/reprint/8/1/44
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