Browsing by discipline "Ecology and Evolution Biology, the subject teacher's sub -programme"

No comprehensive research has been conducted on matriculation examinations in biology. This kind of data are needed, however, as evaluation (e.g. challenges and contents of test assignments) direct the way students study and learn and what they consider important in the taught matter. Thus, it is impossible to say, if the tests really measure core knowledge of biology, or just fragmentary facts. The aim of this study was to provide information on the challenges and contents of matriculation examination in biology and to provide, for the first time, comprehensive information on the factors affecting competence. The results of the study can be used to evaluate the impact of the new curriculum of upper secondary school and to support the development of the new electronic matriculation examination assignments. The research questions were: 1. How do the test tasks of biology matriculation examination measure the core content and the levels of both knowledge and cognitive dimensions? 2. Are the types of test assignments, knowledge and cognitive dimensions distributed equally between all core contents? 3. Do the results vary among a) the examinations, b) the type of tasks, c) the core contents or d) the knowledge and cognitive dimensions? 4. Is the competence of a) task type or b) knowledge or cognitive dimension levels, subject to the different types of core contents? 5. How does gender explain the choice and competence of different tasks? The qualitative content analysis was used to identify the different aspects; the task types (selected response, brief constructed response or performance-based assessment), the knowledge dimensions (factual, conceptual or procedural knowledge) and the cognitive process dimensions (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate or create). The content variation of matriculation exam was examined and classified using the biological core contents. The data comprised matriculation examinations in biology from spring 2011 to spring 2015 (9 exams, 108 tasks). Additionally, statistical analyses were used to examine how the test subjects (n = 28,777) succeeded in these different assignments and whether girls and boys were equally successful. The task type "selected response" was considered only in four (out of 108) tasks. All levels of knowledge dimensions were found but higher level cognitive processes, such as "analyse" or "create" were not required; the main emphasis in the tasks was in the understanding of conceptual knowledge. The majority of the tasks dealt with the core content "From the molecules to the organisms", i.e. the focus was on biological structures and processes. The analysis of scores obtained in the tests showed that the total scores were higher in the autumn examinations than in the spring examinations and that the scores had been steadily declining. The achievement in the task was most influenced by the type of task and the required level of cognitive process. The interest and knowledge varied between different core contents. Biological evolution appeared to be the most interesting topic to students and had also the highest scores. The girls mastered biology generally better than the boys, but the difference between the sexes was minimal in tasks requiring some form of applied aspect. In particular, the boys excelled the girls in tasks related to ecosystems which mostly required applications. The study also showed other factors affecting student achievement, one of the most significant being the impact of the use or non-use of verbs in the assignment. If the assignment lacked a verb describing what the task requires (e.g. distinguish, subtract, describe), the candidates managed the task poorly. Structural aspects of the task seem to have a great impact especially on the boys' level of knowledge. Future research should classify assignments, for example through assignment instruction guidance or visual interaction on knowledge.