Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments
While visual literacy has been identified as a foundational skill in life science education, there are many challenges in teaching and assessing biomolecular visualization skills. Among these are the lack of consensus about what constitutes competence and limited understanding of student and instruc...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/1/94 |
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| author | Josh T. Beckham Daniel R. Dries Bonnie L. Hall Rachel M. Mitton-Fry Shelly Engelman Charmita Burch Roderico Acevedo Pamela S. Mertz Didem Vardar-Ulu Swati Agrawal Kristin M. Fox Shane Austin Margaret A. Franzen Henry V. Jakubowski Walter R. P. Novak Rebecca Roberts Alberto I. Roca Kristen Procko |
| author_facet | Josh T. Beckham Daniel R. Dries Bonnie L. Hall Rachel M. Mitton-Fry Shelly Engelman Charmita Burch Roderico Acevedo Pamela S. Mertz Didem Vardar-Ulu Swati Agrawal Kristin M. Fox Shane Austin Margaret A. Franzen Henry V. Jakubowski Walter R. P. Novak Rebecca Roberts Alberto I. Roca Kristen Procko |
| author_sort | Josh T. Beckham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | While visual literacy has been identified as a foundational skill in life science education, there are many challenges in teaching and assessing biomolecular visualization skills. Among these are the lack of consensus about what constitutes competence and limited understanding of student and instructor perceptions of visual literacy tasks. In this study, we administered a set of biomolecular visualization assessments, developed as part of the BioMolViz project, to both students and instructors at multiple institutions and compared their perceptions of task difficulty. We then analyzed our findings using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative analysis was used to answer the following research questions: (1) Which assessment items exhibit statistically significant disparities or agreements in perceptions of difficulty between instructors and students? (2) Do these perceptions persist when controlling for race/ethnicity and gender? and (3) How does student perception of difficulty relate to performance? Qualitative analysis of open-ended comments was used to identify predominant themes related to visual problem solving. The results show that perceptions of difficulty significantly differ between students and instructors and that students’ performance is a significant predictor of their perception of difficulty. Overall, this study underscores the need to incorporate deliberate instruction in visualization into undergraduate life science curricula to improve student ability in this area. Accordingly, we offer recommendations to promote visual literacy skills in the classroom. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:58:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-31ff7cb74f484474a7b368c4019f7fe9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T10:58:58Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-31ff7cb74f484474a7b368c4019f7fe92024-01-26T16:10:36ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022024-01-011419410.3390/educsci14010094Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization AssessmentsJosh T. Beckham0Daniel R. Dries1Bonnie L. Hall2Rachel M. Mitton-Fry3Shelly Engelman4Charmita Burch5Roderico Acevedo6Pamela S. Mertz7Didem Vardar-Ulu8Swati Agrawal9Kristin M. Fox10Shane Austin11Margaret A. Franzen12Henry V. Jakubowski13Walter R. P. Novak14Rebecca Roberts15Alberto I. Roca16Kristen Procko17Freshman Research Initiative, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USADepartment of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Juniata College, Huntingdon, PA 16652, USADepartment of Chemistry & Physics, Grand View University, Des Moines, IA 50316, USADepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Denison University, Granville, OH 43023, USACustom EduEval LLC, Austin, TX 78749, USADepartment of Chemistry, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA 30043, USADepartment of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Westfield State University, Westfield, MA 01086, USADepartment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, St. Mary’s City, MD 20686, USADepartment of Chemistry, Boston University, Boston, MA 02115, USADepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, USADepartment of Chemistry, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308, USADepartment of Biological and Chemical Sciences, The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown BB11000, BarbadosCenter for Biomolecular Modeling, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USADepartment of Chemistry, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University, Saint Joseph, MN 56374, USADepartment of Chemistry, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN 47933, USADepartment of Biology, Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA 19426, USADiverseScholar, Irvine, CA 92616, USADepartment of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78702, USAWhile visual literacy has been identified as a foundational skill in life science education, there are many challenges in teaching and assessing biomolecular visualization skills. Among these are the lack of consensus about what constitutes competence and limited understanding of student and instructor perceptions of visual literacy tasks. In this study, we administered a set of biomolecular visualization assessments, developed as part of the BioMolViz project, to both students and instructors at multiple institutions and compared their perceptions of task difficulty. We then analyzed our findings using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative analysis was used to answer the following research questions: (1) Which assessment items exhibit statistically significant disparities or agreements in perceptions of difficulty between instructors and students? (2) Do these perceptions persist when controlling for race/ethnicity and gender? and (3) How does student perception of difficulty relate to performance? Qualitative analysis of open-ended comments was used to identify predominant themes related to visual problem solving. The results show that perceptions of difficulty significantly differ between students and instructors and that students’ performance is a significant predictor of their perception of difficulty. Overall, this study underscores the need to incorporate deliberate instruction in visualization into undergraduate life science curricula to improve student ability in this area. Accordingly, we offer recommendations to promote visual literacy skills in the classroom.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/1/94biomolecular visualizationvisual literacyperceptionperceived difficultyassessmentassessment difficulty |
| spellingShingle | Josh T. Beckham Daniel R. Dries Bonnie L. Hall Rachel M. Mitton-Fry Shelly Engelman Charmita Burch Roderico Acevedo Pamela S. Mertz Didem Vardar-Ulu Swati Agrawal Kristin M. Fox Shane Austin Margaret A. Franzen Henry V. Jakubowski Walter R. P. Novak Rebecca Roberts Alberto I. Roca Kristen Procko Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments Education Sciences biomolecular visualization visual literacy perception perceived difficulty assessment assessment difficulty |
| title | Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments |
| title_full | Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments |
| title_fullStr | Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments |
| title_short | Seeing Eye to Eye? Comparing Faculty and Student Perceptions of Biomolecular Visualization Assessments |
| title_sort | seeing eye to eye comparing faculty and student perceptions of biomolecular visualization assessments |
| topic | biomolecular visualization visual literacy perception perceived difficulty assessment assessment difficulty |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/1/94 |
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