1. Repeating introductory biology 1: An intervention to make “take 2” a success
Erica McGreevy, Kate Gardner, Susie Chen, Kevin Binning, Nancy Kaufmann

2. Problem: 20-30% of students “fail” (C- or lower). Then fail AGAIN.
Bio 1 lecture
and Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
and Bio 2 lab
gap
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed X X X

3. Different interventions in introductory biology have launched.
Bio 1 lecture
and Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
and Bio 2 lab
gap
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed

4. Biology lecture became a pre-req for lab.
Old path (most standard)
Bio 1 lecture
and Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
and Bio 2 lab
gap
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed
Fall freshman
Spring freshman
sophomore
New path (assumed standard)
Bio 1 lecture
Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
Bio 2 lab
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed

5. Bio 2 labs all converted to authentic research.
Fall freshman
Spring freshman
sophomore
New path (assumed standard)
Bio 1 lecture
Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
Bio 2 lab
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed

6. Students now choose their research lab 2 topic to fit their interests.
SEA PHAGES 2
Animal behavior:
spider microbiome
Fly genetics: Neural defects
Should produce usable results and materials for the faculty
Small World

7. Bio 1 lecture students now participate in a psycho-social belonging intervention starting day 1.
Fall freshman
Spring freshman
sophomore
New path (assumed standard)
Bio 1 lecture
Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
Bio 2 lab
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed

8. Bio 1 “lecture” is now rich in active learning.
New path (assumed standard)
Bio 1 lecture
Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
Bio 2 lab
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed

9. Still a Problem: 20-30% of students “fail” (C- or lower)
Still a Problem: 20-30% of students “fail” (C- or lower). Then fail AGAIN.
Bio 1 lecture
Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
Bio 2 lab
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed X

10. X X 2 Why do they fail… AGAIN?
Bio 1 lecture
Bio 1 lab
Bio 2 lecture
Bio 2 lab
Upper division courses
If majoring or premed X
Their actions say they WANT to stay in STEM
X 2

11. dB-SERC award goal: increase repeaters’ pass rates.
Biology 1 lecture
Specific Aim 1: Characterize the BIOSC0150 “repeaters” in order to design support systems and interventions to help these students be successful.
Specific Aim 2: Determine whether addressing motivation, agency and mindset increases repeater success in biology 1.

12. Aim 1: Who really are the repeaters?
How many of them are there, really?
Who are they?
Why didn’t they give up?
Why do they think they’ll be successful in 2nd attempt?
When are they successful? When are they not?
How can we help?

13. Approach 1: analyze ITM large data set (NSF grant).
Follow with focus groups.
How many of them are there, really? Is 30% of a spring section really repeaters?
Who are they? Did they fail before or just not get an “A”?
Why didn’t they give up? Internal or external motivation?
Why do they think they’ll be successful in 2nd attempt?
Anecdotally, they think the repeat will be easy.
When are they successful? When are they not?
What impact did repeating have on their spring course load?

14. Aim 2: will a psycho-social intervention help?
Mentor’s dilemma: providing critical feedback across the racial divide (Cohen, Steel, Ross 1999)
Wise interventions (Yeager et al., 2013)
Greg Walton Pitt about changing probation letters at Stanford. Describes students who DO successfully navigate a comeback.

15. Approach 2: goal implementation intervention.
Repeaters will be welcomed and told that they are not alone to address a “pluralistic ignorance” mindset.
Students will be directed to tools for success.
Students will write a specific plan outlining how they will make this term successful.
Gollwitzer & Oettingen, 2016
Walton & Cohen, 2011

16. Preliminary data

17. Many students repeat from Fall Spring, but only some are successful the 2nd time around.
Spring Grade A B
C+/C
C-/D F W
0 (0%)
1 (50%)
9 (24.3%)
21 (56.8%)
5 (13.5%)
5 (0%)
2 (5.4%)
11 (2%)
210 (38%)
196 (35%)
196 (19.8%)
14 (2.5%)
18 (3.2%)
13 (8.1%)
46 (28.7%)
46 (31.9%)
43 (26.9%)
7 (4.4%)
5 (6.9%)
19 (26%)
22 (30.1%)
22 (19.2%)
7 (9.6%)
6 (8.2%)
Fall
Grade
From 2015 – 2017, only 8.1% of students who earned an F in the Fall received a B in the Spring

18. DFW repeaters have a good chance of not passing the 2nd time around.
Spring Semester Grade: A B
C+/C
C-/D F W
Percent of students
All following slides feature students who took BIOSC 0150 in either Fall of 2015, 2016 or 2017, and then repeated in the immediate following Spring.
Fall Semester Grade

19. The chance of passing the 2nd time is lower for F students than D or W students.
Not Pass
Pass
Not pass
Pass D
64 (31.5%)
139 (68.5%) F
49 (74.2%)
17 (25.8%) W
13 (56.5%)
10 (43.5%)
126
166
Count
All following slides feature students who took BIOSC 0150 in either Fall of 2015, 2016 or 2017, and then repeated in the immediate following Spring. D F W

20. The first grade you earn significantly predicts the grade you earn the second time around.
β = .68
SE = .34
t(291) = 2.02, p < .05.
Gender, ethnicity, parental education, your AP Bio score, your SAT math score, whether or not you major in pre-health, or plan to pursue a major that requires BIOSC 0150 do not statistically predict what grade you earn when you repeat,
p > .10.

21. Questions we’d like help with:
Which repeaters should we target in the focus group?
What should we ask?
How should we structure the intervention?