Self-Report and Academic Factors in Relation to High School Students' Success in an Innovative Biotechnology Program

Biotechnology constitutes one of the most challenging, cutting-edge, and rapidly growing fields in science today. Both the practical implications and the hands-on nature of this "modern science" make the topic of biotechnology an attractive addition to the high school science curriculum. The current study is the first of its kind to explore how student characteristics and biotechnology course outcomes relate to one another. Results indicated that students' general attitudes about science and their overall math skills predicted success across a number of measures, including both self-reported skill ratings as well as the more traditional measures of course grade and exam score. The results also demonstrated the association between skill, as measured through self-reported proficiency ratings, and achievement on an articulation exam. It documented the relation between skills students learned in the course and the potential next steps in their educational and/or technical careers. The results of the current study also have implications for how student learning is measured. Researchers suggested that teachers use formative assessment as a tool to allow students to collaborate with others and express ideas in their own unique and creative ways. The results from this study indicate that self-reported proficiency measures might serve as an accurate formative measure when data are being collected on specific skills. The topic of biotechnology has been a new source of study within recent years as educators and researchers grapple with ways to achieve and measure student learning in relation to this modern science.