The effects of student-produced renderings on achievement in introductory biology

This study examined the effects of having biology students produce drawings of their observations, a commonly used strategy, on three standard measures of achievement: laboratory exam scores, a subset of laboratory exam questions involving drawn imagery, and overall course achievement. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) Students who draw will outperform those students who do not on these measures, (2) Scores reflecting the quality of students' drawings will positively correlate with their field dependence-independence tendencies, and (3) The quality of student drawings will positively correlate with students' performance on these measures. Treatment groups were assigned by laboratory sections, and data was collected over five semesters. Students in treatment sections were given specific instructions and expectations on producing drawings, while students in control sections were given neither.;Additionally, profiles of student and instructor perceptions on the value of drawing were constructed from survey instruments. Student participants for the experimental phase were enrolled in a general biology course at a small, midwestern community college. Surveys were completed by these students and by students enrolled in a freshman-level course at a medium-sized, Rocky Mountain university. Faculty surveys were completed by high school and college biology instructors across many states. Surveys were completed by 316 students, and 98 instructors returned surveys. No significant differences were found between control (n = 6) and treatment (n = 10) section performances on any of the three measures (p = .05). Field dependence-independence scores did not correlate with measures of drawing quality (p = .05). Spatial relationships correlated moderately and positively with laboratory exam performance and overall class grade (p = .05).;The majority of respondents (89%) indicated that they viewed drawing as valuable. Freshmen, community college students, females, and general education students perceived the drawing process as more valuable than biology majors, males, and four-year college students.;Instructor surveys revealed that nearly 89% of respondents used drawing as an instructional strategy. The most numerous reasons for requiring students to draw were “causes students to look more closely,” and “causes students to focus on details.”...