Proceedings of The Focus Conference (TFC 2022)

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Assessment of First-Year Students’ Prior Knowledge as a Pathway to Student Success: A Biology Based Case

Authors
G. Mokganya1, *, I. Zitha1
1Department of Science Foundation, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Agriculture, University of Venda, Limpopo, South Africa
*Corresponding author. Email: Georginah.Molotje@univen.ac.za
Corresponding Author
G. Mokganya
Available Online 7 February 2023.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_19How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Academic Success; Genetics; Students’ knowledge; Interventions; Moodle; Teaching strategies
Abstract

This study assesses students’ prior knowledge as a pathway to ensuring improvements in student academic success. It is noted that a widespread problem faced by lecturers in institutions of higher learning is that students lack significant prior knowledge and skills required to circumvent challenges they encounter when faced with more advanced subject matters in the curriculum. A survey questionnaire was uploaded on the Moodle LMS of Biology module to solicit the difficulties and challenges in Biology subject content that require meticulous attention. Hundred and eighty-six (186) students enrolled in the academic year 2022 of the extended degree programme participated in this study. Therefore, a mixed method was employed to solicit the descriptive and numerical data for critical analysis, and a thematic analysis technique was employed for qualitative data. Furthermore, the findings of the current study acknowledge the benefits and significance of students’ prior knowledge consideration to successful academic achievements. The key contributions of this study seem to suggest the consideration of students’ prior knowledge expedites the detection of at-risk students, initiative-taking techniques after the assessment tasks, and intervention strategies that there are effective for enhancement of students’ academic success. This technique enabled the lecturers to assess what students know, such that they can strategically allot time to the areas of the greatest need. This paper recommends that the pre-existing knowledge should be integrated with the updated content to expedite the students’ understanding of the subject and identify misconceptions in the module content.

Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of The Focus Conference (TFC 2022)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
7 February 2023
ISBN
10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_19
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_19How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - G. Mokganya
AU  - I. Zitha
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/02/07
TI  - Assessment of First-Year Students’ Prior Knowledge as a Pathway to Student Success: A Biology Based Case
BT  - Proceedings of The Focus Conference (TFC 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 233
EP  - 246
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_19
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_19
ID  - Mokganya2023
ER  -