(Press-News.org) University freshers struggle to remember basic concepts from their A-level studies according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
A new report published today shows that even grade-A students could only remember 40 per cent of their A-Level syllabus by the first week of term at university.
Researchers tested nearly 600 students in their first week of term at five universities – three of which were in the prestigious Russell Group.
It is hoped that the findings will assist the re-design of A-Levels to make them more relevant to higher education. The results could also prove useful for designing undergraduate courses which are more student-focused.
Lead researcher Dr Harriet Jones, from UEA's School of Biological Sciences, said: "This is the first research carried out in collaboration with an exam board to investigate how much information is lost between students sitting their A-Levels and arriving at university three months later. We found that students had forgotten around 60 per cent of everything they learned for their A-Levels.
"Universities expect their students to arrive with a high level of knowledge. What our research shows is that students are arriving at university with fantastic A-Level grades, but having forgotten much of what they actually learned for their exams.
"This is undoubtedly a problem caused by secondary schools gearing all of their teaching towards students doing well in exams, in order to achieve league-table success. But cramming facts for an exam doesn't give students a lasting knowledge of their subject."
Researchers tested 594 first year bioscience students in their first week of term at five universities – the University of Birmingham, the University of Bristol, Cardiff University, the University of Leicester and UEA. Almost all of the students had achieved a grade A at A-Level.
They were given 50 minutes to answer 38 multiple choice questions on cells, genetics, biochemistry and physiology – all of which had been part of their A-Level core syllabus.
The students managed to answer an average of 40 per cent of questions correctly. The longer the amount of time between sitting A-Levels and starting university also correlated with poorer results. Students who scored lower than an A grade at A-Level retained the least knowledge.
"School and university have very different demands. In higher education, students cannot rely solely on memorising information so it is important that students can adapt to a more in-depth approach to learning."
'Indications of knowledge retention in the transition to Higher Education' is published in the journal Journal of Biological Education on June 25.
INFORMATION: END
New research shows freshers struggle to remember basic A-level concepts
2014-06-25
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Food ingredient fears
2014-06-25
Daily headlines on internet pages and blogs claim: "New ingredient X is harmful to your health." Such warnings can scare people into avoiding these ingredients without actually knowing the facts, leading some people to have food fears about ingredients such as sugar, fat, sodium, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), mono sodium glutamate (MSG), and others. While some of these food fears are merited, others can be misleading.
A new Cornell University study published in Food Quality and Preference, investigated who might be most prone to food fears, why, and what can they do ...
Young researcher discovers source of disco clams' light show
2014-06-25
Four years after falling in love with the disco clam – a cute little mollusk known for its underwater light show – Lindsey Dougherty has discovered the secret of its mirrored lips.
A dive instructor and University of California, Berkeley, graduate student, Dougherty first encountered the two-inch clam in 2010 while diving with her mother and sister in Wakatobi, Indonesia. She and her sister even did a bit of underwater disco dancing to the clam's flashing beat.
"I've dived with humpback whales and great white sharks," said Dougherty, who first learned to dive at age ...
Hidden origins of pulmonary hypertension revealed by network modeling
2014-06-25
Boston, MA – In a groundbreaking study, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have identified a related family of molecules believed to be a major root cause of pulmonary hypertension, a deadly vascular disease with undefined origins. This is one of the first studies to leverage advanced computational network modeling to decipher the molecular secrets of this complex human disease.
The study is published online June 24, 2014 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Despite the rising number of people diagnosed with the disease worldwide, pulmonary hypertension ...
Meeting Aichi biodiversity targets for protected areas
2014-06-25
Habitat loss is a primary driver of biodiversity loss – so it isn't surprising that optimising the amount of protected land is high on policy-makers' priorities. However, according to research to be published in the Open Access journal PLOS Biology on June 24 by Oscar Venter and colleagues, many protected areas are established in locations of low economic value, failing to protect the imperilled biodiversity found on more valuable land. More of the earth's land surface is set to be protected in the next decade, but the trend of using poor quality land seems set to continue. ...
Engineered bacteria keep mice lean
2014-06-25
Obesity levels are rising throughout the world. As obesity rates increase, so do the incidences of diabetes, heart disease, and other serious health conditions. The bacteria within an individual's gut can influence their susceptibility to these disorders. Therefore, altering the microbe population in the gut could prevent or reverse disease. A June 24th study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation demonstrates that modified bacteria can prevent weight gain in mice. Sean Davies and colleagues at Vanderbilt University made bacteria that produce a compound called NAPE, ...
Estrogen receptor β limits breast cancer growth and indicates outcome
2014-06-25
Millions of women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. While many women will completely recover from this cancer, others will not respond to treatment, and predicting which women will not respond to treatment is currently difficult. Breast cancer cells divide rapidly, and treatments that can restrict their growth are of great interest. In a June 24th study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Rong Li and colleagues at the University of Texas determined that activation of the estrogen receptor β (ERβ) limits tumor cell growth. Cancer cells ...
Novel biomarker predicts febrile seizure-related epilepsy, UCI study finds
2014-06-25
Irvine, Calif. — A newly discovered biomarker – visible in brain scans for hours after febrile seizures – predicts which individuals will subsequently develop epilepsy, according to UC Irvine researchers. This diagnostic ability could lead to improved use of preventive therapies for the disorder.
A team led by Dr. Tallie Z. Baram found that rats exhibiting this novel signal in magnetic resonance imaging scans of their brains manifested symptoms of epilepsy months after experiencing very long febrile seizures. Those that did not possess this biomarker remained free of ...
Team explains how mutated X-linked mental retardation protein impairs neuron function
2014-06-25
Cold Spring Harbor, NY – There are new clues about malfunctions in brain cells that contribute to intellectual disability and possibly other developmental brain disorders.
Professor Linda Van Aelst of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has been scrutinizing how the normal version of a protein called OPHN1 helps enable excitatory nerve transmission in the brain, particularly at nerve-cell docking ports containing AMPA receptors (AMPARs). Her team's new work, published June 24 in the Journal of Neuroscience, provides new mechanistic insight into how OPHN1 defects can ...
Animal study unveils predictive marker for epilepsy development following febrile seizure
2014-06-25
Washington, DC — Within hours of a fever-induced seizure, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be able to detect brain changes that occur in those most likely to develop epilepsy later in life, according to an animal study published in the June 25 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings may one day help improve methods to detect children at a heightened risk for developing epilepsy and guide efforts to prevent epilepsy development in those at greatest risk.
Febrile seizures — convulsions brought on by fever — typically last only a few minutes and are relatively ...
How aging can intensify damage of spinal cord injury
2014-06-25
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In the complex environment of a spinal cord injury, researchers have found that immune cells in the central nervous system of elderly mice fail to activate an important signaling pathway, dramatically lowering chances for repair after injury.
These studies were the first to show that spinal cord injuries are more severe in elderly mice than in young adults, corroborating previous anecdotal findings from clinical settings. They also revealed a previously unknown player in the repair of spinal cord injuries in young adults.
A key messenger in that pathway ...