Abstract:

The election of subjects by the students in a university program is driven by different factors. This election can influence the student approach to learning and this approach can affect both the final performance of the student in the subject and the teaching methodology of the teacher. In the fourth year of the Biotechnology Bachelor degree of Universitat Politècnica de València (Valencia, Spain), students must choose several subjects according to their preferences, and they are limited by the offer of the university and their academic performance in the previous years of the degree. Two of those subjects are “Experimentation in Biotechnology” and “Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology”. In the first one, the students design, perform and analyse the results of experiments, like in their future professional life. Students are assessed by every-day short questions and a final report about the experiments performed that they must present as a paper for a scientific journal. In the second subject, students seek to improve knowledge of cell mechanism and learn how to use this knowledge to modify cells from an engineering point of view for its future use. In this case, students are assessed by exercises, exams, and the presentation of a final project. The student approach to learning of the students registered in each subject was assessed using the R-SPQ-2F questionnaire during three academic years at the end of each subject. The results showed a higher deep approach than surface approach with no differences between subjects, academic years or gender (except for superficial approach for some variables), even pandemic COVID-19 disease affected. The observed values are lower than in previous studies of subjects from other years of the degree showing a decrease in deep approach and an increase in surface approach. The analysis of the factors that cause this result can be used to improve student performance in the subjects.

Keywords:

R-SPQ-2F questionnaire, deep and surface approach, assessment, teaching methodologies.