Journals, Attitudes, and Performances
by Salim M. Diab, Professor of Chemistry, College of St. Francis and Rick Kloser, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, College of St. Francis.
Educators from many institutions and in a variety of disciplines are increasingly incorporating journal writing into their courses. Journal writing helps to develop a number of educational skills, such as critical thinking, writing, understanding, and even memorizing.
We all remember in our professors used to tell us that one powerful method of learning the material was to rewrite class notes more than once, or to take notes while reading assigned chapters. Today, advocates of journal writing encourage students to write freely on whatever issues come to mind, without restrictions.
But what do students think of journal writing? Do they share the same optimistic views about it? Using data from our classes, these questions were answered in an article in The Teaching Professor (December 1994).
In the same issue, we raised another question: Is there a correlation between students' performance and their attitude about journal writing?
To answer that question, we analyzed test scores and course grades for two groups of students in a science course for non-majors. The control sample contained 80 students enrolled in the course during fall semesters 1992, 1993, and 1994. The experimental sample contained 66 students enrolled in the course during fall semester 1990, fall semester 1991, or spring semester 1993.
Based on the academic standing and the history of the students who typically take this course, the two groups have comparable academic abilities. Also, the method of grading and the content of the final exam changed little , if any, over this time period. Hence, it would not be unreasonable to attribute any significant difference in students' performance to the treatment, in this case the journal writing experience imposed on the experimental group.
A two-sample t-test analysis of the final examination results shows that, on the scale of 100 points, the experimental group performed on average 15.3 points higher than the control group. A t-test analysis of the total course grade (this including quizzes, a research paper, and a final) showed that the experimental group performed on average 3.6 points higher than the control group.
These results suggest that the use of journal writing impacted positively, not only on the learning experience of the students and their attitude toward journal writing, as we reported in our earlier article in The Teaching Professor, but also rather convincingly on their academic performance.
If the positive results of this study are any indication of the impact journal writing on the teaching and learning process of a science course for non-majors, then the next question to be answered in this one: Is there a positive relationship between students' performance in chemistry, physics, and math courses, and their attitude toward journal writing?