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V ScienceDirect Procedia
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 18 (2011) 301-306 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kongres Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran UKM, 2010
Microbiology Students Performance at School of Biosciences and
Biotechnology
Ainon Hamzah*, Nazlina Ibrahim
Faculty of Science & Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKMBangi Malaysia
Abstract
Microbiology is a study of microorganisms not visible to the eyes. To obtain a degree in Bachelor of Science with distinction in Microbiology, a student must complete 120 credit hours with 36 credit hours are core subjects related to microbiology. The mode of teaching microbiology subjects include lecture, hands on practical, tutorial and field trip. In this paper, we analysed the achievement of microbiology students in the first and second semester of 2009/2010 session. We found that students who scored grades A/A- were less than 20% of student population for all the subjects related to microbiology. This paper firstly discusses the curriculum for the microbiology programme to better understand the basic structure of this programme. Secondly, to understand and improve the teaching processes in microbiology subjects by performing a survey was performed among microbiology students. Students suggest improvement in lecture presentation whereby animation could be used; a more systematic handling of practical session, full use of the university's Interactive Teaching and Learning System or SPIN especially to upload lecture notes, the laboratory session notional hours should be followed accordingly and more tutorials be given to aid learning. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Kongres Pengajaran & Pembelajaran UKM, 2010
Keywords: Microbiology programme; curriculum; students achievement; students learning needs;
1. Introduction
The term microbiology was first introduced in the 1920s as a science subject that studies microscopic organisms with many benefits to mankind as well as disease causing agent (Pepeljnjak & Kosalec 2005). There are several definitions for microbiology, but the usual definition is: a study of microorganisms (archaea, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae and viruses) and its interactions with other living organisms and its application. It is difficult to see microscopic organism but with the help of a microscope, organisms such as bacteria and fungi can be enlarged and seen clearly. The teaching of virology, a subject involving viruses and the impact, needs an electron microscope for visualization. It is difficult to discuss subjects that is not visible to eyes, for example the reaction of immune response in human body in immunology.
The microbiology Programme in the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology is one of the programmes offered by the Faculty of Science and Technology which originated from a degree offered by the Department of
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-603-8921-3812; fax: +0-603-8925-5698 E-mail address: antara@ukm.my
ELSEVIER
1877-0428 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.05.043
Microbiology since 1982 under Faculty of Life Sciences. Microbiology graduates have many opportunities to further their studies in various fields of science and non-science programmes. Graduates from this program can pursue in various careers including lecturer, researcher, science officer, commercial product specialist, marketing executive, teacher and others.
Prior to 2008/2009 session, undergraduate students enrolled in this program need to complete 100 credit hours. Starting from the 2008/2009 session, the curriculum in microbiology programme was restructured to follow the Malaysian Qualification Framework (MQF) to obtain the accreditation from the Malaysian Qualification Accreditation (MQA) agency. Thus, the achievement of the first and second year students in the microbiology programme following this curriculum was done by analyzing their grades in the first and second semester of 2009/2010 session. From their results, the percentage of students scoring grade A/A- in microbiology-related courses was between 4 to 20% which were considered lower student achievement from previous semesters. Therefore, to understand and improve teaching processes in microbiology subjects, this paper discusses the curriculum followed by the microbiology students. For improvement of teaching from the student's point of view, a survey was performed among the second and third year microbiology students.
2. Discussion
2.1. Background of Studies
Starting from 2008/2009 session, undergraduate students who pursue the Microbiology programme has to complete their study and obtained 120 credits of courses that have been pre-determined within 5-10 semester in order to graduate with Bachelor of Science with Honours (Microbiology) (Anon, 2010a). Every year, about 55-60 students who have passed the STPM or matriculation examination with an average of CGPA above 3.0 are offered to study in the microbiology programme. Curriculum for microbiology programme has been re-designed to achieve the objective of Programme Educational Objectives (PEO) which is as follow:
To produce graduates who are knowledgeable in microbiology, skilled in the handling of microorganisms, competent in soft skills and are able to develop the acquired knowledge for the well-being of the society
With these objectives in mind, courses which are compulsory for these microbiology students are listed in Table 1. Two courses which were embedded in other earlier courses were re-introduced as core subjects i.e., Bacteriology and Mycology. Microbiology graduates are expected to have knowledge in all aspects of microorganisms. The core courses accounts for 36 credits or 30% of the total credit hours to graduate. These subjects have the initial code of STBM (Science-Technology-Biosciences-Microbiology) and one compulsory subject which is STBP1043 Fundamental of Microbiology.
The mode of teaching the subjects includes:
• lectures: given by academicians,
• tutorials: given according to the needs of students,
• practical classes: hands-on experiments are conducted by students with guidance from lecturers, teaching assistants and tutors and
• field-work and/or educational visits.
Various methods of assessment for each course were done and usually it is in the form of examinations (middle and end of semester), quizzes, lab reports assessment, assignment, presentations and practical tests. The forms of questions are as follows:
• questions with multiple choices answers,
• essay,
• short answer questions and
• assessment of laboratory practical and reports.
For Scientific Communication and Research Project, oral presentations using visual aids or posters and scientific writing are practices to help the students in understanding and practice the methods of scientific presentation and to build confidence in communicating skill. In addition, the students have to attend Industrial Training for 3 months so as to be exposed to the real world of employment in various related fields of microbiology and biotechnology.
Table 1. Topics of course offer in Microbiology Programme
Course Name
STBP1043
STBM2013
STBM2012
STBM2023 STBM3033
STBM3013
STBM3223/3022
STBM3212
STBM3023
STBM3442
STBM3882 STBM3992 STBM 3996
Fundamental of Microbiology
Immunology
Bacteriology
Pathogenic and Diagnostic Microbiology Environmental Microbiology
Virology
Plant Microbe Interactions Mycology
Industrial Fermentation
Scientific Communication
Industrial Training Research Project I Research Project II
3. Student's Achievement
Student's achievement is based on an assessment criteria which has been predetermined for each course and duly informed to the students at the beginning of each semester. Grading for each course (A to E) is standardized during a meeting of lecturers at the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology. Marks are normally given based on the mid and end of semester examinations, quizzes, lab reports, papers, presentations and practical tests. Tables 2 and 3 show the achievement of students at different levels in the first and second semester of the 2009/2010 session.
Table 2. Distribution of grade for subjects in the Microbiology Programme for 2009/2010 session (Semester 1)
SUBJECT STBP1043 STBM2013 STBM2023 STBM3013
GRADE No. % No. % No. % No. %
A 4 4 0 0 1 2 2 3
A- 5 5 5 6 1 2 8 14
B+ 18 18 8 10 3 5 9 15
B 14 14 14 18 4 7 15 25
B- 15 15 21 27 7 13 12 20
C+ 27 27 15 19 11 20 6 10
C 9 9 14 18 13 24 7 12
C- 6 6 1 1 9 16 0 0
D+ 1 1 0 0 4 7 0 0
D 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 0
E 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Number Of 99 78 55 59
Students
Table 3. Distribution of grade for subjects in the Microbiology Programme 2009/2010 session(Semester 2)
SUBJECT
STBM3012
STBM3022
STBM 3032
STBM3023
5 8 3 5 10
7 10 13
8 10 20
5 14 8 23 5 14 3 9 2 6
1 3 46
0 0 45
9 12 6 8
10 14 8 11
8 11 7 10 7 10 6 8
3 4 73
Total number students
In general, the percentage of students who obtained grade A/A- is below 18% while most of them are in the range of B+ to C+. Since only few students obtained good grades in their examination (in the range of A grade) for the 2009/2010 session during the few last semesters, it is necessary therefore to identify the problems from the students point of view that could help them to better understand the subject. The following section discusses the student's opinion.
4. Teaching and Learning Requirements From Students Perspective
According to the Philippine Society of Microbiology (Anon. 2010b), as educators in microbiology, we should observe and ask ourselves the following statements:
"Why is there a LACK OF INTEREST in my subject [Microbiology]?"
"It seems that my students FEAR the microbiology subject"
"Why are my students FAILING?"
"Am I doing something wrong or is it due to the students' inadequate CAPABILITIES?"
"Am I really teaching the ESSENTIAL concepts to my students or am I OVERDOING it?"
Hence, to understand and help in improving the students' achievement in the studies, a questionnaire has been distributed to 106 second and third year students of Microbiology Programme with an open ended question: How can teaching in microbiology be performed in a more effective way?
The recommendations from the students as well as the rationale are shown in Table 4.
Ainon Hamzah and Nazlina Ibrahim / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 18 (2011) 301-306 Table 4. Students' recommendations for teaching microbiology and its rationale
Recommendation
Rationale
1. All the practical classes should be given during first year only.
2. Lecturer should upload lecture notes in the SPIN as soon as the class ended.
1: The techniques that have been learned can be applied in the final year project.
2: Students are not burdened with practical classes and laboratory reports during the final year.
1: To ensure that all students attend their classes, the notes were not to be uploaded before the lecture as there is a possibility that they will not attend the class otherwise.
2: Students will be able to revise new topics that have been taught by the lecturer.
3. Lecturers should give quizzes/ tutorial for each topic that have been taught. Marks will be given for the quizzes.
Tutorials should be given every week or once a month.
4. Lecturers should give assignment after each topic.
Lecturers give homework or question and answer session after classes.
1: To ensure students revise the subjects frequently.
2: Students who are frequently absent from classes can be identified.
1: To enhance the understanding of the topic and to evaluate students' understanding of the topic that has been taught.
5. The number of lectures/practicals should be given equivalent to the notional credit hours for a particular subject.
A proper lab manual should be provided for a particular subject.
6. To increase the learning process by giving hands-on experience and field works.
7. Giving the most current issues that are relevant to the subjects.
8. Teaching using the audio-visual media, pictures, animation or movie.
1: Students will not be burdened with extra labs that exceed the actual credit hours.
1. The understanding of a particular topic will be much easier by do-it-yourself methods and a field study provides skill in actual condition, such as collecting samples.
1. To facilitate the students thinking by relating the current issue with the subject studied.
1. Understanding the "unseen subject" will be easier and remembered.
9. Giving assignment as individual and in group.
10. Providing lecture notes in point-form rather than in long sentences.
1. To ensure the marks are given to the person who does the work since not all students cooperate and participate in group assignments.
1. The students can remember easily.
In general, from the students' recommendations, some action needs to be done to improve the students' achievement. Lecturers need to improve their teaching method by providing teaching materials in the form of animation and lecture notes uploaded in the SPIN immediately after the class. Lecturers should be aware that the number of practical classes should be equivalent to the pre-determined credit hours. In order to help the students in understanding the subjects, frequent tutorials, quizzes, and assignments should be given. A cumulative field study should be organized once in a semester to enhance the student's understanding of the real environment for the microorganisms in their ecosystems.
5. Conclusion
The latest curriculum for microbiology students from the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology was designed to fulfill the needs of producing microbiology graduates knowledgeable in all aspect of microbiology. However, the performances of these students were lower in achievement to their previous peers. To improve the teaching and learning processes it is recommended that teaching delivery should be improved; practical classes should be conducted in a more conducive and in accordance to the appropriate credit hours.
6. Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank to microbiology students from School of Biosciences and Biotechnology who are willing to give their opinion in the evaluation session.
References
Anon, (2010a). Buku Panduan Prasiswazah FST. Sesi 2010/2011. Penerbit UKM: Selangor.
Anon. (2010b), PSM Edu-Caravan: "Bridging Pedagogy and Microbiology". http://www.philsocmicro.com/? q=node/11 Pepeljnjak S. & Kosalec, I. (2005). 120 years of teaching microbiology at the University of Zagreb. Acta Pharm. 55: 331-337.
