An exploratory study of the motivation, strategy use and major choice of first-year students enrolled in introductory biology

Using a mixed methods pretest-posttest design, this study explored first-year students’ 1) motivation and strategy use with regard to their introductory biology course; 2) their reasons for choosing and either keeping or leaving their major; 3) how they believed their first semester experiences informed their academic and professional plans; and 4) what they believed was most important in determining their performance. This study employed a convenience sample of first year students from five introductory biology courses, whereby 91 students completed the first questionnaire and 54 of those students completed the second questionnaire. These questionnaires included the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), an instrument designed for this study called the Biology Student Self-Efficacy Scale (BSSS), as well as several free-response questions. The quantitative results of this study showed that, overall, students become more self-efficacious with respect to biology, less confident in their abilities to manage their effort, and more confident in their ability to work with their peers over the course of the semester. Differences between different demographic groups of students with respect to motivation and study strategies were also found. Moreover, regression analyses showed that students’ academic self-efficacy and task value beliefs were positive predictors for performance; and that academic self-efficacy and effort management were negative predictors for change of major decisions. The qualitative results of this study demonstrated that, the majority of participants were likely to attribute their performance to internal factors, such as their own study behavior. Lastly, with the exception of students with undeclared majors, the participants in this study made uninformed choices for their majors. As evident in student responses, they are drawing upon too few, and informational resources when making decisions their majors and career paths. Therefore, it is recommended that institutions implement a career and major-planning course for first-year students