Taylor Scruggs

EDUC 450

Data Analysis
Subject Narrative
The subjects that were included in this data analysis were
students from a 9th grade Biology course. This group of students has
recently begun a unit on Mendelian Genetics. The goal surrounding the
analysis was for students to learn about three different patterns of
genetic inheritance. In the end, students should have the ability to
differentiate between dominant, recessive, and sex-linked inheritance
and complete example problems surrounding these concepts. Students
should be able to understand how these traits are inherited, and be
able to solve example problems concerning predicting the probability
of offspring having particular genotypes. Data was gathered to assess
student understanding of these topics through a pre- and post-test.
Both the pre- and post-tests consisted of the same five question
Google Form. Google Forms allow for different types of questions, such
as multiple choice or short answer, to comprise a quiz. This is an online
tool, which allows for multiple submissions by students. It also allows
for the data to be easily organized and analyzed.
This pre- and post-test assess science standard 2.7, which
describes how physical characteristics of an organism are influenced to
varying degrees by heritable genes. It also assesses the ability of
students to evaluate real-world examples of genetic diseases to
determine the probabilities of their inheritance by offspring based on
their given inheritance pattern. The questions on the assessment
varied from defining certain terms to solving example problems by
creating a Punnett square.
As for my grading procedure for this pre-test, it will not be used
for a grade. I consider it a practice for students, and a way to get them
thinking about the concepts that will be covered by the lesson. The
post-test will not be graded either, as it is an informal check for
understanding.
Data Analysis and Discussion
Pre-Assessment Analysis
For the pre-assessment, I allowed students time at the beginning
of the class period to go online and access the Google Form. They then
answered the five questions, four of which were multiple choice and
one was checking boxes. One question asked if the dominant or
recessive allele represents the phenotype in a heterozygous individual,

one asked to select all of the given options that apply to a sex-linked
trait, and the remaining three were calculating probabilities of
inheriting a given trait. I did not assign a grade to this assessment, as I
used it to determine what students knew before the lesson was taught.
I did not expect them to have the answers, as they had not yet been
provided with the information necessary to complete the problems.

Pre-Test Results

Correct
Column1

There are 27 students in the class, but only 24 were present on

the day that the assessment was given. To illustrate the results of the
pre-test, I created a chart that shows the number of correct responses
and the number of incorrect responses for each of the five questions. It
appears that most of the class understood that the phenotype of a
heterozygous individual would express the dominant allele. On the
other four questions, students did not appear to have a good
understanding of the concepts.
The above chart is a visual representation of the results of the
pre-assessment, as it can be seen how many students got each
question correct or incorrect. The x-axis represents the different
questions, and the y-axis represents the number of student responses.
From this, it can be seen that there were 19 correct and 5 incorrect
responses to question 1, 9 correct and 15 incorrect responses to
question 2, 10 correct and 14 incorrect responses to question 3, 9
correct and 15 incorrect responses to question 4, and 15 correct and 9
incorrect responses to question 5. These results show me that students
were unfamiliar with how to complete problems that asked them to
predict the probability of parents passing on a trait to their offspring
based on the inheritance pattern of the gene.

I found the information that the pre-assessment provided me

with to be useful. It allowed me to understand which concepts students
were struggling with the most and how to adjust my instruction to
focus on these. It also allowed students to begin thinking about what
topics would be included in the lesson for the day. Through the
assessment, I was able to determine that students struggle the most
with working through problems that ask them to calculate percent
probabilities of inheritance. The pre-test also showed that sex-linked
inheritance is the most understood out of the three that were going to
be covered. This is why the lesson includes a short lecture with note
taking where students complete example problems with Punnett
squares as we go through, as well as a case study activity.
The pre-assessment also provided me with evidence for which
students were struggling with which specific concept. This means that I
could provide one-on-one instruction with different students during the
work time to ensure understanding was being achieved and I could
clarify points of confusion. I knew that there were main topics, such as
sex-linked traits, that caused confusion for most of the students in the
class. This information made it where I paced my lesson in a way that
questions could be asked and examples were worked through as a
class before students began doing a less guided activity.
I found the pre-assessment to be a useful took to determine
where students are at before going through a lesson, in order to modify
it according to the needs of the students.
Post-Assessment Analysis
The post-assessment that I used consisted of the same five
questions that comprised the pre-test. This allowed me to determine if
the level of understanding on the topic of patterns of inheritance
increased after the lesson activities. This assessed students ability to
recognize certain concepts discussed in the lecture, and then solve
problems concerning predicting the phenotypes/genotypes of offspring
based on parent alleles and pattern of inheritance.
The post-test was not graded, as its purpose was as an informal
check for understanding of students. Students would be graded
formally through answering questions based on an activity completed
during the class. However, the post-assessment was used to determine
if students developed an understanding about the different patterns of
inheritance. This is useful, because it allows for me to determine what
there is still confusion on and what I need to make sure to re-visit in
the next class period. By looking at the percent of the students that got
each question correct, I can better determine what they are still
struggling with and what they have grasped.

Out of the 24 students that were present in class that day, only
23 responded to the post-test. That is because one student
participated in the pre-test, but then left before the end of the period.

Post-Test Results

Correct
Series 3

Male vs. Female Post-Test Results

Male
Column1

The above chart shows the number of correct and incorrect

responses that were provided for each question on the postassessment. This shows that there were 21 correct and 2 incorrect
responses to question 1, 12 correct and 11 incorrect responses to
question 2, 10 correct and 13 incorrect responses to question 3, 16
correct and 7 incorrect responses to question 4, and 17 correct and 6

incorrect responses to question 5. When this information is compared

with the results of the pre-test, then there was an overall improvement
in the number of correct responses for each question. However, it
appears that a large number of students are still struggling with a
couple of the questions.

The above graph depicts the results of the post-test when

divided into the sub-groups of male and female. The number of correct
responses by males and females are now shown for each of the five
questions. It is important to know that there were 9 females and 14
males present at the time that the assessment was given. It appears
that 8 out of the 9 females answered question 1 and 5 correctly, but
lower numbers answered the other questions correctly. The majority of
males answered questions 1, 4, and 5 correctly. It is apparent that both
males and females struggled with the concepts addressed in questions
2 and 3. These questions went along with the objective to determine
the probabilities of their inheritance by offspring based on their given
inheritance pattern. My main goal through this lesson was to introduce
students to dominant, recessive, and sex-linked inheritance. By the
end, I believe that this goal was achieved, as students had a basic
understanding of these concepts. However, further practice will be
necessary for students to be able to apply their understanding to realworld examples.
If I were to change the pre- and post-assessments in any way,
then I would rephrase a couple of the questions to ensure that there
was not any confusion in what was being asked. The more specific that
I can make the instructions, then the more likely it is that students will
understand what exactly is being asked of them. I would also have
students provide feedback about the assessment, including what they
thought was difficult or needed to be changed.
Overall, I think that the assessments were useful in determining
the level of understanding students achieved and what areas they
were struggling with. This allows for instruction to be modified to target
these areas. However, I do not think that the results necessarily
demonstrate effective teaching. There was an increase in
understanding based on the results of the pre-test and post-test, but
there was not as much success as I would have hoped. To increase the
achievement results, then I would allow more time to go through
practice problems as a class. I believe that working the problems out
together, and calling on students to complete the steps of the problem,
allows for a better understanding of the content being addressed.
Teaching Strategies

The evidence outcomes that I hoped to achieve for this lesson

were 1) student can differentiate between dominant, recessive, and
sex-linked traits and 2) students can evaluate real-world examples of
genetic diseases to determine the probabilities of their inheritance by
offspring based on their given inheritance pattern. Overall, the results
show that students can differentiate between, dominant, recessive,
and sex-linked traits. This is because the questions that pertained to
these topics showed higher student achievement after the lesson.
Lower student achievement was seen in the results for the other three
questions, which consisted of example problems that asked students to
determine inheritance probabilities.
Reasons for these results come from the varying difficulty of the
evidence outcomes assessed. The evidence outcome of having
students differentiate between the three types of inheritance covered
is a more straightforward concept than the abstract ability to calculate
inheritance probabilities in example word problems. The ability to
compare and contrast types of inheritance only requires recalling
information that was shared, while solving example problems requires
applying the information in a new situation. The way in which the
lesson was carried out allowed students to understand the difference
between dominant, recessive, and sex-linked inheritance, and then
they were provided with opportunities to look at examples of inherited
diseases that followed each of the difference patterns of inheritance.
However, the lesson did not allow enough time for extensive practice
on these concepts.
There are several ways in which I could increase student
achievement. Three areas that I would focus on to improve my lesson
are providing students with direct and clear instruction, asking better
questions to check for understanding, and allowing time for extended
practice. By providing students with clear instructions, they would
better understand what was expected of them and what the point of
the lesson was. This would increase student achievement, as students
would not have confusion and be able to better engage with the
material. A strategy that I would use to increase clarity of instruction is
to write specific information on the board instead of just verbalizing
what I expected. For example, I would tell students that I want them to
draw and fill out each of the Punnett squares that I place on the board
in their notes. This way students would not be confused about what to
take notes on, and would instead focus on the content. Having specific
and clear instruction allows for students to be challenged more by the
content rather than being unable to focus and continually have to ask
for instruction to be repeated.
A second way that I would improve student achievement is to
ask better questions to check for understanding of the content as I go
through the lesson. When I went through the PowerPoint and had

student take notes, then I kept asking, Are there any questions or
confusion? Instead of doing this, a strategy that I could use for
determining student understanding throughout the lecture is by
peppering students. This means that I would simply go back over the
information by calling on random students to answer a question from
what was just taught. For example, I could ask, Based on this Punnett
Square, what percent of offspring would be carriers for Cystic Fibrosis?
If I continued in this way, calling on different students, then I would be
able to determine if they are paying attention and understand the
content. Since I wouldnt ask for volunteers, then I could determine the
level of understanding for students that I feel may be struggling rather
than those that are prepared and want to share. This could be a
strategy that ensures that all students are engaged, as they do not
know if they will be called on or not.
The third area that I would focus on to improve student
achievement is that allowing students extended time for practicing the
content. It was clear from the results, that students required more
practice with determining probabilities of passing on a trait based on
its pattern of inheritance. I know that this can be a difficult concept to
understand, and a large of amount of practice should be provided to
ensure comprehension. A strategy that I could have used to improve
student achievement is to provide practice problems with different
levels of difficulty. This way, students that catch on quickly could move
on to the more complicated problems so that they could stay engaged.
The students that were struggling could focus on the simpler problems
to gain a basic understanding of how to apply the patterns of
inheritance to determining probabilities. I would also circulate the room
to check in with students and assess their level of understanding.
Each of the suggested strategies above would allow for improved
student achievement and increased understanding of the content.
These will be important to consider using for future instruction to
improve the results of post-assessments.

Genetic Inheritance Quiz

* Required

Name *
Include first and last name

When the genotype consists of a dominant and a

recessive allele, the phenotype will be like _________________
allele. *
o

the dominant

the recessive

o
neither
If two parents are heterozygous for a genetically
inherited dominant trait, what is the probability that they
will have a child together who has this trait in his or her
phenotype? *
o

25%

50%

75%

o
100%
If two parents are homozygous for a genetically inherited
recessive trait, what is the probability that they will have
a child who does not have this trait in his or her
phenotype? *
o

0%

25%

50%

o
100%
If a gene is sex-linked, then ______ *
Select all that apply
o

It is found on the Y chromosome

It is found on the X chromosome

Females will have two copies

Males will have two copies

Males will exhibit the trait if they have one copy of the
gene
Certain types of muscular dystrophy are sex-linked. If a
women is a carrier for the disease, and the father has the
disease, what is the probability their children will get the
disease? *
o

50% for boys and 50% for girls

50% for boys and 0% for girls

100% for boys and 50% for girls

100% for boys and 0% for girls