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An assessment of the reproductive physiology course at North Dakota state university reveals students are aware of the practical applications of hormones despite hormones being an unpopular topic in the classroom
Student interest in a topic has been identified as an important indicator of motivation that influences student engagement and achievement in learning. Further, applications of classroom material to real-life situations make content more relevant to students which is also a major motivator for learning. Students enrolled in ANSC (Animal Science) 483 Reproductive Physiology at North Dakota State University in 2007 and 2008 were asked at the end of the semester to list their favorite topic and their least favorite topic covered during the semester. Students were also asked to “Give an example of what you learned in lecture that can be applied to livestock producer’s needs,” which will be referred to as the applied knowledge example. Student enrollment was 48 in 2007 and 47 in 2008. The favorite topic for both years was the parturition process (19.0% of responses in 2007 and 11.5% of responses in 2008). The least favorite topic for both years was hormones (30.6% of responses in 2007 and 31.7% of responses in 2008). When analyzing the applied knowledge example for 2007, student responses discussed one of the following: 1. hormones and synchronization protocols and products (82.4% of responses); 2. detection of estrus (8.8% of responses); or 3. another topic (8.8% of responses). For 2008, student responses discussed one of the following: 1. hormones and synchronization protocols and products (72.1% of responses); 2. semen collection and extension (7.0% of responses); 3. parturition process (7.0% of responses); or 4. another topic (13.9% of responses). Interestingly, despite the parturition process being the favorite topic covered, no students provided a real-life application for parturition in 2007 and only 7.0% did so in 2008. Moreover, students in both years of assessment selected hormones as the least favorite topic; however, the majority of students demonstrated the use of hormones in an applied knowledge example. It appears that students understand the practical applications of hormones, but do not enjoy learning about them. Because hormones are the driving force behind reproduction, perhaps including more real-life applications involving hormones in all aspects of reproductive physiology would provide the relevance necessary to engage student motivation for appreciation of hormones in reproduction.
Keywords: Hormones, reproductive physiology, teaching