[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595253-105":59,"doc-detail-595253-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","increased-course-structure-enables-instructors-to-increase-introductory-biology-exam-rigor","Increased Course Structure Enables Instructors to Increase Introductory Biology Exam Rigor","","In courses with heterogeneous student populations, instructors must balance student success with academic rigor, especially in foundational gateway subjects like introductory biology. This study examines whether increasing course structure can raise cognitive exam rigor without increasing failure rates. Sixteen sections across eight semesters were compared using the Weighted Bloom’s Index over exam questions. Results show increased WBI without changes in exam scores, perceived difficulty, or failure rates in moderately structured courses, supporting structured design and WBI for cross-institution equivalence.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/increased-course-structure-enables-instructors-to-increase-introductory-biology-exam-rigor/595253/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/increased-course-structure-enables-instructors-to-increase-introductory-biology-exam-rigor/595253.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does the study address in introductory biology courses?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It addresses how instructors balance student completion and success with exam rigor in gateway courses that include students with varied preparedness.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How is exam rigor measured in this research?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Exam rigor is measured using the Weighted Bloom’s Index (WBI), which weights the cognitive level of exam questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What were the main findings regarding failure rates?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Moderately structured courses showed higher exam rigor without coincidently increasing failure rates, while student scores and perceived difficulty also did not change compared to low-structured courses.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595253,1792107647,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":24,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Increased Course Structure Enables Instructors to Increase Introductory Biology  \nExam Rigor  \nAdriana J. LaGier  \nGrand View University, College of Social and Natural Sciences, Department of Biology, 1200 Grandview Ave, ELS206, Des Moines, IA 50316; Tel: (515) 263-2874; Email: [alagier@grandview.edu](alagier@grandview.edu)  \nAbstract  \nIn courses with a heterogeneous student population, instructors are often challenged to balance successful course completion with rigor. This difficult task can be confounded in foundational, gateway courses, such as introductory biology, which serves a mix of freshman majors at various levels of preparedness. Research suggests that changes in course design, such as increasing course structure, can offer a solution. We hypothesize that increased course structure enables instructors to increase exam rigor without coincidentally increasing failure rates. Sixteen sections of general biology classes over the course of eight semesters were analyzed; eight sections had relatively low class structure (i.e., mostly Socratic learning and clickers), while eight sections had moderate structure (i.e., including class note summaries and practice exams) . Weighted Bloom’s Index of 150 exam questions was used to facilitate comparisons between designs. Although exam rigor increased (as gauged by WBI), in moderate structured courses, student exam scores, perception of the difficulty of the subject matter and failure rates did not change in comparison to low structured courses. This study supports the use of increased course structure to balance student success and rigor. Additionally, it supports the use of Weighted Bloom’s Index as a method for assessing exam equivalence across institutions.  \nKeywords: general biology, course structure, exam rigor, weighted Bloom’s taxonomy  \nIntroduction  \nFor teachers, the increased access to higher education means that there is a high variability in student preparedness for college. In the 2000s, only 51% of high school student who took the ACT college entrance exams are ready for college-level reading (ACT, 2006) . In courses with such a heterogeneous student population, instructors are often challenged to balance successful course completion with rigor. This difficult task can be confounded in foundational, gateway courses, such as introductory biology, which serves a mix of freshman majors at various levels of preparedness.  \nResearch suggests that simple changes in course design, such as increasing course structure, can offer a solution (Freeman et al., 2011) . Although a course’s rigor can be defined at multiple levels (e.g., fast-paced, high degree of time and energy), this study focused on cognitive expectations, particularly the depth of question asked during summative assessment such as exams. To help instructors qualify the rigor of their exams, Freeman and colleagues developed the weighted Bloom’s index scale (WBI) . Bloom’s taxonomy of learning identifies  \nsix levels of understanding any topic (Bloom, 1956) . The WBI summarizes the average Bloom’s level of exam questions weighted by the points possible.  \nIncreases in the index indicate an increase in higher-order cognitive skills and are associated with increased cognitive complexity (Anderson and Krathwhol, 2001) . Higher level cognitive processes are a criterion by which rigor is defined (Wyse and Soneral, 2018) . Thereby, the WBI is a valuable tool in assigning a value of rigor to an exam and by association to a course.  \nIncreasing rigor has been shown to increase student engagement (Paige et al., 2013) . Students rise to the occasion as long as they perceive that they are supported in their endeavor (Adams, 2020) . Teachers unnecessarily worry that increasing rigor will lead to increased failure rates (Attis, 2016) . Indeed, there is a low correlation between a student’s perception of rigor and their learning (Duncan et al., 2013) .  \nThe aim of the study presented here was to determine whether increasin","cbCail4YHAPmqzW4","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCail4YHAPmqzW4","pdf",373439,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Materials and Methods\n## Course Structure Criteria\n## Data Collection\n## Weighted Bloom’s Index Calculation","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the study address in introductory biology courses?\",\"answer\":\"It addresses how instructors balance student completion and success with exam rigor in gateway courses that include students with varied preparedness.\"},{\"question\":\"How is exam rigor measured in this research?\",\"answer\":\"Exam rigor is measured using the Weighted Bloom’s Index (WBI), which weights the cognitive level of exam questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main findings regarding failure rates?\",\"answer\":\"Moderately structured courses showed higher exam rigor without coincidently increasing failure rates, while student scores and perceived difficulty also did not change compared to low-structured courses.\"}]","Increased Course Structure Enables Instructors to Increase Introductory Biology Exam Rigor | PDF",1792080717,13]