UCLA Study Quantifies How JoVE Videos Improve Undergraduate Science Education

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Using JoVE educational videos to supplement face-to-face scientific lectures significantly boosts student learning, concludes a study from the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the UCLA Center for The Advancement of Teaching. 

Appearing February 22 in the Journal of Chemical Education, the study analyzed 501 UCLA undergraduate life science/non-chemistry majors predominantly studying under the same teacher in a general chemistry course. After attending lectures and taking a quiz on each topic, students watched a corresponding educational video developed by JoVE. The average student performed significantly better on each post-video quiz, according to the study. Highlights:

• Average test scores in a winter semester Rate Laws class, for example, rose from 38.6% after attending only the lecture, to 90.4% after then viewing the video.
• After excluding perfect test scores, results revealed even larger learning gains, such as in a Rate Laws class, where scores rose from 28.2% to 89.5 %, quantifying how the videos benefited students who had not yet mastered the material.
• Even when a previous teacher had inadequately covered a topic (Le Châtelier's Principle), students showed large post-video test gains. This led the study's authors to conclude that high quality educational videos can efficiently aligning a group of students who start a class at different proficiency levels.
• Gains also occurred in high-scoring topics: Despite high pre-video scores in Entropy, for example, post-video scores still showed significant improvement, rising in a winter semester class from 86.4% to 96.1%.
• Scores rose whether students took the test just after watching the video, or two days later, underscoring that the videos reinforced conceptual learning, according to the study.
• Though most students found the videos useful, even naysayers and students who felt neutral about the video's impact showed meaningful post-video test gains.

"Considering the alarming degree of disconnect that occurs when students transition from lecture concepts to laboratory experiments, the JoVE Science Education videos are an effective learning tool to strengthen conceptual connections with real-life experiments and applications," said Dr. Roshini Ramachandran, the study's principal investigator.

"The UCLA study provides compelling evidence that supplementing face-to-face instruction with videos can play a key role in helping students learn science," said JoVE co-founder and CEO Dr. Moshe Pritsker. "We believe JoVE's state-of-the-art research and educational tools can also help educational institutions meet the challenging demands of their diverse constituencies -- to control costs, provide students a first-rate education, and fuel the next generation of scientific breakthroughs."   

About JoVE
JoVE https://www.jove.com is the leading producer and publisher of videos that increase the productivity and efficacy of scientific, medical, and engineering research and education. Since its founding in 2006, JoVE has produced over 9,000 video articles demonstrating experiments filmed in laboratories at top research institutions, and delivered online to millions of scientists, educators, and students worldwide. Today, JoVE has 1,000-plus institutional subscribers, including universities, colleges, biotech, and pharmaceutical companies, including Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, JoVE maintains offices in the United States, Europe, India, and Australia.

About UCLA

UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Department
The UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Department https://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/ ranks among the top university departments for chemistry and biochemistry in the U.S. The Department is a leader in cutting-edge research and innovative educational programs on topics ranging from the synthesis of complex natural products and new nano-materials to solve health and environmental crises, to the illumination of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the decoding of genetic information.

UCLA Center for The Advancement of Teaching
UCLA Center for The Advancement of Teaching (formerly Office of Instructional Development) https://teaching.ucla.edu fosters and champions effective teaching, grounded in sound pedagogy and innovation, to promote successful learning for the University's diverse student population. The Center collaborates with faculty and other campus partners, drawing on its expertise in pedagogy, educational technology, assessment, learning spaces, and curricular research.

Media Contact:
Tim Stone
Communications Director, JoVE
T: 617-699-2554 | [email protected] 

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