New Perspectives in Science Education
Pilot study of Biochemistry Education and Career Development
Lo Fai Hang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (China)
Abstract
This pilot study focused on career development among students. We conducted a survey for three groups: Secondary School students (SSS) studying general biochemistry; University Students studying clinical biochemistry (USCB) and exercise biochemistry (USEB). The students were asked if they knew their own career preferences; SSS rated 6.64±0.77, USCB and USEB rated 6.83±0.53 and 6.18±0.71, respectively. For the nature of their preferred jobs based on Holland Codes, most SSS (64.3%) preferred ‘investigative’. While most USCB (66.7%) preferred ‘conventional’ and most USEB (63.6%) preferred ‘social’. The Holland Codes of SSS, USCB, and USEB were found to be ‘Investigative Realistic Conventional’, ‘Conventional Investigative Realistic’, and ‘Social Realistic’, respectively; all groups shared ‘Realistic’ as the common component, implicating the interest in conducting experiments. Considering the satisfaction of their resume, the ratings of SSS, USCB, and USEB were 5.29±0.51, 4.56±0.39, and 5.18±0.53, respectively. For interview skills, their ratings were 4.43±0.76, 5.33±0.41, and 5.82±0.74, respectively. Regarding their confidence in career development, the ratings were 6.00±0.49, 4.94±0.45, and 4.73±0.64, respectively. Taken together, about two-third of the students knew their own career preferences, which appeared to be associated to the courses they took. Overall, the University students appeared to be less satisfied with and less confident in their career development. It is suggested that in the curriculum of Biochemistry, some components related to career development should be incorporated.
Keywords: Biochemistry education, career development, curriculum design.
References:
- Lo F.H. (2020). Survey on student ideology for the future challenges of biochemistry education. Proceedings of the 2nd International Academic Conference on Teaching, Learning and Education.
- Lo F.H. (2019). Biochemistry education in the knowledge-based Society. Proceedings of the World Conference of Future of Education 2019.
- Lo F.H. (2018). Biochemistry in the knowledge-based society. Proceedings of the 43rd FEBS Congress.
