Comparing Academic Performance of Elementary Education Majors in General Education Science Courses

PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320137 March 19, 2025 10 / 15 PLOS ONE Elementary Education Majors in General Education Science Courses being served by general education courses [57,58]. An implication is that these general educa- tion courses seem to be serving elementary education majors, at least as indicated by grades, as well as students with other majors. Future research should explore other indicators of how well general education courses are preparing future elementary teachers, such as alignment with topics taught in elementary grades [17] or other measures of content knowledge [78]. It seems that elementary education majors do not find these general education courses irrelevant, at least not to the point of disengaging with general education courses more than students in other majors. This mitigates some concerns from past research [18,19]. Admittedly, this relevance could come from a low-level sense that the course is required for Table 4. Fixed effects parameter estimates for each course’s final linear mixed model: GRADE ~ MAJOR TYPE + (1 | SECTION). Course Fixed Effect B SE t p 95%CI n Biology Intercept Arts & Comms Business Humanities Social Sciences STEM Elementary Eda 3.265 -0.286 0.228 -0.245 -0.250 0.019 0.028 0.029 0.028 0.029 0.027 0.027 115.949 -9.826 7.994 -8.354 -9.100 0.701 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 0.483 [3.210, 3.320] [-0.343, -0.229] [0.172, 0.283] [-0.303, -0.188] [-0.304, -0.196] [-0.034, 0.072] 4830 6097 4479 9399 13473 1399 Physical Science Intercept Arts & Comms Business Humanities Social Sciences STEM

Elementary Eda 3.233 -0.256 0.324 -0.198 -0.212 0.074 0.029 0.031 0.031 0.032 0.030 0.030 110.935 -8.147 10.545 -6.163 -7.041 2.455 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 0.014 [3.176, 3.290] [-0.318, -0.195] [0.264, 0.385] [-0.261, -0.135] [-0.271, -0.153] [0.015, 0.134] 4898 6550 4075 9244 8118 1084 Statistics Intercept Arts & Comms Business Humanities Social Sciences STEM Elementary Eda 2.556 -0.348 0.802 -0.011 -0.173 0.438 0.034 0.038 0.036 0.042 0.036 0.035 74.722 -9.082 22.212 -0.260 -4.851 12.663 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 0.795 <0.001 <0.001 [2.489, 2.623] [-0.423, -0.273] [0.731, 0.873] [-0.093, 0.071] [-0.243, -0.103] [0.371, 0.506] 4035 8008 2192 9791 20654 1204 Humanities Intercept Arts & Comms Business Humanities Social Sciences STEM Elementary Eda 3.056 -0.120 0.352 0.114 -0.112 0.207 0.050 0.057 0.054 0.056 0.053 0.051 60.598 -2.098 6.471 2.050 -2.113 4.045 <0.001 0.036 <0.001 0.040 0.035 <0.001 [2.958, 3.155] [-0.233, -0.008] [0.245, 0.458] [0.005, 0.223] [-0.216, -0.008] [0.107, 0.307] 1095 1806 1385 2464 4899 404 Human Development Intercept Arts & Comms Business Humanities Social Sciences STEM Elementary Eda 3.134 -0.281 0.123 -0.256 -0.255 0.147 0.030 0.035 0.044 0.040 0.027 0.028 105.223 -8.059 2.810 -6.397 -9.624 5.331 <0.001 <0.001 0.005 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 [3.076, 3.193] [-0.349, -0.213] [0.037, 0.209] [-0.335, -0.178] [-0.307, -0.203] [0.093, 0.201] 1413 699 904 5506 4059 1889 History Intercept Arts & Comms Business Humanities Social Sciences STEM Elementary Eda 2.661 -0.119 0.406 -0.067 -0.112 0.226 0.027 0.030 0.030 0.030 0.029 0.027 99.845 -3.971

13.463 2.199 -3.929 8.256 <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 0.028 <0.001 <0.001 [2.608, 2.713] [-0.177, -0.060] [0.347, 0.466] [0.007, 0.127] [-0.168, -0.056] [0.173, 0.280] 5481 4972 4633 9393 21186 1481 aFor MAJOR, Elementary Education was the reference category. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320137.t004