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 9 / 15 PLOS ONE Elementary Education Majors in General Education Science Courses Model results As outlined in the Methods, we used linear mixed models to model final course grades in each general education course separately. As indicated in the Methods, the final model for each course was GRADES ~ MAJOR TYPE + (1 | SECTION) after selection of random and fixed effects. Fig 2 shows the estimated marginal means for each major in each course, and Table 4 shows parameter estimates for fixed effects in the final models. We compared ELED majors to their peers from other disciplines based on overlap (or lack of overlap) between parameter estimates’ 95% confidence intervals. As shown in Fig 2 and Table 4, ELED majors earned similar grades in Biology as STEM majors, but lower grades than business majors and higher grades than everyone else. In Physical Science, ELED majors earned lower grades than business and STEM majors, but they earned higher grades than everyone else. In Statistics, ELED majors earned lower grades than business and STEM majors, similar grades as humanities majors, and higher grades than arts & communications and other social science majors. In Humanities, ELED majors earned lower grades than business, humanities, and STEM majors, but they earned higher grades than arts & communications and other social science majors. In Human Development, ELED majors earned lower grades than business and STEM majors, but they earn higher grades than

everyone else. Finally, in History, ELED majors earned lower grades than business, human- ities, and STEM majors, but they earned higher grades than arts & communications and other social science majors. Discussion This is the first study in many years, of which we are aware, to explore the impact of general education courses on preservice teachers [57–59]. In addition to being more recent, this study draws on a larger sample of students over a longer time span than previous research. Overall, these results indicate that elementary education majors are receiving grades in general education courses similar to students in most other majors, as found in [59]. This suggests that these general education courses are not differentially disadvantaging elementary education majors [61]. Furthermore, elementary education majors are doing quite well in general education courses, averaging in the range of an A or A- grade in most courses. These results assuage some concerns from past scholars about elementary education majors not Fig 2. Final course grades of elementary education majors compared to other majors in each general educa- tion course. The average course grades on the x axis were calculated as estimated marginal means following linear mixed modeling for each course. Major type was included as a fixed effect, and section as a random effect (GRADE ~ MAJOR TYPE + (1 | SECTION)). Error bars are 95% confidence intervals. The small letters indicate statistical equivalence or difference based on 95% confidence interval overlap of model parameter estimates. As each course was

modeled separately, no conclusions can be drawn regarding differences across the dashed lines. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320137.g002