Biology undergraduate students are struggling academically to learn and understand the material that is presented to them. Educational psychologists have identified a number of individual differences that are related to learning, task performance, and task choice. Undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory biology course completed surveys measuring three individual difference measures: self-efficacy, goal orientation, and metacognition. Scores on the individual difference measures were analyzed against course exam performance to understand the relationship between individual differences and biology course performance. There were 218 undergraduate participants, recruited from an introductory biology course. Individual difference data was collected at two-time points during the semester. Self-efficacy was significantly correlated to exam performance at both time points. Metacognition scores from the second-time point were significantly correlated to exam performance. Goal orientation scores were not significantly correlated to exam performance. Lastly, several strategies are discussed that may improve students’ self-efficacy, goal orientation, and metacognition.
