Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Overcoming The Barriers To Teaching Teamwork To Undergraduates In Stem, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Miranda L. Aiken, Hector M. Camarillo-Abad, Kamal Diki, Daniel L. Gardner, Mario Stipčić, Javier F. Espeleta

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

There is widespread recognition that undergraduate students in the life sciences must learn how to work in teams. However, instructors who wish to incorporate teamwork into their classrooms rarely have formal training in how to teach teamwork. This is further complicated by the application of synonymous and often ambiguous terminology regarding teamwork that is found in literature spread among many different disciplines. There are significant barriers for instructors wishing to identify and implement best practices. We synthesize key concepts in teamwork by considering the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs) necessary for success, the pedagogies and curricula for teaching those KSAs, …

Variations In Student Approaches To Problem Solving In Undergraduate Biology Education, Jeremy L. Hsu, Rou-Jia Sung, Su L. Swarat, Alexandra J. Gore, Stephanie Kim, Stanley M. Lo

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Existing research has investigated student problem-solving strategies across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; however, there is limited work in undergraduate biology education on how various aspects that influence learning combine to generate holistic approaches to problem solving. Through the lens of situated cognition, we consider problem solving as a learning phenomenon that involves the interactions between internal cognition of the learner and the external learning environment. Using phenomenography as a methodology, we investigated undergraduate student approaches to problem solving in biology through interviews. We identified five aspects of problem solving (including knowledge, strategy, intention, metacognition, and mindset) that define three …

Investigating The Influence Of Assessment Question Framing On Undergraduate Biology Student Preference And Affect, Jeremy L. Hsu, Noelle Clark, Kate Hill, Melissa Rowland-Goldsmith

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Nearly all undergraduate biology courses rely on quizzes and exams. Despite their prevalence, very little work has been done to explore how the framing of assessment questions may influence student performance and affect. Here, we conduct a quasi-random experimental study where students in different sections of the same course were given isomorphic questions that varied in their framing of experimental scenarios. One section was provided a description using the self-referential term “you”, placing the student in the experiment; another section received the same scenario that used classmate names; while a third section's scenario integrated counterstereotypical scientist names. Our results demonstrate …

Reading Primary Scientific Literature: Approaches For Teaching Students In The Undergraduate Stem Classroom, Lara K. Goudsouzian, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Teaching undergraduate students to read primary scientific literature (PSL) is cited as an important goal for many science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes, given a range of cognitive and affective benefits for students who read PSL. Consequently, there are a number of approaches and curricular interventions published in the STEM education literature on how to teach students to read PSL. These approaches vary widely in their instructional methods, target student demographic, required class time, and level of assessment demonstrating the method's efficacy. In this Essay, we conduct a systematic search to compile these approaches in an easily accessible …

Insight From Biology Program Learning Outcomes: Implications For Teaching, Learning, And Assessment, Noelle Clark, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Learning goals and objectives are a key part of instruction, informing curricular design, assessment, and learning. These goals and objectives are also applied at the programmatic level, with program learning outcomes (PLOs) providing insight into the skills that undergraduate biology programs intend for their students to master. PLOs are mandated by all major higher education accreditation agencies and play integral roles in programmatic assessment. Despite their importance, however, there have not been any prior attempts to characterize PLOs across undergraduate biology programs in the United States. Our study reveals that many programs may not be using PLOs to communicate learning …

Student Motivations And Barriers Toward Online And In-Person Office Hours In Stem Courses, Jeremy L. Hsu, Melissa Rowland-Goldsmith, Elaine Benaksas Schwartz

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Office hours are one of the most common support mechanisms found in courses. Despite the prevalence of office hours in life sciences classes, there has been little investigation of how science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students perceive office hours, particularly at non–research intensive universities or other institutions where a majority of students attend office hours. We surveyed more than 500 students, representing most life sciences majors at a comprehensive university, to investigate their motivations and barriers for attending office hours. We then compared instructors’ perceptions to students’ conceptions of office hours. We identified key themes in student and instructor …

Characterizing First-Year Biology Majors’ Motivations And Perceptions Of The Discipline, Jeremy L. Hsu, Lauren Dudley

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding why students choose to major in biology provides important insight into the motivations of biology majors. It is similarly important to investigate how biology majors perceive the discipline, including associated activities, such as independent research, which can influence students’ interests in the field and likelihood to persist in science, engineering, technology, and math. However, there has been little work done examining biology student motivations and perceptions, particularly at non-research-intensive universities or after the COVID-19 pandemic started. To address this gap, we surveyed the first-year cohort of biology majors at a private, comprehensive university. We found that students largely reported …

Professional Development For Early Career Dber Scholars Through In-Person And Virtual Career Panel Workshops, Miranda M. Chen Musgrove, Elizabeth Genné-Bacon, Kelsey Gray, Ashley B. Heim, Anupriya Karippadath, Rita Margarida Magalhães, Brie Tripp, Anna J. Zelaya

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

In discipline-based education research (DBER), early career scholars, such as graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, observe a slew of possible career pathways. Yet, there is a lack of opportunities to learn about such pathways, particularly when transitioning from traditional science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) disciplinary training into a DBER position. Thus, the DBER Scholars-in-Training Professional Development subcommittee was created within the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER) community to develop a collection of workshops that would serve the greatest professional development needs of early career scholars entering DBER. Through a series of surveys disseminated over multiple …

Development Of A Men’S Health Course For First-Year Undergraduates Using Culturally Responsive Teaching Strategies, Ania A. Majewska, Johnasha D. Stuart, Kelsey M. Gray, Pearl V. Ryder, Ethell Vereen

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Purpose

A novel first-year experience course was developed using culturally responsive teaching strategies at an undergraduate liberal arts college in the southeastern USA to promote health advocacy and to provide students with an overview of male health. The course focuses on the biological, sociocultural, economic and gender influences that shape men's health beliefs and practices. It also emphasizes health disparities in the USA among Black/African American men compared to other racial groups and intervention strategies to improve health outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

The lecture and laboratory components of the course were designed as a blended learning environment with a modified flipped class …

Promoting Academic Integrity And Student Learning In Online Biology Courses, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an abrupt shift in biology courses, with many transitioning to online instruction. This has led to an increased concern about academic integrity and cheating in online courses. Here, I draw upon the peer-reviewed literature to provide evidence-based answers to four questions concerning cheating and online biology courses: (i) What types of cheating are prevalent with the shift to online instruction? (ii) Should instructors make assessments open book and open notes? (iii) How does cheating occur in biology lab courses? (iv) Finally, what strategies can biology instructors take to uphold academic integrity with online learning? I …

Instructor Strategies To Alleviate Stress And Anxiety Among College And University Stem Students, Jeremy L. Hsu, Gregory R. Goldsmith

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

While student stress and anxiety are frequently cited as having negative effects on students’ academic performance, the role that instructors can play in mitigating these challenges is often underappreciated. We provide summaries of different evidence-based strategies, ranging from changes in instructional strategies to specific classroom interventions, that instructors may employ to address and ameliorate student stress and anxiety. While we focus on students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the strategies we delineate may be more broadly applicable. We begin by highlighting ways in which instructors can learn about and prepare to act to alleviate stress and anxiety. We then …

Using Primary Literature On Sars‐Cov‐2 To Promote Student Learning About Evolution, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic caused by SARS‐CoV‐2 has caused widespread deaths, illnesses, and societal disruption. I describe here how I pivoted a discussion‐based senior biology capstone course to include a multiweek module surrounding one primary literature paper on the evolution of SARS‐CoV‐2 and the subsequent scientific discourse about the paper. Using a gradual reveal of the paper following the CREATE method (consider, read, elucidate, and think of the next experiment), I challenged students to learn new evolutionary principles and critically analyze the data surrounding the evolution and transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 presented in the paper. I also provide general advice for …

Concept Inventories As A Resource For Teaching Evolution, Robert E. Furrow, Jeremy L. Hsu

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding evolution is critical to learning biology, but few college instructors take advantage of the body of peer-reviewed literature that can inform evolution teaching and assessment. Here we summarize the peer-reviewed papers on tools to assess student learning of evolutionary concepts. These published concept inventories provide a resource for instructors to design courses, gauge student preparation, identify key misconceptions in their student population, and measure the impact of a lesson, course, or broader curriculum on student learning. Because these inventories vary in their format, target audience, and degree of validation, we outline and explain these features. In addition to summarizing …

The Explorations Program: Benefits Of Single-Session, Research- Focused Classes For Students And Postdoctoral Instructors, Jeremy L. Hsu, Anna M. Wrona, Sarah E. Brownell, Waheeda Khalfan

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

We present an update to Explorations, a program at Stanford University that allows undergraduates in an introductory biology course to explore specialized topics in the biological sciences while providing graduate students and postdoctoral scholars the unique opportunity to develop and teach single-session, research-focused classes. We provide an assessment of eight iterations of the program, using program attendance, student and instructor evaluations, senior exit surveys, course grades, and completion of undergraduate honors theses to assess the impact of our program on students and instructors. Students rated their experiences highly, and most reported that the program had a positive impact on their …