Biology Commons^™

Short- And Long-Term Impacts Of A Deliberative Pedagogy In Introductory Biology And Chemistry Courses, Liz Rain-Griffith

Dissertations and Theses

There have been multiple national calls for curricular reform in college-level science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), including a need to instill democratic skills in students. Democratic skill building can be embedded in STEM classrooms through intentional "deliberative pedagogies" which include skills in: communication, collaboration, and application. We developed and implemented a deliberative pedagogy, Deliberative Democracy (DD), across introductory majors and non-majors biology courses and a majors chemistry course. In two separate studies, I took a longitudinal, qualitative research approach to understand introductory biology and chemistry students' experiences and perceptions of DD. For the first study, I tracked a cohort …

From Theory To Practice: Interdisciplinary Science In Undergraduate Education, Brie Tripp

Dissertations and Theses

Science has undergone a major transformation in the 20th and 21st centuries with new fields emerging at the intersection of disciplines, such as bioethics, bioinformatics, and chemical ecology. Yet, opportunities to engage with interdisciplinary science, and the skills needed to work in these fields, are largely absent from undergraduate biology classrooms. As a consequence, students are potentially deprived of opportunities to think interdisciplinarily and engage with real-world issues that often necessitate interdisciplinary efforts. To be informed citizens in society and forward-thinking scientists in the workforce, undergraduate students will undoubtedly benefit from exposure to these interdisciplinary science experiences.

Given these considerations, …