Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Student Understanding Of Dna Structure–Function Relationships Improves From Using 3d Learning Modules With Dynamic 3d Printed Models, Michelle E. Howell, Christine S. Booth, Sharmin M. Sikich, Tomáš Helikar, Rebecca Roston, Brain A. Couch, Karin Van Dijk

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Understanding the relationship between molecular structure and function represents an important goal of undergraduate life sciences. Although evidence suggests that handling physical models supports gains in student understanding of structure–function relationships, such models have not been widely implemented in biochemistry classrooms. Three-dimensional (3D) printing represents an emerging cost-effective means of producing molecular models to help students investigate structure–function concepts. We developed three interactive learning modules with dynamic 3D printed models to help biochemistry students visualize biomolecular structures and address particular misconceptions. These modules targeted specific learning objectives related to DNA and RNA structure, transcription factor-DNA interactions, and DNA supercoiling dynamics. …

Investigating How Faculty Social Networks And Peer Influence Relate To Knowledge And Use Of Evidence-Based Teaching Practices, A. K. Lane, J. Skvoretz, J. P. Ziker, Brian A. Couch, B. Earl, J. E. Lewis, J. D. Mcalpin, L. B. Prevost, S. E. Shadle, Marilyn Stains

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Calls for science education reform have been made for decades in the USA. The recent call to produce one million new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) graduates over 10 years highlights the need to employ evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs) in undergraduate STEM classes to create engaging and effective learning environments. EBIPs are teaching strategies that have been empirically demonstrated to positively impact student learning, attitudes, and achievement in STEM disciplines. However, the mechanisms and processes by which faculty learn about and choose to implement EBIPs remain unclear. To explore this problem area, we used social network analysis to …

Brave Spaces: Augmenting Interdisciplinary Stem Education By Using Quantitative Data Explorations To Engage Conversations On Equity And Social Justice, John R. Jungck, Jon Manon

Numeracy

In workshops and courses involving in-service teachers, participating teachers can engage in problem posing and exploration of difficult issues when they are asked to quantitatively model alternative scenarios, statistically analyze complex data, and visualize these data in multiple formats. Subsequent to these activities, discussions of sensitive issues, some even considered taboo in classrooms, can open up “brave spaces” in these teachers’ classrooms. Without coaching through elaborate facilitation strategies, the in-service teachers grappled openly with the nuances of such difficult issues and raised many alternatives involving quantitative reasoning as well as considering biological, cultural, economic, social, and political factors influencing social …

Aligning Best Practices In Student Success And Career Preparedness: An Exploratory Study To Establish Pathways To Stem Careers For Undergraduate Minority Students, Kimberly D. Kendricks, Anthony A. Arment, K. V. Nedunuri, Cadance A. Lowell

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Undergraduate minority retention and graduation rates in STEM disciplines is a nationally recognized challenge for workforce growth and diversification. The Benjamin Banneker Scholars Program (BBSP) was a five-year undergraduate study developed to increase minority student retention and graduation rates at an HBCU. The program structure utilized a family model as a vehicle to orient students to the demands of college. Program activities integrated best K-12 practices and workforce skillsets to increase academic preparedness and career readiness. Findings revealed that a familial atmosphere improved academic performance, increased undergraduate research, and generated positive perceptions of faculty mentoring. Retention rates among BBSP participants …

Tools For Change: Measuring Student Conceptual Understanding Across Undergraduate Biology Programs Using Bio-Maps Assessments, Michelle K. Smith, Sara E. Brownell, Alison J. Crowe, N. G. Holmes, Jennifer K. Knight, Katharine Semsar, Mindi M. Summers, Cole Walsh, Christian D. Wright, Brian A. Couch

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Assessing learning across a biology major can help departments monitor achievement of broader program-level goals and identify opportunities for curricular improvement. However, biology departments have lacked suitable tools to measure learning at the program scale. To address this need, we developed four freely available assessments—called Biology-Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science or Bio-MAPS—for general biology, molecular biology, ecology/evolution, and physiology programs. When administered at multiple time points in a curriculum, these instruments can provide departments with information on how student conceptual understanding changes across a major and help guide curricular modifications to enhance learning.

Cross Faculty Collaboration In The Development Of An Integrated Mathematics And Science Initial Teacher Education Program, Sharon P. Fraser, Kim Beswick, Margaret Penson, Andrew Seen, Robert Whannell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper describes a collaborative project involving mathematicians, scientists and educators at an Australian university where an innovative initial teacher education (ITE) degree in mathematics/science was developed. The theoretical frameworks of identity theory and academic brokerage and their use in understanding the challenges associated with the early stages of collaborative projects is described. Data from reflections and interviews of the participants after involvement in the project from one to three years are presented to illustrate these challenges. The paper concludes with a description of the importance of the academic broker in overcoming identity challenges and facilitating cultural change for academics …

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 30, No. 4, November 2018

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Abstract: Welcome -- Faculty and Post-Doc News -- Student News -- University of Nebraska Service Awards -- Publications -- Blast from the Past -- Save the Dates -- Busy as a Bee -- Grants -- Meet an Online Student -- Bugfest

A Cohort-Based Program To Help Students Prepare A Conference Research Presentation, Alanna Lecher

Florida Statewide Symposium: Best Practices in Undergraduate Research

Students move through many first time experiences when navigating their undergraduate and graduate education. Such experiences include the first time students submit an article to a peer-reviewed scientific journal, attend a conference, and conduct fieldwork. The cohort model has been shown to be effective in increasing success in undergraduate education, and it can be adapted to helping students succeed in these novel experiences as well. This presentation will explore one program where the cohort model was implemented to aid undergraduate students preparing their first conference presentation on a scientific research project. Program structure and implementation will be described.

Tech And Anxiety: How Can Technology Be Used As A Tool In Teaching Quantitative Biology And Impact Teaching Anxieties?, Miranda Chen

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Adapting Cell-Free Protein Synthesis As A Platform Technology For Education, Grace W. Chu, Max Z. Levine, Nicole E. Gregorio, Javin P. Oza

STAR Program Research Presentations

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) has emerged as an enabling biotechnology for research and biomanufacturing as it allows for the production of protein without the need for a living cell. Applications of CFPS include the construction of libraries for functional genomics and structural biology, the production of personalized medicine, and the expression of virus-like particles. The absence of a cell wall provides an open platform for direct manipulation of the reaction conditions and biological machinery. This project focuses on adapting the CFPS biotechnology to the classroom, making a hands-on bioengineering approach to learning protein synthesis accessible to students grades K-16 through …

It's About Communities: The Commitment To Promoting A Culturally Competent Environmental Health Workforce, Clint Pinion Jr., Leslie D. Mitchell, Jason W. Marion

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Environmental health and public health are profoundly local. The Association of Environmental Health Academic Programs (AEHAP) firmly agrees and for this reason, it is important to have local environmental health experts who know the pulse of their communities. AEHAP believes in supporting the advanced scientific education of environmental health in these communities through people from these communities. Accordingly, AEHAP has sought to promote and support accredited environmental health programs among a diverse cross-section of the U.S. higher education landscape. AEHAP’s students are diverse in many ways, including socioeconomically, racially, ethnically, and culturally. The value of this approach enhances the overall …

Robert James Baker (1942-2018), Obituary, Hugh H. Genoways, Robert D. Bradley, David J. Schmidly, Lisa C. Bradley, James J. Bull, Karen Mcbee, Meredith J. Hamilton, Peter A. Larsen

University of Nebraska State Museum: Mammalogy Papers

First paragraph:

On 30 March 2018, the science of mammalogy and the American Society of Mammalogists lost one of the most influential figures of the last half-century. Robert James Baker died quietly at his home in Lubbock, Texas (Fig. 1). He was born on 8 April 1942 to James Simeon Baker and Laura Cooper in Warren, Arkansas. His father was killed during World War II and his mother remarried, resulting in his growing up with six half-siblings. According to Robert’s autobiography in Going afield (330—number refers to specific publication in “Bibliography”), he spent a good deal of his youth with …

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 30, No. 3, August 2018

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Contents: Congratulations -- Department Buzz -- Hutchins Nominated for USDA Undersecretary - Welcome -- Student News -- Publications -- Blast from the Past -- Grants

The Effect Of An Historical Geology Course On Students’ Attitudes Towards Science And Their Knowledge Of Deep Time As A Threshold To Their Knowledge Of Evolution, Allan Nolan

Dissertations

In America there exists a conflict between a small group of its citizens and the concept of evolution. Researchers have studied this conflict and the ways in which teachers might approach educational methodologies that not only address evolution in a sensitive manner, but also remain legally acceptable.

This research was designed to address teaching evolution in the context of deep time – the concept that time is vast and that geology and biology operate in a timescale of hundreds of millions to billions of years. In previous peer-reviewed works, it has been stated that deep time acts as a threshold …

Yeast: The Gateway To Redefining And Improving Biology Labs, Connor Loomis

Biology Summer Fellows

Building off of collegiate research performed during the summer of 2018, this lesson plan outlines a lab for secondary students using yeast. Yeast is an affordable and convenient organism to introduce to secondary education, and students can learn a lot about biology through it. Essentially, the goal of the lab is for students to explore the effects of certain substances on the growth of yeast. While content is emphasized, this lesson plan also looks to build students’ understanding of science in general as well as proper laboratory skills and technique. In addition, it pushes students in their thinking as they …

Multiple True–False Questions Reveal The Limits Of The Multiple-Choice Format For Detecting Students With Incomplete Understandings, Brian A. Couch, Joanna K. Hubbard, Chad E. Brassil

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

By having students select one answer among several plausible options, multiple-choice (MC) questions capture a student’s preferred answer but provide little information regarding a student’s thinking on the remaining options. We conducted a crossover design experiment in which similar groups of introductory biology students were assigned verbatim questions in the MC format or multiple true–false (MTF) format, which requires students to separately evaluate each option as either true or false. Our data reveal that nearly half of the students who select the correct MC answer likely hold incorrect understandings of the other options and that the selection rates for individual …

Quantitative Biology Education - Resources To Change Your Students From Math-Anxious To Math-Curious, Jeremy Wojdak

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 30, No. 2, May 2018

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Contents: Congratulations -- Meeting News -- Student News -- Welcome -- Blast from the Past -- Publications -- Faculty News -- Condolences

An Evaluation Of The Bgsu Herpetarium As An Educational Tool, Katherine Herzog

Honors Projects

The goal of this research was to evaluate the impact of the BGSU Herpetarium on students, both as a means of academic success and preparation for the workforce. The Herpetarium offers undergraduate students the chance to volunteer, serve in leadership positions, conduct research, and develop a network of like-minded peers and faculty. Because of the great opportunities for student involvement, we hypothesized that the Herpetarium would prove successful in positively impacting students’ college experiences and leave them better prepared to graduate and take their next steps. To assess these impacts, a variety of qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Six …

The Impact Of Mentoring On Life Science Undergraduate Mentors, Kari Nelson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

Universities are increasingly encouraging their undergraduates to become mentors to others, yet relatively little research has been done to empirically understand the impact of this work on the mentors themselves. Therefore, the overall goals of this work were: (1) To evaluate the types of studies that have been conducted on the impacts of serving as an undergraduate mentor; (2) To examine the methodological rigor of recent studies and make recommendations for improvement; and (3) To asses if serving as an undergraduate mentor impacted the critical thinking of the mentors, using a valid and reliable instrument, the California Critical Thinking Skills …

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Permission To Publish Agreement, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Blank Permission to Publish agreement form for authors of the Concepts in Animal Parasitology textbook/open educational resource.

Success Rates Of Second Semester Anatomy Students In Online And On-Ground Classes At A Community College In East Tennessee, William Sproat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Educators expect the number of institutions offering online courses and the number of students enrolling in these courses to increase as many students, particularly nontraditional students, discover the advantages of online content delivery. Online courses require new methods of communication between students and faculty as well as discovering new ways to build relationships, earn student trust, conduct appropriate assessment, and deliver useful course content. Many institutions—public, private, and for-profit—offer a wide variety of online coursework but faculty, employers, and the public have expressed concerns about the quality of online course content. In particular, online delivery of coursework in the natural …

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Information For Authors [Slides], Sue Ann Gardner, Scott Lyell Gardner

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Broadcast via Zoom live online, the following are the slides from an information session held for authors and reviewers of the Concepts in Animal Parasitology textbook. The work will be written collaboratively and published in 2024 as an open educational resource under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license.

Selection Perception: Views On The Theory Of Evolution Among Residents Of Moshi, Tanzania, Robin Waterman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The theory of evolution is a major tenet of biological science and has many practical applications, particularly in agriculture, medicine, and conservation. Nevertheless, there is significant opposition to the theory and its incorporation into school curricula, largely on religious grounds. This disconnect between public opinion and scientific opinion has been studied at length in the US and to some extent in other industrialized nations, but little is known about the issue in other communities around the world. This paper will use the town of Moshi, Tanzania as a case study in community views and knowledge about the theory of evolution. …

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: References Style Guide, Sue Ann Gardner, Scott Lyell Gardner

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

References style guide for authors of the Concepts in Animal Parasitology free, online textbook.

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Instructions For Authors, Sue Ann Gardner, Scott Lyell Gardner

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Instructions for authors for the Concepts in Animal Parasitology free, online textbook.

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Manuscript Preparation Guidelines, Paul Royster, Sue Ann Gardner, Scott Lyell Gardner

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Zea Books manuscript preparation guidelines for authors of the Concept in Animal Parasitology free, online textbook.

Concepts In Animal Parasitology: Template For Authors For Parts 2-4 (Endoparasites) And Part 5 (Ectoparasites), Sue Ann Gardner, Scott Lyell Gardner

Concepts in Animal Parasitology

Support material for authors of the open educational resource, Concepts in Animal Parasitology, Parts 2-4 (Endoparasites) and Part 5 (Ectoparasites).

Advancing Professional Development Strategies For Chemistry And Biochemistry Undergraduates, Christian A. Brown

Senior Theses

In the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina (the Department), most curriculum-driven professional development is reserved for third- and fourth-year students. Classroom learning occurs at all levels, but the context comes late. Early exposure to career options and hands-on training is imperative for undergraduates to obtain maximum experiential learning. The purpose of this project is to advance the current professional development strategies of the Department, specifically targeting second- and third-year students. The study surveyed students' current involvement in professional development activities. The data on extracurricular experience and post-graduation interest was used to design a workshop …

The Effect Of Undergraduate Biology Research Experiences And Mentoring Structures On Student Self-Efficacy, Kyle Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Collaborative inquiry within undergraduate research experiences (UREs) is an effective curriculum tool to support student growth. This study seeks to understand how collaborative inquiry within undergraduate biology student experiences are affected within faculty mentored experiences and non-mentored experiences at a large private southeastern university. Undergraduate biology students engaged in UREs (faculty as mentor and non-mentor experiences) were examined for statistically significant differences in student self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was measured in three subcomponents (thinking and working like a scientist, scientific self-efficacy, and scientific identity) from student responses obtained in an online survey. Responses were analyzed using a nonparametric equivalent of a t …