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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Undergraduate Students Use Moral Reasoning And Belief In Genetic Determinism In Response To A Crispr/Cas9 Socioscientific Issue., Katie M. Seiter Dec 2020

Undergraduate Students Use Moral Reasoning And Belief In Genetic Determinism In Response To A Crispr/Cas9 Socioscientific Issue., Katie M. Seiter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how students reason about genetic engineering socioscientific issues (SSIs) related to a recently developed, powerful genome editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9. It is divided into three chapters. Chapter One describes an exploratory study that characterized students’ moral reasoning using a sociocultural theoretical framework. I used content analysis and logistic regression to investigate how academic and social factors influenced moral reasoning. Students generally opposed the use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology for non-medical enhancements, and the moral considerations used were influenced by genetics knowledge level and demographic variables such as gender and socio-economic status. Further investigation of moral perspectives for students …


On The Straight And Narrow: How Cultural Beliefs About Sex/Gender Manifest In College Biology Learning Environments., Katherine Ray Kng Dec 2020

On The Straight And Narrow: How Cultural Beliefs About Sex/Gender Manifest In College Biology Learning Environments., Katherine Ray Kng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focused on the ways that social beliefs about sex/gender and sexuality manifest in biology classrooms. Especially for health science students, classes include topics like sex, sexuality, sexual behaviors, or sex determination that forms the foundation of their understanding of human forms and behaviors. If the information they receive does not include the LGBTQIA+ community, their education will fail to adequately prepare them for the reality of healthcare practice where they will be expected to treat all patients with dignity and respect. There are three chapters in this dissertation. In chapter one, I asked what beliefs about and conceptions …


How Students Communicate Knowledge: Written Versus Drawn Responses To Formative Assessment Questions In An Introductory Undergraduate Marine Science Course, Christina Siddons Aug 2020

How Students Communicate Knowledge: Written Versus Drawn Responses To Formative Assessment Questions In An Introductory Undergraduate Marine Science Course, Christina Siddons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate science education suffers from a lack of concrete instructional strategies that address real-world postgraduate skills such as visual literacy and science communication. Research within marine science education especially lags behind other, more well-researched fields such as physics or mathematics education, both of which have extensive literature addressing specific instructional strategies that instructors can implement in the classroom. Undergraduate marine science programs overlap with content areas from chemistry, physics, and biology, and provide a rich opportunity for examining how to include more authentic educational experiences in an undergraduate classroom. However, the types of assessments that are typically employed tend to …


The Association Between The Comprehensiveness And Strength Of Written Physical Activity Wellness Policies And The Observed School Physical Activity Environment, Maggie Kringen Jan 2020

The Association Between The Comprehensiveness And Strength Of Written Physical Activity Wellness Policies And The Observed School Physical Activity Environment, Maggie Kringen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To determine if there is a relationship between physical education/activity wellness policy comprehensiveness and strength and the observed physical activity (PA) environment.
Methods: The Wellness School Assessment Tool 2.0 (WellSAT 2.0) was used to evaluate the quality of written wellness policies. The School Physical Activity and Nutrition Environment Tool (SPAN-ET) was used to evaluate the school environment. Pairwise correlations and one-way ANOVAs were used to determine if written wellness policy quality affects the school PA environment. Data are presented as mean ± SD and significance was set at p ≤ 0.05.
Results: One significant relationship was found between WellSAT …


Teachers' Perceptions Of Experiential Learning In The 3-Circle Agricultural Education Model, Jon C. Schreurs Jan 2020

Teachers' Perceptions Of Experiential Learning In The 3-Circle Agricultural Education Model, Jon C. Schreurs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to describe teachers’ perceptions of experiential learning and its effects on student learning, understanding, and engagement through agriculture education's three-circle model. This paper explores teachers’ perceptions of the value and importance of experiential learning in agriculture education instruction, FFA, and supervised agricultural experience. Further, I explore experiential learning, constructivism, and hands-on learning as the foundational instructional practices used in agricultural education. Agricultural education teachers from southwest Minnesota were surveyed to determine how they are using experiential learning in their agriculture education programs, including classroom instruction, FFA, and supervised agricultural experiences.