Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education最新文献

Specifications grading is a relatively recent approach to assessing student learning. In this approach, students make progress toward completion of a course by demonstrating mastery of specific skills or material. The assessment tools are short, frequent exercises that can be attempted multiple times until mastered. This contrasts with the traditional, exam-based assessment of student learning. There are multiple benefits to the specifications grading-based strategy, including reduced test anxiety, better knowledge retention, and increased flexibility. In this study, specifications grading was implemented into an upper-level biochemistry course at a private, liberal arts university. The student cohort consisted almost exclusively of junior and senior biochemistry, biology, and chemistry majors. Students earned points for demonstrating mastery on each of 12 short quizzes in addition to points earned from laboratory exercises and on the cumulative final exam. Student attitudes were assessed using three surveys that were administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. The survey results indicated that the students had overall favorable opinions of the specifications grading approach and its use in this course. A comparison of student performance on the quizzes to their performance on the final exam showed that the students learned and retained the course material. Combining the survey and performance data, we demonstrated that the students' perceptions of their learning correlated well with their performances on the specifications grading tools. Together, these results indicated that specifications grading is an effective approach to assessing student learning and to maintaining student enthusiasm in an upper-level biochemistry course.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are tools used to introduce students to authentic participation in science. Several specific CUREs have been shown to benefit students' interest and retention in the biological sciences. Nevertheless, CUREs vary greatly in terms of their context, methodology, and degree of research authenticity, so different types of CUREs may differently influence student outcomes. This programmatic diversity poses a challenge to educators who want to better understand which course components and features are reliably present in a CURE curriculum. To address these issues, we identified, catalogued, and classified 112 potential features of CUREs across the biosciences. To develop the list, we interviewed instructors experienced with teaching individual and large networked CUREs across a diversity of the biological disciplines, including: Squirrel-Net (field-based animal behavior), SEA-PHAGES (wet lab microbiology and computational microbiology), Tiny Earth (environmental and wet lab microbiology), PARE (environmental microbiology), and the Genomics Education Partnership (eukaryotic computational biology). Twenty-five interviewees contributed expert content in terms of CURE features and classification of those items into an organized list. The resulting list's categories encompasses student experiences with the following: (i) the scientific process; (ii) technical aspects of science; (iii) the professional development associated with research; and (iv) building scientific identity. The most striking insight was that CUREs vary widely in terms of which features they contain, since different CUREs will by necessity have different approaches to science and student involvement. We also identified several features commonly thought to be crucial to CUREs yet have ambiguous definitions. This ambiguity can potentially confound efforts to make CUREs research-authentic and aligned with the central goals of science. We disambiguate these terms and represent their varied meanings throughout the classification. We also provide instructor-friendly supplementary worksheets along with considerations for instructors interested in expanding their CURE course design, instruction, and equity.

Education about scientific publishing and manuscript peer review is not universally provided in undergraduate science courses. Since peer review is integral to the scientific process and central to the identity of a scientist, we envision a paradigm shift where teaching peer review becomes integral to undergraduate science education. We hypothesize that teaching undergraduates how to peer review scientific manuscripts may facilitate their development of scientific literacy and identity formation. To this end, we developed a constructivist, service-learning curriculum for biology undergraduates to learn about the mechanisms of peer review using preprints and then to write and publish their own peer reviews of preprints as a way to authentically join the scientific community of practice. The curriculum was implemented as a semester-long intervention in one class and, in another class, as an embedded module intervention. Students' scientific literacy and peer review ability were assessed using quantitative methods. Student's perceptions of their scientific literacy and identity were assessed using thematic analysis of students' reflective writing. Here, we present data on the improvement in the peer review ability of undergraduates in both classes and data on the curriculum's interrelated impact on students' development of scientific literacy, identity, and belonging in peer and professional discourse spaces. These data suggest that undergraduates can and should be trained in peer review to foster the interrelated development of their scientific literacy, scientific identity, and sense of belonging in science.

The online education market share is rapidly increasing, raising the demand to teach sciences outside the laboratory environment. Here, we present Microbiology at Home (M@H), a new approach that integrates hands-on microbiology experimentation with online interactive simulations using authentic scenarios in microbiology in the home environment. The M@H program includes 8 practical activities aligned to the ASM curriculum for practical skills. M@H kits are mailed to students, and each practical activity is prepacked individually with the required consumables, including microbial culture media to prepare at home using a microwave. These practicals are self-paced, and each activity is facilitated using a two-dimensional simulation package with prerecorded videos, protocols, and interactive activities. The students receive both synchronous and asynchronous support and guidance through online learning management systems fora and virtual gatherings. The M@H program was applied to an Introductory Microbiology cohort at the University of New England in 2020 and 2021. Based on student feedback, the experience not only provided real hands-on practice in microbiology but also acted to cement the engagement with the content by contextualizing it to the surrounding home environment. We anticipate that these activities will provide a way to successfully engage students with hands-on microbiology without the need for actual laboratory attendance, thus increasing accessibility to microbial protocols and applications.

To improve students' scientific literacy, I designed a learning module that built upon my personal research experience and interest to actively engage students in reading primary literature. Here, I describe the scaffolded procedure in six steps, each linked to a learning outcome and assessment using Bloom's taxonomy as a framework of increasing from lower-order to higher-order cognition: (i) storytelling and discussion, i.e., remember; (ii) guided reading, i.e., understand; (iii) group reading, i.e., apply; (iv) shared reading, i.e., analyze; (v) self-selected reading, i.e., evaluate; and (vi) research proposal, i.e., create. By using my personal science story as introduction and foundation, students were able to connect to the content and consider the importance of the process of science. By providing a scaffolded introduction and guided support, students were able to read primary literature with less frustration and with greater confidence. I assessed these activities to determine if they increased student engagement and student confidence in reading peer-reviewed scientific papers. Students completed a survey rating their confidence reading scientific papers on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 4 (extremely). Reported confidence increased following the activities (mean of 1.9 before to 3.2 after) and activities were rated as helpful (mean of 3.1). These activities can be applied to most fields of research, allowing faculty at nonresearch institutions the opportunity to incorporate their research into teaching while achieving successful general education outcomes.

Argumentation is vital in the development of scientific knowledge, and students who can argue from evidence and support their claims develop a deeper understanding of science. In this study, the Argument-Driven Inquiry instruction model was implemented in a two-semester sequence of introductory biology laboratories. Student's scientific argumentation sessions were video recorded and analyzed using the Assessment of Scientific Argumentation in the Classroom observation protocol. This protocol separates argumentation into three subcategories: cognitive (how the group develops understanding), epistemic (how consistent the group's process is with the culture of science), and social (how the group members interact with each other). We asked whether students are equally skilled in all subcategories of argumentation and how students' argumentation skills differ based on lab exercise and course. Students scored significantly higher on the social than the cognitive and epistemic subcategories of argumentation. Total argumentation scores were significantly different between the two focal investigations in Biology Laboratory I but not between the two focal investigations in Biology Laboratory II. Therefore, student argumentation skills were not consistent across content; the design of the lab exercises and their implementation impacted the level of argumentation that occurred. These results will ultimately aid in the development and expansion of Argument-Driven Inquiry instructional models, with the goal of further enhancing students' scientific argumentation skills and understanding of science.

Communicating science effectively is an essential part of the development of science literacy. Research has shown that introducing primary scientific literature through journal clubs can improve student learning outcomes, including increased scientific knowledge. However, without scaffolding, students can miss more complex aspects of science literacy, including how to analyze and present scientific data. In this study, we apply a modified CREATE(S) process (Concept map the introduction, Read methods and results, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze data, Think of the next Experiment, and Synthesis map) to improve students' science literacy skills, specifically their understanding of the process of science and their ability to use narrative synthesis to communicate science. We tested this hypothesis using a retrospective quasi-experimental study design in upper-division undergraduate courses. We compared learning outcomes for CREATES intervention students to those for students who took the same courses before CREATES was introduced. Rubric-guided, direct evidence assessments were used to measure student gains in learning outcomes. Analyses revealed that CREATES intervention students versus the comparison group demonstrated improved ability to interpret and communicate primary literature, especially in the methods, hypotheses, and narrative synthesis learning outcome categories. Through a mixed-methods analysis of a reflection assignment completed by the CREATES intervention group, students reported the synthesis map as the most frequently used step in the process and highly valuable to their learning. Taken together, the study demonstrates how this modified CREATES process can foster scientific literacy development and how it could be applied in science, technology, engineering, and math journal clubs.

Undergraduate microbiology students are exposed to the theory of the scientific method throughout their undergraduate coursework, but laboratory course curricula often focus on technical skills rather than fully integrating scientific thinking as a component of competencies addressed. Here, we have designed a six-session inquiry-based laboratory (IBL) curriculum for an upper-level microbiology laboratory course that fully involves students in the scientific process using bacterial conjugation as the model system, including both online discussions and in-person laboratory sessions. The student learning objectives focus on the scientific method, experimental design, data analysis, bacterial conjugation mechanisms, and scientific communication. We hypothesized students would meet these learning objectives after completing this IBL and tracked student learning and surveyed students to provide an assessment of the structure of the IBL using pre- and post-IBL quizzes and the Laboratory Course Assessment Survey. Overall, our results show this IBL results in positive student learning gains.

Active learning has been shown to improve student outcomes across a range of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. In addition, active learning with an interdisciplinary focus in the classroom is beneficial for students to pursue health and allied health careers. Case studies have also been shown to enhance student learning. In this study, we utilized a novel learning approach combining a case study with interdisciplinary focus and an active learning exercise that introduced the chemistry of stains and how this relates to staining various organelles and components in a cell. This case study along with active learning exercise (e.g., a card game, group PowerPoint presentations, or coloring organelles or structures in a eukaryotic cell upon staining with a biochemical stain) resulted in improved student performance as well as long-term retention. This activity can be implemented in introductory biology, microbiology, cell biology, and related STEM disciplines (e.g., chemistry, biochemistry).