In introductory microbiology courses for non-biology majors, it can be difficult to ensure that students gain a functional understanding of the interplay between the host immune system and an invading infectious agent. Immune Battle is a board game that allows students to explore pathogen evolution and the immune system's response to incursions in a captivating way, leveraging battleship and worker placement styles of gameplay. Students play in teams as either a pathogenic microbe attempting to reproduce and transmit itself to new hosts or as the immune system trying to defend the host from infection. Immune Battle seeks to mimic real-world interactions between immune cells and microbes using board game mechanics. For example, students will quickly find that adaptive immune system actions are better at fighting off microbial incursions than innate immune actions but require more time to activate. In this way, Immune Battle reinforces student's understanding of the immune system and pathogenic virulence in an exciting and interactive way that keeps them thinking about host defenses long after the end of the class period or exam. This board game is well suited for advanced high school courses and introductory college-level courses that have only limited time to cover the immune system and microbiology. Documents containing the necessary components of the board game (not including a six-sided die) are included in the supplemental materials, so educators can print out their own copies and use this board game in their classes with no cost to themselves or their students.
{"title":"Enhancing student engagement with introductory microbiology and immunology topics using a novel board game.","authors":"Rebecca S Rivard","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00075-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00075-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In introductory microbiology courses for non-biology majors, it can be difficult to ensure that students gain a functional understanding of the interplay between the host immune system and an invading infectious agent. Immune Battle is a board game that allows students to explore pathogen evolution and the immune system's response to incursions in a captivating way, leveraging battleship and worker placement styles of gameplay. Students play in teams as either a pathogenic microbe attempting to reproduce and transmit itself to new hosts or as the immune system trying to defend the host from infection. Immune Battle seeks to mimic real-world interactions between immune cells and microbes using board game mechanics. For example, students will quickly find that adaptive immune system actions are better at fighting off microbial incursions than innate immune actions but require more time to activate. In this way, Immune Battle reinforces student's understanding of the immune system and pathogenic virulence in an exciting and interactive way that keeps them thinking about host defenses long after the end of the class period or exam. This board game is well suited for advanced high school courses and introductory college-level courses that have only limited time to cover the immune system and microbiology. Documents containing the necessary components of the board game (not including a six-sided die) are included in the supplemental materials, so educators can print out their own copies and use this board game in their classes with no cost to themselves or their students.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142005515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lilyan Mendez, Angelita T Rivera, Izabella Vasquez, Alfonso Godínez Aguilar, Melinda T Owens, Clara L Meaders
Student experiences learning chemistry have been well studied in chemistry courses but less so in biology courses. Chemistry concepts are foundational to introductory biology courses, and student experiences learning chemistry concepts may impact their overall course experiences and subsequent student outcomes. In this study, we asked undergraduate students enrolled in introductory biology courses at a public R1 institution an open-response question asking how their experiences learning chemistry topics affected their identities as biologists. We used thematic analysis to identify common ideas in their responses. We found that while almost half of student respondents cited learning chemistry as having positive impacts on their experiences learning biology, students who struggled with chemistry topics were significantly more likely to have negative experiences learning biology. We also found significant relationships between prior chemistry preparation, student background, and the likelihood of students struggling with chemistry and negative experiences learning biology. These findings emphasize the impact of learning specific content on student psychosocial metrics and suggest areas for biology educators to focus on to support learning and alleviate student stress in introductory biology.
{"title":"How students taking introductory biology experience the chemistry content.","authors":"Lilyan Mendez, Angelita T Rivera, Izabella Vasquez, Alfonso Godínez Aguilar, Melinda T Owens, Clara L Meaders","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00111-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00111-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Student experiences learning chemistry have been well studied in chemistry courses but less so in biology courses. Chemistry concepts are foundational to introductory biology courses, and student experiences learning chemistry concepts may impact their overall course experiences and subsequent student outcomes. In this study, we asked undergraduate students enrolled in introductory biology courses at a public R1 institution an open-response question asking how their experiences learning chemistry topics affected their identities as biologists. We used thematic analysis to identify common ideas in their responses. We found that while almost half of student respondents cited learning chemistry as having positive impacts on their experiences learning biology, students who struggled with chemistry topics were significantly more likely to have negative experiences learning biology. We also found significant relationships between prior chemistry preparation, student background, and the likelihood of students struggling with chemistry and negative experiences learning biology. These findings emphasize the impact of learning specific content on student psychosocial metrics and suggest areas for biology educators to focus on to support learning and alleviate student stress in introductory biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142005516","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Advancing research ethics instruction in laboratory courses.","authors":"Joseph Ross","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00106-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00106-24","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142000931","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anaerobic respiration reactions are of fundamental importance to global biogeochemical cycling of elements. Yet, the idea that cellular respiration can occur not only in the absence of oxygen but also involve the oxidation of inorganic substrates (e.g., AsO33-, Fe2+, H2, H2S, Mn2+, NH3, and S0) is often foreign to many undergraduate students. This article describes a problem-solving exercise where students are introduced to the thermodynamic fundamentals of respiration with a particular focus on the role of redox (reduction-oxidation) potentials (E0´). In the exercise, the students investigate how the difference in redox potential (ΔE0´) between different pairs of reductants and oxidants affects the range of permissible microbial metabolic reactions in natural environments when oxygen is absent.
{"title":"Demystifying anaerobic respiration: a problem-solving exercise.","authors":"Tomas Linder","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00044-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00044-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Anaerobic respiration reactions are of fundamental importance to global biogeochemical cycling of elements. Yet, the idea that cellular respiration can occur not only in the absence of oxygen but also involve the oxidation of inorganic substrates (e.g., AsO<sub>3</sub><sup>3-</sup>, Fe<sup>2+</sup>, H<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>S, Mn<sup>2+</sup>, NH<sub>3</sub>, and S<sup>0</sup>) is often foreign to many undergraduate students. This article describes a problem-solving exercise where students are introduced to the thermodynamic fundamentals of respiration with a particular focus on the role of redox (reduction-oxidation) potentials (<i>E<sub>0</sub>´</i>). In the exercise, the students investigate how the difference in redox potential (<i>ΔE<sub>0</sub>´</i>) between different pairs of reductants and oxidants affects the range of permissible microbial metabolic reactions in natural environments when oxygen is absent.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142000932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Managing and evaluating the literature review process can be a time-consuming challenge when working one-on-one with students to teach scientific process skills, whether through an independent study, honors contract, or undergraduate research. In this article, I share my solution to address the pedagogical and organizational challenge posed by this type of teaching and mentoring: the citation management software Zotero used in conjunction with a template worksheet. Overall, this approach will save time, introduce students to a new multipurpose software tool, and lead to a set of reusable resources for future teaching.
{"title":"Zotero as a teaching tool for independent study courses, honors contracts, and undergraduate research mentoring.","authors":"Dyan E Morgan","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00132-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00132-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Managing and evaluating the literature review process can be a time-consuming challenge when working one-on-one with students to teach scientific process skills, whether through an independent study, honors contract, or undergraduate research. In this article, I share my solution to address the pedagogical and organizational challenge posed by this type of teaching and mentoring: the citation management software Zotero used in conjunction with a template worksheet. Overall, this approach will save time, introduce students to a new multipurpose software tool, and lead to a set of reusable resources for future teaching.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142000933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stephanie A Carr, Stephanie L Mathews, Justin A Pruneski, Nikolas M Stasulli
In this article, we describe curricular materials developed to engage undergraduate students in evolutionary thinking around antibiotic resistance using the MEGA-plate experiment (Microbial Evolution and Growth Arena). This elegant and visual experiment, developed by the Kishony Lab, shows the development of antibiotic resistance on the timescale of hours and days. It not only provides important biological insights but also captures students' attention, making it a very useful tool for education. While a short video describing the method and major results has already been widely used in the classroom setting, our case study connects details of the methods and results of the MEGA-plate experiment and antibiotic resistance to core biological concepts. The interrupted case study consists of four major parts: 1) an opening hook activity to capture students' attention and introduce the antibiotic crisis, 2) a jigsaw activity to research different classes of antibiotic targets and the resistance mechanisms that can arise, 3) a discussion of antibiotic resistance in real-time using the MEGA-plate experiment video, and 4) three different options for students to dive deeper into the experimental data from the MEGA-plate research article. These components are modular and can be used in many different combinations to reach different audiences or connect to other topics related to microbiology, evolution, or genetics.
在这篇文章中,我们介绍了利用 MEGA 板实验(微生物进化与生长竞技场)让本科生围绕抗生素耐药性进行进化思考而开发的课程材料。这个由基肖尼实验室开发的实验优雅而直观,以小时和天为时间尺度展示了抗生素耐药性的发展过程。它不仅能提供重要的生物学启示,还能吸引学生的注意力,是非常有用的教学工具。虽然介绍实验方法和主要结果的视频短片已在课堂教学中广泛使用,但我们的案例研究将 MEGA-plate 实验方法和结果的细节以及抗生素耐药性与核心生物学概念联系起来。被打断的案例研究由四个主要部分组成:1)开场钩子活动,吸引学生的注意力并介绍抗生素危机;2)拼图活动,研究不同类别的抗生素靶标和可能产生的抗药性机制;3)使用 MEGA-plate 实验视频实时讨论抗生素抗药性;4)三种不同的选项,供学生深入研究 MEGA-plate 研究文章中的实验数据。这些组件都是模块化的,可以进行多种不同的组合,以满足不同受众的需求,或与微生物学、进化论或遗传学相关的其他主题联系起来。
{"title":"A case study to engage students in evolutionary thinking around antibiotic resistance using the MEGA-plate experiment.","authors":"Stephanie A Carr, Stephanie L Mathews, Justin A Pruneski, Nikolas M Stasulli","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00039-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00039-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this article, we describe curricular materials developed to engage undergraduate students in evolutionary thinking around antibiotic resistance using the MEGA-plate experiment (Microbial Evolution and Growth Arena). This elegant and visual experiment, developed by the Kishony Lab, shows the development of antibiotic resistance on the timescale of hours and days. It not only provides important biological insights but also captures students' attention, making it a very useful tool for education. While a short video describing the method and major results has already been widely used in the classroom setting, our case study connects details of the methods and results of the MEGA-plate experiment and antibiotic resistance to core biological concepts. The interrupted case study consists of four major parts: 1) an opening hook activity to capture students' attention and introduce the antibiotic crisis, 2) a jigsaw activity to research different classes of antibiotic targets and the resistance mechanisms that can arise, 3) a discussion of antibiotic resistance in real-time using the MEGA-plate experiment video, and 4) three different options for students to dive deeper into the experimental data from the MEGA-plate research article. These components are modular and can be used in many different combinations to reach different audiences or connect to other topics related to microbiology, evolution, or genetics.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141989185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Students in STEM know well the stress, challenge, and effort that accompany college exams. As a widely recognizable feature of the STEM classroom experience, high-stakes assessments serve as crucial cultural gateways in shaping both preparation and motivation for careers. In this essay, we identify and discuss issues of power around STEM exams to further the understanding of exam practices that can unjustly hold students back. Through theory and practical examples, we consider the numerous ways in which power manifests both on and off the pages of the exams themselves, as well as ways in which power is consolidated away from students through logistical norms and tradeoffs. Centering the "rules of the culture of power" as delineated by Dr. Lisa Delpit, we reflect on exam practices that prioritize faculty voice and faculty convenience above student learning and student identity. We share some of what we have learned from our students as part of a call to improve STEM education by relinquishing some of our exam-related power over students, redistributing it to students so that they have more power to shape their own education.
科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)专业的学生深知伴随着大学考试而来的压力、挑战和努力。作为科技、工程和数学课堂教学中一个广为人知的特点,高风险评估是塑造职业准备和动力的重要文化途径。在这篇文章中,我们将围绕 STEM 考试确定并讨论权力问题,以进一步了解可能不公正地阻碍学生的考试做法。通过理论和实际案例,我们考虑了权力在考试本身内外的众多表现形式,以及通过后勤规范和权衡从学生手中夺走权力的方式。围绕丽莎-德尔皮特博士(Dr. Lisa Delpit)提出的 "权力文化规则",我们反思了将教师的话语权和教师的便利性置于学生学习和学生身份之上的考试做法。我们分享了从学生身上学到的一些东西,呼吁通过放弃我们对学生的一些与考试相关的权力,将其重新分配给学生,使他们有更多的权力来塑造自己的教育,从而改善 STEM 教育。
{"title":"Exam reform: an opportunity for the redistribution of academic power.","authors":"Gregory J Crowther, Benjamin L Wiggins","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00119-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00119-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Students in STEM know well the stress, challenge, and effort that accompany college exams. As a widely recognizable feature of the STEM classroom experience, high-stakes assessments serve as crucial cultural gateways in shaping both preparation and motivation for careers. In this essay, we identify and discuss issues of power around STEM exams to further the understanding of exam practices that can unjustly hold students back. Through theory and practical examples, we consider the numerous ways in which power manifests both on and off the pages of the exams themselves, as well as ways in which power is consolidated away from students through logistical norms and tradeoffs. Centering the \"rules of the culture of power\" as delineated by Dr. Lisa Delpit, we reflect on exam practices that prioritize faculty voice and faculty convenience above student learning and student identity. We share some of what we have learned from our students as part of a call to improve STEM education by relinquishing some of our exam-related power over students, redistributing it to students so that they have more power to shape their own education.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141989186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Danielle R Williams, D'Anne Duncan, Mallory M Rice, Erica L Sanchez
Mental health interventions can help mitigate the unique challenges that individuals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) face as they navigate these disciplines. We developed the "Mental Health and Wellness: Our Community and our Identity in STEM" workshop, which emphasizes leveraging our STEM community and promoting self-compassion, to foster a conversation among members of the STEM community on how to support mental health and wellness. This interactive workshop begins with a short lecture to define mental health and wellness and introduce evidence-based methods to increase self-compassion. Participants, who are often from diverse backgrounds and various career stages, then explore case studies that highlight experiences related to mental health across STEM career stages. Pre- and post-assessments of workshop participants suggest that participants had positive shifts in their ability to show compassion toward themselves as well as an increased comfort in discussing mental health within their STEM community. This workshop not only provided participants with practical tools and insights but also cultivated a supportive environment, underscoring the importance of mental health awareness and collective well-being within STEM fields. In this paper, we share tips on how this workshop was executed and lessons we have learned from our years of sharing similar workshops in the broader STEM community. We hope this paper serves as a valuable guide for potential facilitators to initiate conversations about mental health and wellness in their respective STEM spaces.
{"title":"Fostering community discussions and building a toolkit for mental health and wellness in STEM.","authors":"Danielle R Williams, D'Anne Duncan, Mallory M Rice, Erica L Sanchez","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00089-24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00089-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mental health interventions can help mitigate the unique challenges that individuals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) face as they navigate these disciplines. We developed the \"Mental Health and Wellness: Our Community and our Identity in STEM\" workshop, which emphasizes leveraging our STEM community and promoting self-compassion, to foster a conversation among members of the STEM community on how to support mental health and wellness. This interactive workshop begins with a short lecture to define mental health and wellness and introduce evidence-based methods to increase self-compassion. Participants, who are often from diverse backgrounds and various career stages, then explore case studies that highlight experiences related to mental health across STEM career stages. Pre- and post-assessments of workshop participants suggest that participants had positive shifts in their ability to show compassion toward themselves as well as an increased comfort in discussing mental health within their STEM community. This workshop not only provided participants with practical tools and insights but also cultivated a supportive environment, underscoring the importance of mental health awareness and collective well-being within STEM fields. In this paper, we share tips on how this workshop was executed and lessons we have learned from our years of sharing similar workshops in the broader STEM community. We hope this paper serves as a valuable guide for potential facilitators to initiate conversations about mental health and wellness in their respective STEM spaces.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141989187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-25Epub Date: 2024-03-28DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.00004-24
Courtney Murray, Jennifer Osterhage
Building rapport between instructors and students is a challenge, especially in large classes and in online environments. Previous work has shown that non-content Instructor Talk can foster positive student-teacher relationships, but less is known about non-content talk in electronic instructor messages. Here, we used the established Instructor Talk framework to craft positively phrased electronic messages that were sent through the course's learning management system to students enrolled in an introductory biology course at a large public institution. We examined both close- and open-ended survey responses (n = 226) to assess students' perceptions of the electronic messages, the course, and their instructor. Of the established Instructor Talk categories, the building student/instructor relationship category was most memorable to students. Encouragingly, 61% of students indicated they "liked the course more" and 88% indicated they "liked the instructor more" in response to the electronic messages. This demonstrates that implementing positively phrased Instructor Talk into electronic communication is an effective way to build rapport between instructors and students.
{"title":"\"They helped me through the semester\": electronic instructor messages can foster the instructor-student relationship.","authors":"Courtney Murray, Jennifer Osterhage","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00004-24","DOIUrl":"10.1128/jmbe.00004-24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Building rapport between instructors and students is a challenge, especially in large classes and in online environments. Previous work has shown that non-content Instructor Talk can foster positive student-teacher relationships, but less is known about non-content talk in electronic instructor messages. Here, we used the established Instructor Talk framework to craft positively phrased electronic messages that were sent through the course's learning management system to students enrolled in an introductory biology course at a large public institution. We examined both close- and open-ended survey responses (<i>n</i> = 226) to assess students' perceptions of the electronic messages, the course, and their instructor. Of the established Instructor Talk categories, the building student/instructor relationship category was most memorable to students. Encouragingly, 61% of students indicated they \"liked the course more\" and 88% indicated they \"liked the instructor more\" in response to the electronic messages. This demonstrates that implementing positively phrased Instructor Talk into electronic communication is an effective way to build rapport between instructors and students.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11044634/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140319472","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-25Epub Date: 2024-02-27DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.00163-23
Jennifer Teshera-Levye, Heather D Vance-Chalcraft
The experience of transferring to a 4-year college, especially in STEM programs, can be particularly challenging for students. While much of the onus for preparing students for transfer has been placed on community colleges, the 4-year institutions to which students transfer have critical roles to play. With this in mind, we established the Pre-transfer Interventions, Mentoring, and Experience in Research (PRIMER) program to support students transferring into the biology department at our university. The design of this program is based around the key elements of Schlossberg's Transition Theory, focusing on the support and strategies elements of the theory. Through a weekly academic skill course, peer mentoring, and informal academic and social supports, our goals were for students to increase their involvement in the campus community and to increase their use of academic support resources. We used qualitative and quantitative assessments to compare sense of community and use of campus resources between students who participated in our program and others. We found that students in our program strongly increased their sense of community during the semester compared to other students and used campus resources at a higher rate. Our insights from the PRIMER program can help others in developing programs to support transfer students in biology departments.
转学到四年制大学,尤其是 STEM 课程,对学生来说是一个特别具有挑战性的经历。虽然社区学院承担着为学生转学做好准备的重任,但学生转入的四年制院校也发挥着至关重要的作用。有鉴于此,我们制定了转学前干预、指导和研究经验(PRIMER)计划,为转入我校生物系的学生提供支持。该计划的设计以施洛斯伯格的转学理论的关键要素为基础,重点关注理论中的支持和策略要素。通过每周一次的学术技能课程、同伴指导以及非正式的学术和社会支持,我们的目标是让学生更多地参与到校园社区中来,并更多地利用学术支持资源。我们通过定性和定量评估,比较了参加我们项目的学生和其他学生的社区意识和对校园资源的使用情况。我们发现,与其他学生相比,参加我们项目的学生在本学期的社区意识得到了很大的提高,使用校园资源的比例也更高。我们从 PRIMER 项目中获得的启示可以帮助其他人制定支持生物系转学生的项目。
{"title":"Peer mentorship and academic supports build sense of community and improve outcomes for transfer students.","authors":"Jennifer Teshera-Levye, Heather D Vance-Chalcraft","doi":"10.1128/jmbe.00163-23","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00163-23","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The experience of transferring to a 4-year college, especially in STEM programs, can be particularly challenging for students. While much of the onus for preparing students for transfer has been placed on community colleges, the 4-year institutions to which students transfer have critical roles to play. With this in mind, we established the Pre-transfer Interventions, Mentoring, and Experience in Research (PRIMER) program to support students transferring into the biology department at our university. The design of this program is based around the key elements of Schlossberg's Transition Theory, focusing on the support and strategies elements of the theory. Through a weekly academic skill course, peer mentoring, and informal academic and social supports, our goals were for students to increase their involvement in the campus community and to increase their use of academic support resources. We used qualitative and quantitative assessments to compare sense of community and use of campus resources between students who participated in our program and others. We found that students in our program strongly increased their sense of community during the semester compared to other students and used campus resources at a higher rate. Our insights from the PRIMER program can help others in developing programs to support transfer students in biology departments.</p>","PeriodicalId":46416,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-04-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11044626/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140869267","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}