Cbe-Life Sciences Education最新文献

We explored the experience of biology faculty who completed the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST IV) program as postdoctoral fellows up to 13 years previously to better understand teaching professional development benefits for future faculty, and what departments can do to advance learner-centered teaching. We describe three kinds of departmental environments that can affect faculty in developing and maintaining three psychological elements needed for workplace satisfaction (competence, autonomy, and community) as defined by self-determination theory (SDT). We designed a reflection exercise for faculty that inquired about the three elements of SDT they experienced in their current departments. The response data were coded and reported as vignettes, a creative medium that illustrates the significant role that departments play in nurturing faculty growth, and development in pedagogy. The findings suggest that teaching development programs alone cannot affect deep and lasting change without departments that foster faculty competence, autonomy, and community. We can train current and future faculty to teach well, but authentic change will only happen with departmental support.

Interacting with others is an important aspect of life. Especially in education, collaborations can help students learn. Unfortunately, there are often systemic barriers of science being perceived as individualistic, which may impact student success in science. Therefore, this study investigated how college students' (n = 672) social experiences (including learning benefits from peer ideas, LBP) in an introductory biology laboratory course was related to their science motivation and performance. Initial correlational analysis showed positive associations amongst students' social experiences, science motivation, and course performance. Regression analysis demonstrated a change in LBP and interaction of this with first-generation student (FGS) status, were important predictors of final science motivation. Science motivation, in turn, was able to predict student performance in the course. Interestingly, although science motivation was predictive of performance for all students, FGS status interacted with science motivation to predict performance only in the laboratory that featured a more collaborative curriculum. Results suggest that experiencing LBP may impact all students' science motivation and through this course performance. Yet these relationships may be more critical for FGS in collaborative classroom environments. Implications for optimizing LBP in introductory life science courses will be explored.

National efforts to enhance postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education have continued to emphasize the integration of civic engagement within curricula. Achieving this goal requires that we understand how students' social identities impact their community involvement, particularly for minoritized groups such as Latiné students, that are growing within the United States. This case study explores how 15 STEM Latiné students perceived their identities to influence their community engagement within a scientifically civically engaged course-based undergraduate research experience at a research-intensive Hispanic-Serving Institution. Multiple lines of evidence, including surveys, interviews, social identity mapping, and photovoice were collected. Findings revealed that students' social, science, and place identities significantly shaped their experience of scientific community engagement, presenting both opportunities and challenges. Biculturalism, language proficiency, and shared socioeconomic experiences enhanced students' connections to their communities, promoting motivation, and meaningful engagement. Conversely, differing identities, language barriers, and perceived exclusion hindered participation, highlighting the complexities of belonging. We recommend that STEM instructors consider tenants of culturally responsive education when engaging Latiné students. By understanding the relationship between identity and scientific civic engagement, educators can prepare STEM Latiné students to apply their scientific skills in the service of their communities.

Disparate grade outcomes across various axes of student identities are prevalent in introductory science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, including in the biological sciences, yet few studies have examined outcome disparities in upper-division courses. Those that have present mixed findings. Rooted in a critical approach to quantitative methods and a student asset/institutional-deficit perspective, we characterized grade disparities associated with minoritized demographic identities over 10 years of enrollments (N = 58,692 students) in two upper-division biology courses, Genetics and Cell Biology, at five institutions. We found strong evidence of grade disparities associated with women, PEER, first-generation, low socioeconomic, and transfer student identities while controlling for prior academic performance. Across all institutions, the number of privileged identities held by the students was positively correlated with averaged students' course grades. These grade disparities were larger in Genetics than in Cell Biology and the degree of disparities in both courses varied across institutions. Our results show that the systemic inequities observed in introductory courses also exist in upper-division biology courses and call for universities to implement policies and practices that move away from student-deficit explanations for these disparities, and instead adopt a curriculum and institution-deficit model that recognizes their role in mediating and perpetuating equity disparities in STEM.

Science courses are required for nonmajor students as part of general education with the goal of students connecting scientific knowledge to their own lives using science to make decisions. Often, however, these science courses emphasize basic concepts and terms without making it relevant to students' lives. Thus, these courses may not be successful in promoting decision making related to science and society. In this study, we interviewed 35 faculty teaching nonmajors biology to understand their rationale in making course decisions. Through interviews, we learned what factors influence faculty decision-making processes in structuring nonmajors' biology courses, as well as if and how they prioritize teaching about socioscientific issues (SSIs) and scientific competencies. Using cluster analysis, we developed fictional faculty teaching personas based on key themes and characteristics of faculty who prioritize teaching about SSIs versus those who focus on content coverage. These teaching personas could prove useful for professional development planning when seeking to improve student learning.

Recent efforts to make undergraduate biology more inclusive include developing content that explores how human values and priorities impact science, and previous work documents how instructors value an "ideologically aware" biology curriculum that highlights these themes. Here, we surveyed a national sample of undergraduate students in biology classes to explore student perceptions of Ideological Awareness via a mixed-methods investigation. Through quantitative analyses, we found that women students, transgender or gender nonconforming students, and students majoring in biology or another science field were more likely to support the inclusion of Ideological Awareness in the biology classroom. We used expectancy value theory to guide our qualitative interpretations of student survey responses. Specifically, students' expectancy of success and the intrinsic value they attach to ideologically aware content influenced their overall acceptance and advocacy for its integration into the curriculum. Students reported valuing Ideological Awareness because it can increase awareness and decrease biases. The most frequently cited cost was the potential for Ideological Awareness to elicit negative emotions. We compared results with similar or identical questions on a national survey distributed to biology instructors, which showed general alignment between students and instructors. These results support the incorporation of Ideological Awareness in biology education, emphasizing the need for more research on the implementation of inclusive content to address potential challenges.

Science communication is a key skill for undergraduates, but little research explores how biology students communicate about societally important, yet controversial topics like climate change. In this study, we explored whether and how biology students took on the role of science communicators about climate change. We surveyed 191 biology students at 38 universities about their climate change communication frequency and preparedness. We interviewed 25 of the survey participants about their experiences communicating about climate change and their needs when learning about climate change communication. We found that students were communicating about climate change and felt confident discussing the causes and effects of climate change, but they were less confident discussing the solutions to climate change. Students tended to "preach to the choir" by mostly communicating with those who already accepted climate change and avoiding interacting with others who disagreed with them about climate change. Students described a lack of science communication training but had a desire to be taught effective communication skills. Our interviews indicate that if these students felt more prepared to communicate, it may make them more willing to discuss climate change and particularly with people who have different views from them.

Recent calls to prioritize mental health discussions in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathemathics (STEM) have gained momentum, driven by alarming reports on the prevalence of mental health issues within STEM disciplines. Research has extensively studied anxiety and depression in both STEM graduate and undergraduate students, but there has been little focus on the overall mental health of life science undergraduates. We examined how undergraduate life science students perceive support for mental health in their classes, how their major influences their mental health, and how students manage these challenges. To investigate these ideas, we conducted semistructured interviews with 20 life science undergraduate students at a commuter, primarily undergraduate institution with a diverse student body. Our findings indicate that most students prioritized academics at the expense of their wellness and perceived a lack of support for their mental health from STEM instructors. Despite these challenges, some students used various strategies to maintain their mental health and many remained committed to their degrees, viewing the pursuit as worthwhile despite its adverse effects to their mental health. These findings underscore the critical need for more comprehensive and sustained mental health support in undergraduate life science education, ensuring students are not only academically successful but also emotionally resilient and well supported.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) enhance student retention in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), particularly among students who belong to historically excluded communities. Yet the mechanisms by which CUREs contribute to student integration and persistence are poorly understood. Utilizing the tripartite integration model of social influence (TIMSI), this longitudinal study examines whether and how Tiny Earth-an antibiotic-discovery CURE designed for flexible implementation in a variety of course contexts-impacts students' scientific self-efficacy, scientific identity, endorsement of scientific community values, and intentions to persist in science. The study also explores how gains in TIMSI factors (i.e., scientific self-efficacy, identity, and values) vary as a function of student demographics and course characteristics. A comparison of pre- and postcourse measurements showed that scientific self-efficacy and identity increased among students in Tiny Earth. Some student demographics and course characteristics moderated these gains. Gains in all three TIMSI factors correlated with gains in persistence intentions, whereas student demographics and course characteristics did not. This study shows that the Tiny Earth curriculum equitably improved students' scientific self-efficacy and identity. It also showed that orientation toward scientific values and STEM persistence intentions held steady across most demographic groups.