Cbe-Life Sciences Education最新文献

Student self-efficacy, their confidence to successfully perform a task, is positively related to course performance. Students with high self-efficacy for a task are more motivated toward that task. Yet few studies have measured students' self-efficacy and motivation levels after exams are returned in introductory biology classes or studied how these levels relate to final course grades. To address these questions, we used structural equation modeling to examine how introductory biology students' (n = 123) self-efficacy and motivation scores at the beginning of the semester and after the first two course assessments related to their final course grades. Both self-efficacy and intrinsic goal orientation-motivated by a desire to learn or gain new skills-decreased after the first assessment grades were returned to the students. We found positive relationships between self-efficacy and motivation, and between self-efficacy and final course grades, across all timepoints. Motivation scores were not associated with final course grades, but the relationship between self-efficacy levels and final grades was significant and became stronger at each timepoint. These results suggest the importance of supporting self-efficacy development after early assessments, a time when students are particularly vulnerable to declines in confidence and motivation.

Office hours are a part of nearly all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, with many academic and affective benefits for students who attend. However, despite their ubiquity, there has only been limited past work examining the sources of knowledge students draw from to shape their perceptions of office hours, as well as the factors that influence students' experiences in STEM course office hours. Here, we conducted semistructured interviews with 20 students enrolled in an introductory STEM course to investigate what motivates students to attend STEM course office hours, the factors that shape their experiences in office hours, and what influenced their conceptions of office hours. We situate our work using expectancy value theory and racialized opportunity cost, identifying that students' experiences with office hours in high school and how an instructor describes office hours in a class and on the syllabus influence students' expectancies and perceived value and costs for attending office hours. In addition, we find that most students are motivated by the need for help with course content, though some students report a higher perceived cost of attending office hours when they have lower self-efficacy in the course. We conclude by providing recommendations for instructors to encourage student engagement with office hours.

Biologists pursuing faculty jobs are often married to other biologists who may also desire faculty positions. This increases the complexity of the job search, with little guidance for early career researchers about doing this successfully. Couples have been surveyed, but less research qualitatively investigates the lived experiences of couples seeking jobs together. These stories may inform professional development about navigating joint job searches. This study interviewed 18 biologists who were part of a couple who were currently or had sought jobs together. Interviews asked about the strategies and supports guiding their job search, their decisions and compromises, and the emotions they experienced. The transcripts underwent thematic analysis to identify six themes related to strategies (advice, hiding their partner, and searching for jobs), negotiations, compromises (types and tensions), apprehensions, reconciliations, and reflections. Communication to identify joint priorities informed the couple's choices and compromises during the search. There were many emotional burdens related to navigating together. The participants expressed their struggles to understand institutional practices on dual career hires, suggesting a need to provide professional development to early career researchers, particularly in the areas of discussions about job search expectations and potential outcomes, and anticipation of emotional reactions.

Instructors often provide feedback to their class in multiple ways. One way is through their follow-up behaviors, which are the specific strategies instructors implement after active learning activities. These behaviors could play an important role in student learning as students receive feedback from the instructor. However, there is little research on the effects of different types of follow-up behaviors. Follow-up after active learning can be seen as a form of discourse between the instructor and the entire class. Previous researchers developed the Classroom Discourse Observation Protocol (CDOP) to analyze discourse between the instructor and individual students or small groups. We used CDOP as a starting point to develop and validate a new protocol, the Follow-Up Discourse Observation Protocol (FUDOP), to characterize instructional follow-up behaviors to the entire class after active-learning activities. We then used FUDOP to characterize follow-up behaviors of multiple instructors in introductory biology courses at three different universities. We measured consistent differences in these behaviors across instructors but not within instructors, demonstrating that instructors may engage in consistent follow-up behaviors. FUDOP could allow instructors and researchers to better measure and analyze follow-up behaviors and their effects, which could in turn provide guidance to instructors and faculty developers.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate researchers (UGRs) work under the direction of faculty mentors. Many also work with postgraduate mentors, either graduate students or postdoctoral personnel, but little is known about how these mentors shape student experiences. Using original survey data from 516 participants across 78 National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates Sites in Summer 2022, we find that 44% of students had a postgraduate mentor. Our multivariable multilevel analyses of UGRs with postgraduate mentors (n = 229) revealed that having a different gender identity than one's postgraduate mentor, having a competent postgraduate mentor, having a graduate student mentor, and spending more than 26 weekly hours with a postgraduate mentor were associated with greater science identity, personal, and intellectual gains. Matching with one's postgraduate mentor based on racial identity was associated with greater science identity gains. We also find that Hispanic and multiracial/other race students gained more compared with their White peers, and transgender and gender nonconforming students gained less compared with their men peers. Because the attributes and behaviors of postgraduate mentors are integral to undergraduate research experiences, analysts and practitioners should treat postgraduate mentorship as an essential part of the undergraduate research enterprise.

Students often experience science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses as competitive, weed-out spaces. Learning Assistants (LAs) have potential to improve students' experiences in these courses. Previously, we elucidated themes describing the impact of LAs on students' sense of STEM belonging and science-related confidence in introductory biology and general chemistry. Here, we expand our analysis to determine impacts of LAs on student belonging and confidence across science courses varying in structure, placement in students' academic trajectory, and discipline. Analyzing 1146 responses to questionnaires from seven classes revealed themes consistent with previous findings across all course structures and disciplines. However, impacts varied based on how LAs were integrated and students' typical class standing. Classes in which students had extended time in LA groups highlighted LAs' role in decreasing student isolation, whereas structures in which LAs were interspersed with lecture emphasized their role in providing feedback. Additionally, in courses that students take early in their STEM trajectory, LAs encouraged students through challenges, while LAs in later classes provided advice on STEM pathways. These results indicate the mechanism of LA impact varies depending on course context. Knowing how impacts vary across courses allows instructors and LAs to tailor their support, promoting the development of more inclusive STEM classrooms.

Conflict-reducing practices during evolution instruction have been recommended to increase students' perceived compatibility between evolution and religion, increase evolution acceptance, and decrease stereotypes about religious students in science. However, the efficacy of these practices has not been demonstrated in a randomized controlled design making it uncertain whether they are causing the effects reported in less controlled studies. Further, we do not know the extent to which the religious identities of instructors may impact their effectiveness. In this study, we randomly assigned 2623 undergraduate students in 19 biology courses across different states to receive an evolution video with 1) no conflict-reducing practices, 2) conflict-reducing practices implemented by a non-religious instructor, or 3) conflict-reducing practices implemented by a Christian instructor. We found that the evolution videos with conflict-reducing practices led to decreased conflict, increased compatibility, and increased acceptance of human evolution compared with the video without conflict-reducing practices. Further, the Christian and non-religious instructor conditions were equally effective at improving all student outcomes, except the non-religious instructor was more effective for increasing perceived compatibility between religion and evolution among atheist students. These results illustrate that conflict-reducing practices, implemented by either Christian or non-religious instructors, can be effective in a controlled study.

Recently, our course team transformed a large-enrollment introductory genetics course from being predominantly lecture based to active learning based. During class sessions, students engaged in problem solving, which occurs when a student attempts to solve a problem without knowing the path to complete it. We designed class activities incorporating three distinct pedagogies from cognitive psychology: inquiry-based prediction, tell-then-practice case studies, and worked examples. We used a within-subjects design to compare students' attitudes toward these activities and their learning gains. Postsurvey results indicated that students felt worked examples helped them perform well on exams (a performance goal) and understand the information (a mastery goal) significantly better than the other activity types. However, students reported that all activity types required similar effort. Interestingly, students exhibited larger learning gains from prediction activities compared with worked examples or tell-then-practice activities, as evidenced by a course pretest/posttest. We discuss potential reasons for this misalignment between perceived helpfulness and actual learning gains. Additionally, we evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each pedagogical approach.

With the heavy focus institutions place on the content mastery of undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) students, qualitative skillsets equally important to the future success of STEM students, namely perspective-taking (PT), are being left at the wayside. In response, this essay will highlight reasons PT should be included in undergraduate STEM curricula. To further strengthen the rationale for the inclusion of PT in the curriculum, we will demonstrate that evidence suggests that PT skills can be taught and that there are sociocultural elements that educators should address to effectively implement PT into the curriculum. Finally, we suggest activities that educators can use to foster a learning environment that encourages strong PT skill development among undergraduate STEM learners.

Increasingly, curricular materials for undergraduate life science courses are designed to highlight scientists with identities and backgrounds that counter historical and stereotypical representation in science. In this essay, we characterize the wide variation in the development and implementation of these curricular materials featuring counterstereotypical scientists. Applying the Social Ecological Model of Behavior Change as a framework, we examine both personal and social elements of the benefits and costs related to designing and implementing curricula featuring counterstereotypical scientists from the perspective of three groups: students, instructors, and the featured scientists. The benefits of these materials for students are well documented, and we consider how these materials may likewise benefit instructors and the featured scientists themselves. However, we emphasize that, if not developed and implemented with attention to the diversity of personal, social, and contextual factors, such well-intentioned efforts may be ineffective or impact groups in inadvertent ways. Finally, we offer recommendations for highlighting counterstereotypical scientists in curricula. We call for additional research to effectively develop and implement materials featuring counterstereotypical scientists in ways that maximize benefits and limit possible costs to students, instructors, and the featured scientists.