This article discusses a lesson in which chemistry was incorporated into information technology (IT) programming assignments and IT problem solving into chemistry. At-risk students, performing well below control groups of their peers in both courses, achieved end-of-term chemistry exam results and IT final project results that were statistically indistinguishable (p varies) from control groups in either course.
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The Journal of College Science Teaching is one of four journals published by the National Science Teachers Association. Each of the journals serves the educators working at a different level of education. JCST shares some of its processes with these other journals, but because it serves a different community, it operates in a slightly different way. Each issue of JCST contains feature articles and several column contributions. Feature articles appear in the body of the journal and one of these is usually featured on the cover for that issue. Every published feature article is thoroughly peer-reviewed by members of an appointed review panel. In this edition, the editor discusses the unique characteristics of JCST and elicits correspondence and feedback to assist in helping the journal grow to better meet the changing needs of the community.
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When teaching science, or any other topic, an example of the concept being taught taken from students’ past experiences is often valuable. A familiar situation can reduce the anxiety of an unfamiliar or intimidating subject and can make it more manageable or even exciting. This particular illustration offers such a case. It can help students grasp a difficult concept—Le Chatelier’s principle—through a common event from their past.
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Recent studies have indicated that college undergraduates have retained little understanding of the information in the science courses they have taken when they graduate. Science is taught as detailed, factual content and most students are evaluated by their ability to recall and summarize the information provided. As such, students concentrate their studies on terms and definitions, spending little time on application and analysis. To correct the problem, instructors are encouraged to formulate more questions around the mid and upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in the examinations they prepare.
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We humans are pattern finders and explanation seekers. Fortunately, many of our seemingly reasonable patterns and explanations have not withstood the test of time. For example, we no longer believe that volcanic eruptions occur as a result of the god Vulcan firing up his furnace inside a volcano. During the past several centuries, we have developed and refined a process that avoids such wishful thinking. This process, science, makes it possible to separate reality from illusion. The rationale for accepting science’s way of evaluating phenomena is compelling: It works. Its self-correcting features allow us to determine which beliefs about reality are flawed.
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Though difficult to implement in large courses, undergraduate science writing and peer review are valuable learning experiences for students and valid mechanisms for student evaluation. This study describes improved writing and reviewing skills of students in introductory biology lecture classes that incorporate a web-based instructional tool, which requires only modest instructor involvement.
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Implementing best practices, however well supported by research, is resisted by both circumstances and people. Thus, what you read and hear about methods others have used must be modified and compromised to fit the situation at your institution, sadly not always allowing maximum effectiveness. Second, to convince others to accept the practices you wish to implement, you may have to adopt arguments that are not based on the value of the practice or the research that supports its use, but on benefits that are not academic or student-centered. You need to think of all the implications of your anticipated practice…and trust the force.
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Flock of Dodos is a provocative film about intelligent design (ID) complete with animation and argumentative debates along with interviews with pleasant people from Kansas and Pennsylvania, the latest battlefields of the ID debate. The film does not resolve the issues, but it dramatically and sensitively displays them in a humorous manner. The film reminds those of us who would push the scientific agenda with polemics against laypeople of the world that this approach will hardly lead to their conversion. Less lecturing and more case studies on the ID topic are the only ways to deal reasonably with this issue.
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Attrition from the sciences remains a national problem. This article presents results from a survey of over 2,100 undergraduates that, contrary to previous research, suggests that teaching assistants (TAs) influence student retention in the sciences in multiple ways. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and student comments suggest that TAs influence lab climate, course grades, and students’ knowledge of science careers, all of which have an effect on students’ decisions to stay in or leave the sciences. The article concludes with recommendations for TA training, mentoring, and management to positively impact student retention.
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Science courses are traditionally taught deductively. The instructor first teaches students relevant theory and mathematical models, then moves on to textbook exercises, and eventually—maybe—gets to real-world applications. Often the only motivation students have to learn the material, beyond grades, is the vague promise that it will be important later in the curriculum or in their careers. Failure to connect course content to the real world has repeatedly been shown to contribute to students leaving the sciences (Seymour and Hewitt 1997; Kardash and Wallace 2001). This study examines the effectiveness and implementation of different inductive teaching methods, including inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, case-based teaching, discovery learning, and just-in-time teaching.
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