This writing-intensive seminar for biology majors deals with the social and political implications of biological explanations for social phenomena. The class focuses on critical thinking, evaluation of data, and the validity of the conclusions drawn from the data.
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Using exit surveys of biology students we examine whether undergraduate instructors can teach investigative labs, and share perspectives on the challenges of working with undergraduate lab instructors.
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Since the industrial revolution, technological innovation and the application of basic scientific research have transformed society. Increasingly, critical conversations and legislation regarding national and international public policy have sophisticated scientific underpinnings. It is crucial that we prepare scientists and engineers with an informed scientific worldview and technical expertise to be advisors and participants in these important conversations. This paper describes the use of a debate about a proposed wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod as a platform to explore public-policy issues in a physical- science course. The subject of wind power fits naturally into curriculum related to energy, and is therefore applicable to a broad range of courses found in the disciplines of physics, chemistry, environmental science, and engineering, including general-science courses for nonscience majors.
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College science is often poorly taught and it is rare that any consideration is given to the nine visions for reform of science teaching featured in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) (NRC 1996, p. 52). It is even more rare to see interdisciplinary science courses taught in colleges. At many universities, this is changing where there are Science-Technology-Society (STS) enthusiasts. For example, Clemson University (Cheek 2006) is struggling with developing such courses as part of their general education requirements for all undergraduates and similar changes are occurring in Turkish higher education.
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Students in an introductory biology course who were given open-book exams during the semester earned significantly higher grades on these exams, but significantly lower grades on the closed-book final exam, than students who took in-class, closed-book exams throughout the semester. Exam format was also associated with changes in academic behavior; students who had upcoming open-book exams attended fewer lectures and help sessions and submitted fewer extra-credit assignments than students who had upcoming closed-book exams. These results suggest that open-book exams diminish long-term learning and promote academic behaviors that typify lower levels of academic achievement.
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Student evaluations of faculty teaching are imperfect and incomplete, but they are here to stay. Students’ ignorance of what it takes to do our jobs would be mostly a source of amusement, except for the fact that many—perhaps all colleges and universities—ask these same young people to assess our performance. They are wonderful young people, but they understand neither the process of teaching nor the implications hovering at the tips of their number-two pencils.
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The science conversation cited in this article showed the development of an inquisitive attitude, scientific reasoning skills, the motivation and competence to participate in a scientific discourse, and a deeper understanding of the nature of science, which often involves uncertainty, competing ideas, and the need for more evidence.
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A retrospective analysis examines the relationships between formative assessments and exam grades in two undergraduate geoscience courses. Pair and group-work grades correlate weakly with individual exam grades. Exam performance correlates to individual, weekly online assessments. Student attendance and use of assessment feedback are also essential factors.
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In recent years, the intelligent design (ID) movement has been very successful in attracting the attention of the general public. The ID movement is centered predominantly at the Center for Science and Culture in the very conservative think tank, the Discovery Institute, of Seattle, Washington. It has gained this attention by completely bypassing scientific channels and going directly to the general public, primarily in the form of op-ed articles, talk-show and TV appearances, and by making their anti-evolution books and video documentaries widely available, especially to school administrators, school boards, teachers, and legislators. The defeat of ID in the highly publicized Dover, Pennsylvania trial will not slow the movement down.
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Respect is the key to successful teaching because it unlocks barriers to student learning. Treating students with respect opens their minds, thereby facilitating the learning process. Treating students with respect opens their minds, thereby facilitating the learning process. As Dewey said, “You aren’t teaching unless someone is learning!” The elements that make up this teaching primer are guidelines for creating an effective teaching strategy for science students. Effective teachers can incorporate the elements of R.E.S.P.E.C.T.—Relevance, Enthusiasm, Sincerity, Persistence, Extra Effort, Challenge, and Trust—to inspire, motivate, and challenge students. The approach is designed to create a positive learning environment and to impact students, not only during the semester, but also throughout their lives.
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Constructivism has become a widely understood and broadly accepted learning theory. Constructivism contends that each of us makes sense of our world by connecting new experiences to our existing understandings. Learners, as they encounter new situations, attempt to meld incoming information with their existing understandings. Constructivist instructors, in turn, strive to understand students’ preexisting understandings (a.k.a. alternative conceptions) and provide learning opportunities that facilitate students’ adoption of accepted knowledge (a.k.a. conceptual change).
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Can you imagine a class where students cover the content with each other rather than simply listening to the professor’s lecture? Can you envision students developing their own laboratory investigations and quizzing each other weekly to check for understanding? Well, that’s pretty much how the major science organizations across the nation are recommending school and college science classes be restructured. There is strong evidence that having students do real science is one of the most effective ways of moving them from simple beliefs in dogma to the more skeptical, empirically derived models of science (George and Malcom 2005).
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The case presented in this article is an exploration of the process of natural selection using white clover (Trifolium repens) as an example. In general, two forms of white clover can be found around the world in various habitats. One type has plain green leaves and the other type produces cyanide as a defense against herbivores and signals the presence of cyanide with white stripes on the leaves. The fact that plain clover survives better in Minnesota (where freezing temperatures cause cyanide to be leaked to the entire plant) and striped clover survives better in North Carolina (where there are warmer temperatures and more molluscan herbivores) is used to illustrate the concept of differing selection pressures leading to adaptations specific to different habitats.
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Undergraduate research (UR) is widely promoted by faculty, administrators, institutions of higher learning, government laboratories, private industry, professional associations, and funding agencies as an effective method of training college students pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines at colleges and universities across the United States and abroad. Perceived benefits for students include greater enthusiasm for study in the discipline, enhanced research skills, and a higher likelihood of pursuing advanced study and ultimately a research career (Seymour et al. 2004; Lopatto 2004; Nagda et al. 1998; Bauer and Bennett 2003).

This paper introduces the Web-Based Guide to Research for Undergraduates (Web-GURU), an innovative student-centered resource for undergraduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics which provides information on all aspects of the undergraduate research experience.
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