All Journal of College Science Teaching resources

Journal Article

Blogs: Applications in Science Education

Blogs are reshaping our political, social, and cultural environment. Education is affected by blogs because of their potential for learning and teaching, and also their risks. This article elaborates on a set of rules for evaluating and implementin...

Journal Article

Editorial: The Terman Oscillation

Lewis Terman's ghost is everywhere. He's present in spirit in every SAT score, every curriculum reassessment, and in every curriculum policy change. Terman is the Stanford, in Stanford-Binet, one of the first and most long-standing tests of human i...

Journal Article

The Effectiveness of Online Homework in an Introductory Science Class

Does the use of an online homework system such as WebAssign in an introductory astronomy course affect student performance? Four sections of introductory astronomy were compared in various homework situations, from no graded homework to graded homew...

Journal Article

Society for College Science Teachers: Should We Allow Disclaimers in Textbooks? Maybe the Right Ones.

Many scientists are concerned about efforts to place disclaimers in textooks concerning the controversial nature of certain theories. The issues raised in such disclaimers are that a particular explanation for a set of observations may not be correc...

Journal Article

Brewing Science: Using Beer and the Brewing Process to Stimulate Interest in Science and the Science Laboratory

Following the brewing process from grain to glass, this course uses the biological and chemical principles of brewing to teach science to the nonscience major. Discussion of the scientific aspects of malting, mashing, fermentation, and the making of...

Journal Article

Moving Research Into the Classroom: Successful Adaptations at a Service Academy

To promote research exposure for biology students, a team developed a successful classroom-based research program in two elective courses. Students work in small groups mentored by faculty and allotted class time to conduct highly focused research p...

Journal Article

Is There Room for Reflection in a Science Course for Nonscience Majors? A New Way to Look at Assessment

The Diagnostic Learning Log (Angelo and Cross 1993) is a focused journal entry where students indicate what they have learned from a particular unit, pose those questions, indicate aspects of classroom practice they found helpful, and provide suggest...

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: Demonstrating Translation With a Student-Centered Activity

The process of protein synthesis translation is difficult for many students to understand. The reasons for this include the fact that it is difficult to visualize the process since the components involved in the process are not observable. Also, th...

Journal Article

Light on Trial: Using a Courtroom Drama to Compare Scientific Hypotheses

A narrative in the form of a courtroom trial is used to compare evidence on the nature of light as part of an introductory college physics course. Prosecuting and defense attorneys present evidence for and against competing wave and particle hypothe...

Journal Article

Establishing Problem-Solving Habits in Introductory Science Courses

Students crave porblem-solving strategies that promise increased achievement on tests. Student ambitions seem to align with teacher goals, yet students resist using these strategies for various reasons. This article focuses on a study that seeks to...

Journal Article

Giant Ants and Walking Plants: Using Science Fiction to Teach a Writing-Intensive, Lab-Based Biology Class for Nonmajors

This writing-intensive, lab-based, nonmajor biology course explores scientific inquiry and biological concepts through specific topics illustrated or inaccurately depicted in works of science fiction. The laboratory emphasizes the scientific method ...