All Journal of College Science Teaching resources

Journal Article

The Case Study: Opening Day -- Getting Started in a Cooperative Classroom

What happens during the first few days of a new course can set a tone that inspires students to work actively and cooperatively to achieve success in the new semester. One professer figured out a way to motivate his organic chemistry class by begin...

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: Interactive Demonstrations -- Examples From Biology Lectures

Demonstrations have long been a part of postsecondary science teaching. However, in today's constructivist classroom we know that to show completely, we must actively involve students in their learning. This need for active student involvement exte...

Journal Article

The Use of Triangulation Methods in Qualitative Educational Research

Triangulation involves the careful reviewing of data collected through different methods in order to achieve a more accurate and valid estimate of qualitative results for a particular construct. This paper describes how we used three qualitative meth...

Journal Article

From Curanderas to Gas Chromatography: Medicinal Plants

The Medicinal Plants of the Southwest summer workshop is an inquiry-based learning approach to increase interest and skills in biomedical research. Working in teams, Hispanic and Native American students discover the chemical and biological basis for...

Journal Article

Printed Notes Versus Virtual Lectures: An Examination of Student Learning of Geoscience Content

Two geoscience course sections were provided with lecture content in different formats—one with static text that contained no graphics, the other with a link to a virtual lecture. Follow-up quizzes showed no difference in learning between the two s...

Journal Article

Professional Development Using an Interdisciplinary Learning Circle: Linking Pedagogical Theory to Practice

Science education reform requires innovative professional development initiatives. Here we report the success of an interdisciplinary learning circle that met regularly over the course of a year to explore pedagogical theory and develop action resear...

Journal Article

Moving from Content Knowledge to Engagement

Combining service learning with environmental and science issues allows students to move beyond awareness toward engagement. The action team service project requires students to build in-depth knowledge, apply skills directly related to taking action...

Journal Article

Throwing Paper Wads in the Chemistry Classroom: Really Active Student Learning

It is well-known that too many students learn to “plug and chug” formulas while gaining very little concomitant understanding of the underlying concepts. Active engagement in the classroom is one of the best tools available for overcoming concept...

Journal Article

Point of View: Students, Butterflies, and Cancer

This article accounts one research scientist's interest in butterflies and his aversion to dealing with cancer with it hitting so close to home. Prefering to emphasize problem-solving skills rather than recall, this scientist finds himself studying ...

Journal Article

Effectiveness of a Lab Manual Delivered on CD-ROM

Although electronic instructional media are becoming increasingly prevalent in science classrooms, their worth remains unproven. We assessed student perceptions and performance using CD-ROM delivery of lab materials and discovered numerous learning b...

Journal Article

LabWrite: Transforming Lab Reports from Busy Work to Meaningful Learning Opportunities

Lab reports are the dreaded assignments of the laboratory course. Students dislike them, because they can be tedious and time-consuming. Instructors dislike them, because they significantly increase the grading load. For this reason, lab reports are ...