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Learning by Listing

Synthesizing Biological Concepts Using Groups of Four

Journal of College Science Teaching—Fall 2023 (Volume 52, Issue 7)

By Nora Demers

Undergraduate STEM students may be overwhelmed by the complex information they are exposed to during their education. Even so, there are a handful of fundamental and powerful concepts that could be identified for each discipline. General education courses introduce students to the material and provide them with the habits of mind that will help them excel. Equally important is to not overwhelm students with details without a mechanism to learn the concepts, retain them, and use them in future classes. Students benefit when instructors chunk the information of those concepts and provide helpful strategies to recall them. Mnemonics are a proven device to accomplish that purpose. This article offers concepts that can be chunked together in biology to support student understanding.

Preservice Science Education Teaching Strategies Pre-service Teachers

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