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Journal Article
Primary Literature in Undergraduate Science Courses
Primary literature—consisting of novel peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings—has been associated with several positive outcomes for students within undergraduate science courses. Primary literature is the principal method of written s...
By Jeremy David Sloane
Journal Article
Implementing Peer-Led Team Learning and Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning in an Organic Chemistry Course
Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a small-group, collaborative problem-solving model that has significantly increased student performance in a variety of chemistry undergraduate courses and other STEM courses. Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning (cPLTL), an ...
By Sarah Beth Wilson and Pratibha Varma-Nelson
Journal Article
The purpose of this study was to investigate knowledge and attitudes of preservice teachers toward wind energy education. The participants for this study were preservice teachers enrolled in a science methods for teachers course. The preservice teach...
By Mamta Singh
Journal Article
Whether to engage student preconceptions to facilitate conceptual change is an area of debate among conceptual change theorists. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of a preconceptions-based instructional sequence about groundwater previously described by...
By Leilani A. Arthurs, Justin Elwonger, and Chelsie M. Kowalski
Journal Article
The Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) under-score the importance of including engineering design process (EDP) within the science curriculum. The Framework and the NGSS raised engineering design t...
By Erdogan Kaya, Anna Newley, Ezgi Yesilyurt and Hasan Deniz
Journal Article
We describe a hands-on, collaborative activity designed to illustrate general properties of evolution, provide practice for quantitative skills, promote creativity and collaboration, and enable student self-assessment of learning. During the activity...
By Kelly A. Carscadden, Molly T. McDermott, Sheela P. Turbek, Silas B. Tittes and Andrew P. Martin
Journal Article
Formative assessment has been shown to be a critical activity for promoting meaningful understanding in the classroom. Systematic engagement in formative assessment helps instructors to develop a clearer picture of where students stand in relation to...
By Young Ae Kim, Jonathan Cox, Katelyn M. Southard, Lisa Elfring, Paul Blowers and Vicente Talanquer
Journal Article
Modifying Traditional Labs to Target Scientific Reasoning
This article showcases how a physics lab course was successfully redesigned to promote important reasoning abilities not explicitly addressed in the typical college setting. Student development of such abilities is essential for sound decision making...
By Kathleen Koenig, Krista E. Wood, Larry J. Bortner and Lei Bao
Journal Article
Critical thinking skills are sought after in the workforce and are often included in course, departmental, and programmatic learning objectives. However, in the curriculum of many courses we tend to focus on content rather than on fostering the...
By Elizabeth Co
Journal Article
Focusing on Learning as a Marker of Success for Underrepresented Students
By Heidi S. Fencl
Journal Article
Developing and Implementing a Campus-Wide Professional Development Program: Successes and Challenges
Gateways-ND is a 5-year, National Science Foundation–funded effort directed toward three goals: maximizing the instructional effectiveness of postsecondary STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) faculty by building expertise in le...
By Melissa Vosen Callens, Paul Kelter, Jill Motschenbacher, James Nyachwaya, Jared L. Ladbury and Anna M. Semanko