Collaborating effectively in small groups is an important skill for students, especially in classrooms adopting science education reforms like the NGSS, but it is also an extremely challenging skill. In this article, I share how I use group roles as a scaffold to help students collaborate productively and equitably. I discuss two types of roles and the strengths and limitations of each. Task-oriented roles, where students are assigned a role based on specific tasks they will complete, such as operating a timer, are very effective when students are doing an activity like a lab that requires several tasks to be done at the same time, but do not push students to meaningfully interact with their peers’ ideas. Process-oriented roles focus on different ways for students to engage with each other’s thinking, which supports collaborative sensemaking. In this article I share examples of each type of role, discuss when I use each type, and share logistics such as how I introduce and manage each type of role. Using group roles and attending to what purpose they serve within an activity has improved the quality of student collaboration in my classroom.

At its core, differentiation stems from the recognition that individual learners arrive in classrooms, each day, with a wide range of knowledge, lived experiences, abilities, ways of thinking, curiosities, and dispositions. Differentiation challenges us to think deeply about and make continual connections between who we teach, what we teach, how we teach, and a classroom culture of learning that supports this work. It is a philosophy of teaching and learning shaped by mindset and guided by five core practices that cohesively function to make learning work for the full range of students in our care. These practices include building a positive science learning community, designing rigorous and relevant science curriculum, teaching up by creating respectful and meaningful tasks, assessing and providing feedback persistently for growth, and utilizing flexible teaching and learning approaches that are responsive to individual and collective patterns in student (a) readiness, (b) interests, and (c) preferences in learning science.

This study aims to contribute to the growing body of research on the role of crosscutting concepts (CCCs) in three-dimensional (3D) teaching and learning by examining the complexity of elementary preservice teachers’ (PSTs) knowledge for teaching related to CCCs. The researchers used qualitative methods to analyze PSTs’ responses to a questionnaire about CCCs in 3D learning and think-aloud interviews with nine PSTs about this questionnaire. The PSTs’ responses suggested patterns and variations in their selection and justification of CCCs in relation to different classroom scenarios featuring distinct scientific phenomena and disciplinary core ideas. These analyses highlight how different individuals likely see different CCCs as having “exploratory power” for the related phenomena and DCIs. The findings suggest that the knowledge required for effective teaching of CCCs with SEPs and DCIs is complex and multifaceted. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the strengths and limitations of elementary PSTs’ understanding of CCCs and the support required to integrate CCCs with SEPs and DCIs effectively. This study has significant implications for teacher educators who need to consider how to build on the initial knowledge that PSTs bring to facilitate the development of their knowledge and practice in support of 3D teaching and learning.

Students need a strong understanding of how to represent chemical compounds in order to succeed in organic chemistry. This project set out to gain a better understanding of students’ difficulties with symbolic representations, by identifying the specific errors associated with drawing wedge-dash structures. The focus was on how students transformed a condensed formula into a wedge-dash structure. The types of errors were coded and analyzed to determine the proportion of students making each type of error between the quiz, exam and final. These errors were connected to the skill of information processing to determine which category of information processing had the most improvement. Information processing is an important skill in any STEM discipline where students are required to understand and transform information into a different format.

Students come into the classroom with a variety of background knowledge. Therefore, it is imperative that educators are able to help all students, regardless of their familiarity with the content. Since it can be challenging for some large enrollment classes to schedule recitation classes after lecture due to logistical constraints, this study attempts to determine if there are differences in performance based upon when content is introduced first, recitation or lecture. This study found that students who were introduced to content in recitation before lecture typically scored statistically higher across three mid-term exams, in a first term general chemistry course. This difference in performance suggests that students who are introduced to content in recitation, versus simply hearing about a topic in lecture, might get more out of the lecture, thus leading to higher performance on exams. Students who are introduced to topics that are tested by way of definition-based questions or basic calculations benefit from being introduced to this content in recitation before lecture. However, when introducing more challenging and abstract chemistry topics, our results indicate it may benefit students to be introduced to these topics in lecture first, so they can begin developing their conceptual understanding in lecture.

Rising tuition rates across colleges and universities contribute to the mounting financial strain on students. In response to rising costs, literature details that students would seek to bolster their financial security by working additional hours per week, consequently leading to less available time. Previous studies have focused on the negative associations with GPA but not in-class points. We observed this relationship within a 77-student 200-level Genetics course and associated lab. Students working 20+ hours per week (59.7% of students) fared significantly worse on exams. These students scored significantly fewer total class points (p = 0.0089), exam points (p = 0.0255, p = 0.0028, p = 0.0311), and were more likely to incur a failed assignment sooner during the class than their counterparts (p = 0.0025). We observed these trends again in a 34-student 400-level Immunology validation cohort (p = 0.0032). These findings represent the first quantitative analysis of employment vs. numerical Biology exam and course scores. They are an important step towards identifying and treating the underlying factors associated with reduced STEM performance, retention, well-being, and represent a forewarning of an approaching higher education crisis as institutions seek to retain and support underrepresented students.

Movies have long been used for teaching in undergraduate science courses. However, embedding movie references (EMR) in science videos is a new trend. This study explored how EMR in YouTube science videos might affect the nature of comments and the process of learning science. Using constructivist grounded theory, we compared comments on two videos. Up and Atom’s (UA) video presented quantum tunneling conventionally, while Because Science’s (BS) video used Harry Potter to illustrate the same concept. Content analysis revealed that comments on UA’s video are more formal and focused on specific scientific concepts, while comments on BS’s video are more casual and diverse, engaging more broadly with science and the video topic. Although conventional science videos may facilitate knowledge exchange and collaborative learning in the comments, these comments may spread misinformation when they lack context, authority, and expertise. Yet, science videos EMR connect scientific concepts with popular culture, and offer unique learning opportunities, including critique, creative thinking, and self-reflection. We argue, however, that EMR in science videos risks diverting attention away from the science content.

Mixed results have been reported on the correlation between clickers and performance. This study investigates the usage of clickers in a voluntary context. Scores on an internal chemistry placement exam were used to estimate cognitive ability, as a factor that students can no longer control, and average participation on clicker questions was considered as a behavioral aspect that students are able to change. While placement exam scores and clicker usage do not correlate with each other, both positively correlate with performance (midterm average grades and final course grades) in the cohorts of this study (2017, 2018, and 2019). Independent of placement exam scores, students who answered more clicker questions performed better on midterm exams and had a higher final course grade. Students who obtained course grades of A, B, or C answered more clicker questions on average (68% of questions) than students who earned course grades of D or F (51% of questions). Those who answered more than the average number of the clicker questions were at least 2.6 times more likely to achieve course proficiency. These results suggest that students who choose to engage by answering questions in class (answer correctness not required) are more likely to perform well in general chemistry courses, regardless of cognitive ability.

In this article, we report on a National Science Foundation-funded immersive international summer research program for biology students. Six students, representing Cohort 1 of a three-year program, spent nine weeks at one of three institutes in Japan, working on related molecular, cellular, and developmental research projects under the mentorship of a Japanese researcher. We describe the recruitment process, pre-departure activities, orientation week, research projects, and mentorship structure. Data were collected to determine the impact of the program on students’ views about science and to seek feedback about the structure of the program. The pre-, mid- and post-program interviews with the students as well as their weekly written reflections revealed that the program challenged their perspectives about science, broadened their understanding of what it means to engage in science research, and contributed to their growing confidence as budding scientists. The students mentioned that certain elements of the program, including the orientation week, weekly meetings, and individualized and hands-on mentorship they received, contributed to their rich experience in Japan. Suggestions are provided for adapting this model to develop other international opportunities for STEM students.