Making Sense of 2D Diagrams: Examining How Models and Modeling Impact Novice Students' Development of Representational Competence in Organic Chemistry

In the field of chemistry, representations serve an essential function in conveying and communicating knowledge about the chemical world. While experts are traditionally adept at identifying, interpreting, and manipulating these visualizations, novices often are not. To address the concern of promoting representational competence in novice populations, the series of studies presented in this dissertation utilizes a mixed-methods approach to examine the relationship between students' use of concrete models and their performance, specifically, on representational translation tasks (RTTs) in Organic Chemistry. Students' perceptions of modeling and faculty perceptions of and uses of models in classroom contexts are also examined. While results indicated significant increases in performance on RTTs for students who made effective use of concrete models to complete these tasks, students' proclivity for using models was found to be negatively influenced, at times, by perceived practical constraints of the learning environment -modeling being too time-consuming of a task, no engagement in modeling practices in the classroom or directed instruction on how to build and use models, etc. In addition, while faculty were generally found to view models in a positive light, classroom observation data revealed that their use of models during instruction was often inconsistent with promoting representational competence. Together, these data suggest that attention to both cognitive and contextual factors need be taken into consideration when attempting to create a holistic account of how novices come to develop representational competence in the domain

Investigating the Relationship between Instructors’ Use of Active Learning Strategies and Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Affective Changes in Introductory Biology: A Comparison of Two Active-Learning Environments

In response to calls for reform in undergraduate biology education, we conducted research examining how varying active-learning strategies impacted students’ conceptual understanding, attitudes, and motivation in two sections of a large-lecture introductory cell and molecular biology course. Using a quasi-experimental design, we collected quantitative data to compare participants’ conceptual understanding, attitudes, and motivation in the biological sciences across two contexts that employed different active-learning strategies and that were facilitated by unique instructors. Students participated in either graphic organizer/worksheet activities or clicker-based case studies. After controlling for demographic and presemester affective differences, we found that students in both active-learning environments displayed similar and significant learning gains. In terms of attitudinal and motivational data, significant differences were observed for two attitudinal measures. Specifically, those students who had participated in graphic organizer/worksheet activities demonstrated more expert-like attitudes related to their enjoyment of biology and ability to make real-world connections. However, all motivational and most attitudinal data were not significantly different between the students in the two learning environments. These data reinforce the notion that active learning is associated with conceptual change and suggests that more research is needed to examine the differential effects of varying active- learning strategies on students’ attitudes and motivation in the domain

Recommendations for Effective Integration of Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research (E/RCR) Education into Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report.

Advancement of the scientific enterprise relies on individuals conducting research in an ethical and responsible manner. Educating emergent scholars in the principles of ethics/responsible conduct of research (E/RCR) is therefore critical to ensuring such advancement. The recent impetus to include authentic research opportunities as part of the undergraduate curriculum, via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), has been shown to increase cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. Because of these important benefits, CUREs are becoming more common and often constitute the first research experience for many students. However, despite the importance of E/RCR in the research process, we know of few efforts to incorporate E/RCR education into CUREs. The Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) was created to address this concern and promote the integration of E/RCR within CUREs in the biological sciences and related disciplines. During the inaugural ENCOUR meeting, a four-pronged approach was used to develop guidelines for the effective integration of E/RCR in CUREs. This approach included: 1) defining appropriate student learning objectives; 2) identifying relevant curriculum; 3) identifying relevant assessments; and 4) defining key aspects of professional development for CURE facilitators. Meeting outcomes, including the aforementioned E/RCR guidelines, are described herein

The Biology Experimental Design Challenge: An Interactive Approach to Enhance Students’ Understanding of Scientific Inquiry in the Context of an Introductory Biology Course

The scientific method serves as a procedural framework for advancing knowledge and discoveries in a number of fields, including the natural and life sciences.  Despite its essential role in these disciplines, students often perceive the scientific method to be a fact-driven, linear pursuit, rather than a dynamic <em>process</em>.  To address this concern, I developed the Biology Experimental Design Challenge (BEDC) game to reinforce students’ understanding of the scientific process.  Specifically, the group activity focused on students’: a) ability to develop testable hypotheses; b) determine suitable dependent, independent, and control variables for their proposed experiment; c) interpret data to draw evidence-based claims; and d) pose questions for future research.  This process was punctuated with opportunities for each group to receive feedback from other teams regarding their experimental design, creating discussion and occasional collaboration between groups.  In this paper, I present methods for implementing the activity, as well as provide evidence that demonstrates student pre-/post-activity learning gains achieved as a result of implementation of the BEDC in a first-semester introductory biology discussion course

A comparative analysis of the binding affinity of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase to DNA vs. RNA substrates

Human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase (HIV-RT) binds more stably in binary complexes with RNA–DNA versus DNA–DNA. Current results indicate that only the -2 and -4 RNA nucleotides (-1 hybridized to the 3' recessed DNA base) are required for stable binding to RNA–DNA, and even a single RNA nucleotide conferred significantly greater stability than DNA–DNA. Replacing 2'- hydroxyls on pivotal RNA bases with 2'-O-methyls did not affect stability, indicating that interactions between hydroxyls and RT amino acids do not stabilize binding. Avian myeloblastosis and Moloney murine leukemia virus RTs also bound more stably to RNA–DNA, but the difference was less pronounced than with HIV-RT. We propose that the H-versus B-form structures of RNA–DNA and DNA–DNA, respectively, allow the former to conform more easily to HIV-RT’s binding cleft, leading to more stable binding. Biologically, this may aid in degradation of RNA fragments that remain after DNA synthesis

A Call for Programmatic Assessment of Undergraduate Students' Conceptual Understanding and Higher-Order Cognitive Skills

In response to empirical evidence and calls for change, individual undergraduate biology instructors are reforming their pedagogical practices. To assess the effectiveness of these reforms, many instructors use course-specific or skill-specific assessments (e.g., concept inventories). We commend our colleagues’ noble efforts, yet we contend that this is only a starting point. In this Perspectives article, we argue that departments need to engage in reform and programmatic assessment to produce graduates who have both subject-matter knowledge and higher-order cognitive skills. We encourage biology education researchers to work collaboratively with content specialists to develop program-level assessments aimed at measuring students’ conceptual understanding and higher-order cognitive skills, and we encourage departments to develop longitudinal plans for monitoring their students’ development of these skills

Place-Based Case Studies: A New Approach to an Effective Teaching Practice

Case-based approaches have been used extensively in STEM classrooms to enhance the real-world applicability of course content. Prior research in the bioeducation field indicates, specifically, that such methods lead to increases in students’ conceptual understanding and affect in the discipline relative to more traditional methods. Despite these outcomes, the majority of case study exercises are formatted in a generalist manner. In other words, the content and context of the case study itself are not framed around the communities in which the students live. In an effort to address this concern, we developed and implemented a series of place-based case study (PBCS) exercises within the introductory cell and molecular biology courses at our institutions. A comparative, quasi-experimental approach was used to evaluate the impact of PBCSs versus non-PBCSs on cognitive and non-cognitive student outcomes. Results indicated that both PBCSs and non-PBCSs led to increases in students’ content knowledge; however, no statistically significant difference existed in post-exercise performance between the PBCS and non-PBCS cohorts at the University of Texas, for instance, after controlling for confounding factors. Importantly, data also revealed that students within the PBCS cohort agreed more strongly that the case studies provided them with a better understanding of how scientific advancements and research impacted the community in which they lived than did their peers in the non-PBCS cohort. Collectively, these outcomes suggest that PBCSs offer a scalable, classroom-based approach to engage students in relevant, practical experiences that are of direct interest to them and, ideally, the broader scientific community

The Impact of an Interactive Statistics Module on Novices’ Development of Scientific Process Skills and Attitudes in a First-Semester Research Foundations Course

Evidence suggests that incorporating quantitative reasoning exercises into existent curricular frameworks within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is essential for novices’ development of conceptual understanding and process skills in these domains. Despite this being the case, such studies acknowledge that students often experience difficulty in applying mathematics in the context of scientific problems. To address this concern, the present study sought to explore the impact of active demonstrations and critical reading exercises on novices’ comprehension of basic statistical concepts, including hypothesis testing, experimental design, and interpretation of research findings. Students first engaged in a highly interactive height activity that served to intuitively illustrate normal distribution, mean, standard deviation, and sample selection criteria. To enforce practical applications of standard deviation and p-value, student teams were subsequently assigned a figure from a peer-reviewed primary research article and instructed to evaluate the trustworthiness of the data. At the conclusion of this exercise, students presented their evaluations to the class for open discussion and commentary. Quantitative assessment of pre- and post-module survey data indicated a statistically significant increase both in students’ scientific reasoning and process skills and in their self-reported confidence in understanding the statistical concepts presented in the module. Furthermore, data indicated that the majority of students (>85%) found the module both interesting and helpful in nature. Future studies will seek to develop additional, novel exercises within this area and to evaluate the impact of such modules across a variety of STEM and non-STEM contexts

Incorporating an Interactive Statistics Workshop into an Introductory Biology Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Enhances Students’ Statistical Reasoning and Quantitative Literacy Skills

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide an avenue for student participation in authentic scientific opportunities. Within the context of such coursework, students are often expected to collect, analyze, and evaluate data obtained from their own investigations. Yet, limited research has been conducted that examines mechanisms for supporting students in these endeavors. In this article, we discuss the development and evaluation of an interactive statistics workshop that was expressly designed to provide students with an open platform for graduate teaching assistant (GTA)-mentored data processing, statistical testing, and synthesis of their own research findings. Mixed methods analyses of pre/post-intervention survey data indicated a statistically significant increase in students’ reasoning and quantitative literacy abilities in the domain, as well as enhancement of student self-reported confidence in and knowledge of the application of various statistical metrics to real-world contexts. Collectively, these data reify an important role for scaffolded instruction in statistics in preparing emergent scientists to be data-savvy researchers in a globally expansive STEM workforce