Community, inclusion, and perseverance are essential for student success in STEM. To promote these values, we developed two discussion-based activities for implementation in introductory college STEM courses. Both activities incorporate watching videos that portray scientists telling the stories of their career trajectory, in-class discussions,…

This paper offers an exploration of success mindsets and one example of how these may be used as an intervention to impact student success in both their personal and professional lives. Gottfredson's Success Mindsets concept is used as the intervention. These success mindsets combine four sets of mindsets associated with positive outcomes:…

In this essay, I share reflections on what it meant to teach my book of poetry in an introductory English literature class. The book took inspiration from the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, particularly his studies on encountering the other person. Engaging with this text (both the poetry and the philosophy), I consider some of the nuances of a…

Is there a distinct disciplinary core (or foundation of agreed on knowledge) in sociology? Should we define a core in our broad field to build consensus? If so, what should it look like? We address these questions by presenting three viewpoints that lean for and against identifying a core for department curricula, students, and the public face of…

The millennial generation is distinctive for several reasons, not the least is its growing religious disaffiliation. Given a growing disinterest in religion in general and the Bible in particular especially among the fast growing group of millennial "nones" how can biblical studies classes still be seen as appealing and relevant? This…

This article explores the implementation of PEARL (Political, Embodied, Active, and Reflective Learning) in two courses at The University of Queensland: a first-year introductory Indigenous Studies course and a second year Indigenous Education course. We draw on findings from a 2-year (2010-2011) Office for Learning and Teaching (then ALTC) funded…

The Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE) is a course-embedded undergraduate research curriculum that aims to introduce authentic research experiences for students in their early college years. A cohort of students who were randomly assigned to the CASPiE laboratory sections was tracked during and two and three years after…

Higher education institutions in Norway have implemented reform as part of the Bologna Agreement. The reform also aims to follow up students more closely and to change the way in which they learn by increasing the amount of formative assessment, including grading. This paper presents a case study of a first-year methodology course in geography, in…

This paper examines the potential for and challenges of using a critical approach to service-learning, based on Freire's notions of praxis and dialogue, as part of an introductory education course. Although any service-learning project runs the risk of falling prey to the more traditional approach, which involves a pedagogy designed to enhance…

This article introduces Model-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) as a form of case study team problem-solving. MEA design focuses on eliciting from students conceptual models that they iteratively revise in problem-solving. Though developed by mathematics education researchers to study the evolution of mathematical problem-solving expertise in middle…