Students are encouraged to develop a set of scientific skills and disciplinary practices common across the STEM disciplines. These skills (scientific inquiry, quantitative skills, laboratory and computational skills, communication skills, teamwork/interpersonal skills, interdisciplinary competency) are highlighted as important in discipline-based…

High-structure course designs have reduced achievement gaps for low-income and underrepresented minority students at research universities. But do community college students have time to do the preclass preparation required for intensive active learning, given their work and family commitments? We asked introductory majors biology students at two…

Analyzing, interpreting, and clearly presenting real data are skills we hope to develop in all students, majors and nonmajors alike. These process skills require lots of practice coupled with targeted feedback from instructors or mentors. Here we present a pedagogy implemented within a course-based research experience that is designed to help…

Three college faculty taught large general biology classes using case studies and personal response systems (clickers). Each instructor taught the same eight cases in two different sections, except the questions within the cases differed. In one section the questions were lower order (LO) factual inquiries, and in the other they were largely…

We compare student learning and perception data from astronomy, physics, and geology courses taught in a traditional classroom with individual desks to the same classes taught in a large auditorium. In a large student sample (1,593 students), there is no clear difference between rooms in measures of failure rates or average final grades. However,…

Students routinely ignore negative feedback regarding their performances early in college science courses. In this study we analyzed the extent to which two standard forms of feedback, midterm and first-exam grades, correlated with final grades in several biology courses. The courses ranged from an introductory course for nonmajors to upper…

To recruit underrepresented students with demonstrated financial need into STEM disciplines, Lock Haven University established the interdisciplinary Nano Scholars Program, offering National Science Foundation-funded scholarships, academic support, and social support. Small cohort sizes, a student-led science learning community (the Nano Club), and…

Over the past decade, several reports have recommended a shift in undergraduate biology laboratory courses from traditionally structured, often described as "cookbook," to authentic research-based experiences. This study compares a cookbook-type laboratory course to a research-based undergraduate biology laboratory course at a Research 1…

The beneficial outcomes of undergraduate research (UR) in science have been continuously supported in scholarly research. The reported outcomes are often discussed in terms of institutional goals for education. The purpose of this manuscript is to examine the outcomes of UR in science in relation to the individual expectations of students…

Pre/post concept assessment testing is becoming increasingly common in college courses. Instructors use different approaches to give assessments, but few studies have examined how administration differences affect results. Here, we ask if administering a posttest on the final exam differs from administering it on the last day of class with extra…

Retention of majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a national problem that continues to be the focus of bridging and first-year experience programs. This article presents an innovative course, Scientific Thought and Methods, that targets students with low math placement scores. These students are not eligible for…

This study compares a traditional paper presentation approach and a case study method for the development and improvement of oral communication skills and critical-thinking skills in a class of junior forensic science majors. A rubric for rating performance in these skills was designed on the basis of the oral communication competencies developed…

Students, faculty, and advisers must have ready access to current, accurate, and useable information about programs and curricula (Commission for Undergraduate Education 1995). College and university publications (e.g., bulletins, catalogs, schedules of classes, websites) generally provide brief descriptive overviews of each major and list courses…

Most of the research on case-based science teaching at the university level involves comparative studies, which contrast student perceptions of case-based science teaching with more traditional teaching. Sometimes this type of research is being done to convince colleagues that case-based science teaching is equally effective if not better than…