Many studies illustrate the positive influences of undergraduate research experiences on student learning, attitudes, and retention in the sciences. At our institution, over 90% of the biology majors surveyed reported a desire to participate in undergraduate research, but only 3% per year have the opportunity to work in a traditional…

Many science educators know of the pedagogical benefits of inquiry- and research-based labs, yet numerous barriers to implementation exist. In this article we describe a faculty development workshop that explored interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations as potential mechanisms for overcoming barriers to curricular innovation.

How does the degree of inquiry-based laboratory instruction impact student performance and student perseverance in the laboratory portion of a first-semester general chemistry course? The implementation of a new first-semester general chemistry laboratory curriculum provided an opportunity to address this question. A modified version of…

Inquiry-based instruction is widely promoted to increase both students' conceptual understanding and their engagement in course content. What this means for day-to-day practices in the classroom is more elusive. Instructors adopting inquiry-based curricula often are unaware of the typical instructional challenges they may face. In particular,…

In the process of working through evaluation of efforts to transform undergraduate laboratory experiences at our institution, we developed a protocol for observing laboratory learning environments that could be used in varying institutional contexts. We began using the Instructional Practices Inventory and found many strengths in this protocol but…

To form and orchestrate intelligent groups is a real challenge for 21st-century education and research. In this paper the authors show how a regional state university was able to facilitate interdisciplinary research and education through forming an interdisciplinary institute. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

An interdisciplinary team of science and education faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago and several Chicago-area community colleges developed and implemented a series of four integrated, inquiry-based science courses for preservice elementary school teachers. All four courses are based on guiding principles taken from the rich…

Inquiry-based learning was used to enhance an undergraduate molecular biology course at Georgia Southern University, a primarily undergraduate institution in rural southeast Georgia. The goal was to use a long-term, in-class project to accelerate higher-order thinking, thereby enabling students to problem solve and apply their knowledge to novel…

The ELMO (Embedded Learning Modules) curriculum reform project has designed science curricula for specific nonscience students that fulfill core requirements and demonstrate how science can be engaging and relevant. ELMO students experience science through active learning and group activities that encourage them to make connections between science…

Discusses the experiences and activities of a six-person team of science educators during their six-week stay in Thailand. Also considers the cultural adjustment, sightseeing excursions, teacher education in Thailand, travel preparations, and other topics. (JN)

Explores some of the problems that may be encountered by an institution when trying to design science courses for delivery at a distance. Describes solutions to these problems that have been adopted by Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada. (DDR)

The visuo-spatial centers of the right brain are crucial to being able to problem solve or conceptualize (two abilities necessary for success in understanding science). Yet, current educational format is almost exclusively a left-brain undertaking. Reasons why educators should emphasize right-brain understanding in educational curricula at all…

Describes a course that requires students to work in groups to address local ecological problems of interest to a client external to the university. Students learn the skills needed to apply their knowledge and gain satisfaction by assisting others. The ecological projects provide an important source of feedback to identify the strengths of the…

Describes a scavenger hunt activity that stimulates active learning. Presents objectives, examples, pitfalls, grading methods, and evaluation based on course experiences with the technique. Although the method was used with lower division biology courses, it is applicable to a wide variety of science courses at various levels. (SAH)

Describes an interdisciplinary course which investigates ways in which chemical and mathematical concepts inform artistic techniques and art history trends. Outlines the course units and provides examples of their accompanying assignments. (MM)