Science should provide students an accurate and contemporary education on genetic influence, particularly how it impacts trait variability and developmental norms. Stories involving familial, racial, and sexual differences routinely appear in the popular media and sales of over-the-counter genetic tests are mounting. Unfortunately, research…

Small institutions struggle to balance class size with financial feasibility, leading to canceled electives due to low enrollment. This study reports the preliminary data of a mixed-majors class intended to overcome the minimum enrollment hurdle. Animal Behavior was an upper-level course emphasizing engagement and shared learning. I examined…

Purpose: This paper presents two educational gamified virtual labs and investigates different methods of including gamified elements in virtual labs used for teaching. The purpose of this study is to investigate if immersive gamified virtual labs can be used as effective pedagogical tools by properly incorporating them into higher education…

Change theory has increasingly become an area of scholarship in STEM education. While this area has traditionally been a topic for organizational psychology, business management, communication studies, and higher education, STEM education researchers are increasingly aware of the need to use formal theories to guide change efforts and research.…

Students in environmental sciences, ecology, or wildlife management are often reluctant to acquire training in basic laboratory techniques. To advocate the importance of this training, we reviewed literature in the fields of biological and environmental science for one frequently used technique--centrifugation--and evaluated whether centrifugation…

Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the current situation of education for sustainable development, climate change education and environmental education in a nationwide context. Methodologically, this study calls for more research to go beyond case studies and take a similar approach to examine university curricula and facilitate cross-country…

Contributions to conservation biology research are traditionally approached from an ecology and evolutionary biology perspective, but education research can be equally valuable. Population genetics research can inform management decision-making while education research can improve how we teach conservation. My dissertation tackles conservation…

Where does science and technology studies (STS) belong? In "A Place for Science and Technology Studies," Jane Calvert takes readers through eight different rooms--the laboratory, the conference room, the classroom, the coffee room, the art studio, the bioethics building, the policy room, and the ivory tower--investigating the…

The (STEM)[superscript 2] Network (Sustainable, Transformative Engagement across a Multi-Institution/Multidisciplinary STEM Network) is a National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network-Undergraduate Biology Education funded project intended to bridge disciplinary and institutional silos that function as barriers to systemic change in…

Environmental problems are a factor that influences the health of the world's great population. Developed countries make pollution part of a serious problem in urban industrial centers. The aim of this research is to address the following objectives: (1) to analyze the trend in the number of environmental literacy research conducted annually; (2)…

This study aims to investigate the effect of the flipped learning model in science education. Therefore, articles in the Web of Science database were analyzed using the systematic review method. During the research, 1627 data points were obtained using the keyword 'flipped learning.' Articles between 2013 and 2023 were examined during the research…

Online laboratories can be an effective way to introduce students to lab concepts while providing flexibility, increased access, and reduced costs. However, online labs might lack the authentic research experience that can be gained by doing hands-on lab work. This study explores student perceptions of an online, inquiry-based introductory biology…

The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at the University of Louisiana at Monroe aimed to improve academic performance in two gateway science courses that are required for all STEM and pre-health sciences majors and are known to be barriers to student success. The project sought to achieve this primarily by a course redesign that incorporated an extra…

Higher education biology (HEB), a discipline where women undergraduates are numerically overrepresented in most Western universities, has been given little attention in exploring norms of scientific practice from a student perspective. This study brings into focus how biology students negotiate identities in relation to figured worlds of HEB.…

This study aimed to comprehensively examine the articles in which multi-tier concept diagnostic tests, which are among the alternative assessment methods frequently used in recent years to identify misconceptions, were used in biology education between 2000 and 2022. For this purpose, systematic review steps were followed and summarized in the…