Undergraduate general chemistry courses are often perceived in a negative light by students. Student attitudes towards chemistry play a significant role in their success in chemistry and retention in STEM altogether. Research has shown in K-12 classrooms that care-based instruction strategies can help to improve student attitudes towards…

This study explores the relationship between seating quadrants and student performance, including the role of classroom type in the quadrant effect. Data collected from 131 classes taught at 17 colleges of Northwest A&F University in China were analyzed using the ordinary least squares method. The results revealed that where a student sat in a…

This article examines the risk of crossover contamination in individual-level randomization, a common concern in experimental research, in the context of a large-enrollment college course. While individual-level randomization is more efficient for assessing program effectiveness, it also increases the potential for control group students to cross…

Listening skills are essential to interpersonal relationships and successful work in teams. Despite its necessity, most communication curriculum in higher education does not target students' listening skills. This study examines the impact of infusing an Active Empathetic Listening (AEL) module into a large, introductory university communication…

This paper introduces a process of reading, reflection, and discussion used by two white faculty teaching at predominately white institutions to address challenges to equity in their introductory astronomy courses. The conversations focused on the context of large introductory courses, where individual instructors may lack resources and agency to…

Background: Fear of negative evaluation, defined as a sense of dread associated with being unfavorably evaluated in a social situation, is the primary factor underlying student anxiety in college science courses and is disproportionately experienced by students who are underserved in science. Yet, it is unknown why fear of negative evaluation…

Background: The role of career interventions and their impact on students' sense of self and preparation for careers in STEM fields is an underexplored teaching and research area within STEM education. Purpose: The purpose of our mixed-methods study was to examine how a life sciences career exploration course at a large public research university…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there were achievement gains in large classes with lectures alone versus with lectures and mentored groups. To measure achievement, mid-term to final-grade gains were compared between two sections (n=82 and n=99) of a undergraduate course in Digital Circuit Design that had lectures alone versus three…

Oral demonstration of knowledge is an effective learning and assessment strategy. It has been shown that generating explanations to oneself, or self-explaining, can improve student understanding of information. This can be achieved via student-generated videos. The quantitative effects of student-generated videos on learning and assessment in…

Studies have demonstrated the positive impact of the Learning Assistant (LA) model on student learning across various disciplines, demographics, and course types. In order to investigate the effect of exposure to the LA program on student learning and success in a large Chemistry course, a pilot was launched in one of two sections of General…

While uncertainty is inherent to doing science, it is often excluded from science instruction, especially postsecondary chemistry instruction. There are a variety of barriers to infusing uncertainty into the postsecondary chemistry classroom, including ensuring "productive" struggle with uncertainty, evaluating student engagement with…

Clicker questions are a commonly used active learning technique that stimulates student interactions to help advance understanding of key concepts. Clicker questions are often administered with an initial vote, peer discussion, and a second vote, followed by broader classroom explanation. While clickers can promote learning, some studies have…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have emerged as a promising approach to enhance undergraduate STEM education by engaging students in authentic discovery. CUREs integrate genuine research projects into undergraduate courses, providing students with a real research experience while earning academic credit. While CUREs offer…

Formative assessment has been proven to be highly effective in improving student understanding. Nevertheless, many instructors struggle to engage in this practice, particularly when working in large-enrollment classrooms. To facilitate and foster the implementation of formative assessment in chemistry courses, undergraduate students at our…

As problem-based learning (PBL) has gained popularity across disciplines, its move from small medical-school inquiry groups into large-class undergraduate inquiry has led to an increasing need to understand the elements of successful PBL implementations in large classrooms. In this study, we investigated how PBL was appropriated among students to…