An inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities for marginalized students (i.e., opportunity gaps) leads to challenges in identifying effective study behaviors, metacognition, and academic help-seeking in higher education. While students benefit when these skills are taught explicitly through co-curricular workshops and courses, these…

Laboratory courses can serve as important avenues to equitably support introductory biology students to develop foundational scientific literacy skills while experiencing the authentic research process. We present a model for an equity-focused redesign of an introductory organismal biology laboratory course at a teaching institution with limited…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] This study investigates students' perceived impacts regarding their participation in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in astronomy. Each research experience adopted one or more projects from the Research Based Science Education for Undergraduates…

As an oral culture, Aboriginal ways of knowing and learning come through practice and practical application first, rather than through theory or text. For Aboriginal students, the Western methodological approach to learning theory first, poses a counterintuitive near insurmountable roadblock, particularly in science. This paper presents the…

This paper outlines an integrative approach to teaching (qualitative) comparative methods at the introductory undergraduate level. The integrative approach does not view methodological instruction as a topic to be treated cursorily at the outset of a course, but rather one to be intertwined throughout an academic term as students simultaneously…

Students enrolled in a large-lecture, non-majors biology course employing a diversified instructional approach featuring both instructor-centered and student-centered techniques evaluated the effectiveness of each approach in fostering course goals. Students perceived both approaches to be effective to some extent. Students indicated that the…

Describes a forensic-oriented, college-level course in consumer chemistry. Includes course goals, topical outline, and list of chemical ingredients in consumer products useful for student research projects. The first section of the course focuses on mathematics since students in introductory courses may fear doing the most rudimentary mathematical…

Provides syllabus for courses in introductory polymer chemistry (including major topics and recommended time allotments) and currently available textbooks and audio courses which may be used with the syllabus. Syllabus topics are congruent with those used in American Chemical Society (ACS) standardized examination in polymer chemistry. (Author/JN)

Presents an investigative study in an introductory college-level microbiology course in which students work in teams to assess the bacteriological safety of a vermicompost facility on campus. (SOE)

Summarizes 10 findings of a national survey of the status of introductory astronomy courses for nonscience majors. Findings focus on instructors, course length, laboratory components, laboratory equipment and exercises, texts, enrollment, mathematics prerequisites, and instructors' needs to enhance their teaching capabilities. (SK)

Explores the use of extra credit in an introductory geology course. Covers the organization and rational behind the program. (PR)

A one-semester biochemistry course was developed as an alternative to traditional freshman chemistry. Lecture topics and laboratory exercises focus on the course's unifying theme of the origin and early stages of the evolution of life on earth. (Author/SK)

Describes a course which provides nonscience students with an understanding of methods and nature of natural science. The course is a seminar organized around a detailed examination of the Copernican revolution, in part through Copernicus's original writings, and in part through contemporary historical and philosophical analysis. (Author/SK)

One definition of creativity is the conviction that each and every existing idea can be improved. It is proposed that creativity in an engineering design process can be encouraged by the adoption of Total Quality Management (TQM) methods based on a commitment to continuous improvement. This paper addresses the introduction and application of TQM…

Reviews the objectives, themes, and content of a series of five color videotapes on volcanic rock textures. Explains how the tapes, which integrate petrographic observations of textures with computer graphics, can be used in undergraduate and graduate level courses. (ML)