Both lecture and laboratory courses of biochemistry are important professional courses for undergraduates with biology related majors. Course optimization and update is crucial but challenging, especially for the laboratory course. Although taught separately, here we showed a strategy to bridge the two courses and promote the improvement of both.…

The under-representation of women in undergraduate science courses is well-documented. One significant challenge is that women may both perceive and receive less recognition from their science peers about their abilities as scientists than men. Here we investigate the presence and nature of such gender biases in peer recognition in the discipline…

Physics education has been identified as one of the public sectors that are mostly influenced by technological developments. This paper adopted the quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design to assess the effects of multimedia-aided technologies (MAT) on undergraduate students' performance in quantum physics (QP) at the University of Rwanda…

A flipped classroom is typically one where some of the instruction occurs asynchronously prior to the scheduled synchronous meeting between students and the instructor. Since 2000, they have gained substantial popularity especially in STEM fields where they have been shown to have increased exam scores and reduce the number of students who fail.…

To evaluate the impact of active learning approaches in a basic molecular and cell biology course for undergraduate students, we assessed the effect of learning by teaching and peer review on the learning outcomes. A literature seminar activity with peer review and feedback was organized as a compulsory activity for all students, covering about…

Students' understanding of the concepts that underlie evolution are often less than optimal and make it difficult for them to accept the theory of evolution. The aimed of this study were to: 1) map students' knowledge of Mutation and Recombination (M and R); and 2) analyze the effect of gender on their chairperson. This survey research involving…

Learning management systems (LMSs) are ubiquitous in higher education, yet few studies have examined changes in student engagement online with year level. Using data mining of LMSs, we examined the frequency and timing with which first, second, and third year science students accessed the various LMS resources. We compared online access with both…

This three-paper dissertation addresses the experience and the implementation of evidence-based learning practices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)/biology education. Study 1 explored instructional strategies and student perceptions and preferences for various teaching practices in graduate and undergraduate classrooms…

This case study explores the assessment of students' learning outcomes in a second-year lecture course in biosciences. The aim is to deeply explore the teacher's and the students' experiences of the validity and reliability of assessment and to compare those perspectives. The data were collected through stimulated recall interviews. The results…

We describe a classroom exercise to allow students to explore foraging strategies in higher vertebrates. The exercise includes an initial interactive session in which students act as predators and are guided through foraging simulations, and a subsequent student-led session where classmates are employed as experimental subjects. Students rated the…

This account reviews published green chemistry teaching resources in print and online literature and our experiences in teaching the subject to undergraduate students. Effective practices in lecture and laboratory are highlighted and ongoing challenges are addressed, including areas in cutting edge green chemistry research that impact its teaching…

This research documents the creation, implementation, and evaluation of a novel chemistry curriculum. The curriculum allowed students to create theories situated in a variety of cultures while they investigated chemical phenomena central to all civilizations; it was a way of synthesizing chemistry, the history and nature of science, inquiry, and…

We report conceptual inventory results of a large-scale assessment project at a large university. We studied the introduction of materials and instructional methods informed by physics education research (PER) (physics education research-informed materials) into a department where most instruction has previously been traditional and a significant…

We describe a third-year undergraduate course that focuses on multiscale modeling and protein folding and has as its primary goal the encouragement of students to integrate thinking across and beyond disciplinary boundaries. The ability to perform innovative and successful research work in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)…

The use of in-class stories is an excellent way to keep a class interested in subject matter. Many organic chemistry classes are populated by nonchemistry majors, such as pre-med, pre-pharm, and biology students. Trivia questions are presented that are designed to show how organic chemistry is an important subject to students regardless of their…