Structured collaborative peer teams are widely recognized as a high-impact pedagogy that supports learning outcomes for diverse learners but it can be difficult to implement this pedagogy in an online environment. This communication describes a structure to use collaborative teams to develop and sustain a community of inquiry in an asynchronous…

This study developed and implemented a learner-centered assessment named Creative Exercises (CEs) in introductory chemistry courses at a four-year university and a two-year community college. CEs were developed and implemented as an intervention for treatment groups. The control groups only used traditional assessments such as multiple-choice and…

Many people living in rural areas are aware of the impacts of climate change and often have climate beliefs that are aligned with the scientific consensus. However, climate change conversations in rural communities may be seen as divisive, political, and potential sources of conflict in the community. We describe a rural/urban collaboration…

The author discusses an Introduction to Biology course they created. The course was designed by following the recommendations from the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action report, which stresses the need for engaging students through hands-on and student-centered activities. In the course, students perform…

Student anxiety is a growing concern for colleges and universities. As science classrooms transition from traditional lecture to active learning, researchers have sought to understand how active learning affects undergraduate anxiety. However, although community colleges educate nearly half of all undergraduates, no studies have explored the…

Studies comparing virtual and physical manipulative environments (VME and PME) in inquiry-based science learning have mostly focused on students' learning outcomes but not on the actual processes they engage in during the learning activities. In this paper, we examined experimentation strategies in an inquiry activity and their relation to…

Project-based learning (PBL) instructional methods attempt to make connections between students and their ability to solve real problems. We framed our qualitative study within sociocultural theory and used the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) model to define the positive and negative factors occurring during a PBL…

Writing, a critical pedagogical tool, cultivates student learning and fosters deeper understanding of the material. When frequent, low-stakes (informal) writing activities help students write more freely, engage with the material and thus become active learners. Looking at students who are at opposite ends of a community college spectrum, this…

The Science, Engineering, and Technology Gateway of Ohio (SETGO) program has a three-pronged approach to meeting the needs at different levels of students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pipeline. The SETGO program was an extensive collaboration between a two-year community college and a nearby four-year…