Undergraduate science students who volunteer within a research laboratory group, or participate in funded research opportunities, in general are those who have the opportunity to engage in authentic research. In this article, we report the findings from two different iterations of a semester-long collaboration between a biology faculty member and…

Citizen science is a research collaboration between scientists and volunteers who provide data for education, conservation, and environmental protection. Volunteers, often the locals in the area, provide data on species occurrence while researchers perform distribution mapping or other data analysis. Social networking sites including Facebook,…

Students who experience research as undergraduates tend to remain in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Since course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are often expensive to implement, we developed a relatively inexpensive first-semester research course for majors entitled "Freshman Research in…

A partnership between a community college biology professor and a local high school teacher was established to engage high school students in authentic microbiology research. High school students isolated actinomycetes from soil samples and tested them for their ability to produce antimicrobial chemicals. They also designed and carried out their…

We present data displaying course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) effectiveness in providing authentic cutting-edge research experiences to undergraduates, which both private and government organizations recognize as essential. A total of 68 students were enrolled in this research with 50 students being in a traditional laboratory…

Evolution is widely regarded as biology's unifying theme, yet rates of rejection of evolutionary science remain high. Anecdotal evidence suggests that cognitive dissonance leading to an emotional response is a barrier to learning about and accepting evolution. We explored the hypothesis that students whose worldviews may be inconsistent with the…

The challenge of teaching in the sciences is not only conveying knowledge in the discipline, but also developing essential critical thinking, data analysis, and scientific writing skills. I outline an exercise that can be done easily as part of a microbiology laboratory course. It teaches the nature of the research process, from asking questions…

Hands-on learning is a highly effective teaching method for topics in STEM disciplines. Unfortunately, environmental science teachers sometimes lack the tools to engage their students in hands-on experimentation in real-world research outside of the classroom. Partnerships between science professionals and teachers can help address this disparity,…

It has been noted that undergraduate project-based laboratories lead to increased interest in scientific research and student understanding of biological concepts. We created a novel, inquiry-based, multiweek genetics research project studying Ptpmeg, for the Introductory Biology Laboratory course at Brandeis University. Ptpmeg is a protein…

A collaborative effort between a junior high school and a nearby university allowed 40 eighth-grade honors students to engage in a scientific investigation within a university laboratory. These students, with their science teachers and university researchers, gathered data on egg cannibalism in a beach-spawning fish and thereby contributed to an…

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a powerful immunological technique for quantifying small amounts of compounds and has been used in research and clinical settings for years. Although there are laboratory exercises developed to introduce the ELISA technique to students, their ability to promote student learning has not been…

The primary decorative flooring tile in the Southpark Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, is fossiliferous limestone that contains Jurassic ammonoids and belemnoids. Visible in these tiles are more than 500 ammonoids, many of which have been cross sectioned equatorially perpendicular to the plane of coiling. Upper-level undergraduate students from…

This lesson is designed to teach students that behavior is a trait shaped by both genes and the environment. Students will read a scientific paper, discuss and generate predictions based on the ideas and data therein, and model the relationships between genes, the environment, and behavior. The lesson is targeted to meet the educational goals of…

The National Science Foundation's GK-12 program provides a unique opportunity for STEM collaboration between the K-12 classroom and university research. This partnership benefits students through experiential learning, exposure to research, exceptional mentorship, and preparation for postsecondary education. Additionally, researchers gain…

Natural selection is the mechanism of evolution caused by the environmental selection of organisms most fit to reproduce, sometimes explained as "survival of the fittest." An example of evolution by natural selection is the development of bacteria that are resistant to antimicrobial agents as a result of exposure to these agents. Triclosan, which…