Peer-facilitated workshops enhanced interactivity in our introductory biology course, which led to increased student engagement and learning. A majority of students preferred attending two lectures and a workshop each week over attending three weekly lectures. In the workshops, students worked in small cooperative groups as they solved challenging…

A lecture section of introductory biology that historically enrolled more than 500 students was split into two smaller sections of approximately 250 students each. A traditional lecture format was followed in the "traditional" section; lecture time in the "active" section was drastically reduced in favor of a variety of in-class student-centered…

The war on cancer has been waged for nearly 40 years, yet the cancer burden remains high, especially among minority and underserved populations. One strategy to make strides in the war on cancer and its disparate impacts is to increase the diversity of the cancer research workforce. We describe an approach to recruit a diverse population of future…

In our Fundamentals of Genetics lab, students perform a wide variety of labs to reinforce and extend the topics covered in lecture. I developed an active-learning lab to augment the lecture topic of mutagenesis. In this lab exercise, students determine if a compound they bring from home is a mutagen. Students are required to read extensive…

National stakeholders are becoming increasingly concerned about the inability of college graduates to think critically. Research shows that, while both faculty and students deem critical thinking essential, only a small fraction of graduates can demonstrate the thinking skills necessary for academic and professional success. Many faculty are…

Audience response systems (ARS) or clickers, as they are commonly called, offer a management tool for engaging students in the large classroom. Basic elements of the technology are discussed. These systems have been used in a variety of fields and at all levels of education. Typical goals of ARS questions are discussed, as well as methods of…

Supplemental instruction classes have been shown in many studies to enhance performance in the supported courses and even to improve graduation rates. Generally, there has been little evidence of a differential impact on students from different ethnic/racial backgrounds. At San Francisco State University, however, supplemental instruction in the…