Whether to engage student preconceptions to facilitate conceptual change is an area of debate among conceptual change theorists. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of a preconceptions-based instructional sequence about groundwater previously described by (Arthurs, 2019). To assess the impact this instructional sequence had on facilitating the…

Movies have long been used for teaching in undergraduate science courses. However, embedding movie references (EMR) in science videos is a new trend. This study explored how EMR in YouTube science videos might affect the nature of comments and the process of learning science. Using constructivist grounded theory, we compared comments on two…

Students are encouraged to develop a set of scientific skills and disciplinary practices common across the STEM disciplines. These skills (scientific inquiry, quantitative skills, laboratory and computational skills, communication skills, teamwork/interpersonal skills, interdisciplinary competency) are highlighted as important in discipline-based…

High structure courses ask students to be active participants in the learning process with preclass content acquisition and assessment, in-class active-learning exercises, and after-class review assignments. Although faculty may suggest certain strategies for success in high structure courses, it is unknown what students find valuable and what…

Practice effects are ubiquitous human phenomena that have been scientifically studied for over half a century. They are also among the most directly applicable psychological phenomenon, holding broad implications for any domain involving human expertise, and especially for education. Yet the details of how practice works to improve performance are…

In this study, we analyzed the literature on teaching or learning on a topic in Earth science, environmental science, or climate change between 1995 and 2017. We investigated the length of the intervention, intervention setting and instructional level, instructional purpose, pedagogical framing and pedagogical methods (including what materials and…

We describe a hands-on, collaborative activity designed to illustrate general properties of evolution, provide practice for quantitative skills, promote creativity and collaboration, and enable student self-assessment of learning. During the activity, teams construct bridges using common office supplies. The best-performing bridge becomes the…

Active learning classrooms (ALCs) are designed to support collaborative learning in large class sections that are often taught with a lecture format. Studies on ALCs indicate that they have positive influences on student learning, but the same studies fail to look at learning differences between subgroups of students. In the current study,…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase student engagement in scientific practices and empower students to generate novel findings. Previous studies have demonstrated that CUREs are more effective at enhancing students' motivations, attitudes, science identity development, and acquisition of science process skills than…

Existing processes for academic peer review can yield unnecessarily harsh critiques that focus on any vulnerability rather than constructive feedback to improve the work. Efforts to improve the peer-review process recommend training at the graduate level. This article describes the Modified Critical Response Process (MCRP) as a means to achieve…

This paper describes an alternative approach to teaching and learning practices in an undergraduate physics laboratory. The instructor plans and implements the 5E instructional model into the laboratory instruction. The article includes an example of the 5E lesson for the laboratory component of a physics course, which has separate lecture and…

An in-class case study is presented for use in a liberal arts core extreme weather course, designed to foster science literacy, appreciation, and critical thinking skills in nonscience majors. Students are ultimately shown the critical importance of the physical sciences in their daily lives and encouraged to consider STEM (science, technology,…

Students in introductory college science courses often have a simplified understanding of the scientific method. To introduce students to the complexity of the scientific process and the value of empirical observations, I implemented a semester-long assignment that required introductory-level college science students to build and calibrate weather…

As introductory college science courses transition from large, passive lectures to more student-centered active learning environments, additional instructional support may be needed. Peer Learning Assistants (PLAs) can aid course transformations by helping facilitate active learning and peer engagement among students in the classroom. Pedagogical…

The faculty at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) recognized the potential benefits for collaborative teaching and learning across disciplines. Research and development of an Interprofessional Case Learning Project (ICLP) laid the foundation for the creation and implementation of a problem-based learning course. This…