Laboratory courses can serve as important avenues to equitably support introductory biology students to develop foundational scientific literacy skills while experiencing the authentic research process. We present a model for an equity-focused redesign of an introductory organismal biology laboratory course at a teaching institution with limited…

Racial biases, which harm marginalized and excluded communities, may be combatted by clarifying misconceptions about race during biology lessons. We developed a human genetics laboratory activity that challenges the misconception that race is biological (biological essentialism). We assessed the relationship between this activity and student…

Online laboratories can be an effective way to introduce students to lab concepts while providing flexibility, increased access, and reduced costs. However, online labs might lack the authentic research experience that can be gained by doing hands-on lab work. This study explores student perceptions of an online, inquiry-based introductory biology…

Recent emphasis on research competencies in undergraduate biology education means that more students are doing course-based research. Professional research scientists learn from failed research, but undergraduate students who encounter failure in their biology lab research may not always respond in ways that advance their learning. There is a need…

Within the eukaryotic cell, the actin cytoskeleton is a crucial structural framework that maintains cellular form, regulates cell movement and division, and facilitates the internal transportation of proteins and organelles. External cues induce alterations in the actin cytoskeleton primarily through the activation of Rho GTPases, which then bind…

Specifications grading is a relatively recent approach to assessing student learning. In this approach, students make progress toward completion of a course by demonstrating mastery of specific skills or material. The assessment tools are short, frequent exercises that can be attempted multiple times until mastered. This contrasts with the…

This research reports the assessment of pre-service teachers' reception and attitudes towards virtual laboratory experiments in Life Sciences with the aim of advancing adaptability to digital learning. Using sequential mixed-methods in a quasi-experimental design, 68 pre-service teachers in the 3rd year of a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program…

Self-regulation is an active and constructive process in which students regulate and observe their own behaviour, motivations and cognition by setting their own goals during their learning process. In this study, the aim is to investigate the effects of biology laboratory practices that are supported by self-regulated learning strategies on…

This study examines and describes how various online remote laboratory courses, necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, were implemented at Hankuk University in Korea in 2020. We compared four general undergraduate laboratory courses, one each for physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science, and two major-level laboratory courses taught during…

This article illustrates the use of Microsoft OneNote as an Electronic Notebook for undergraduate biochemistry lab reports as well as student opinions of this use both before and during the online coursework shift during the pandemic.

Argumentation is vital in the development of scientific knowledge, and students who can argue from evidence and support their claims develop a deeper understanding of science. In this study, the Argument-Driven Inquiry instruction model was implemented in a two-semester sequence of introductory biology laboratories. Student's scientific…

Collaborative two-stage exams provide an effective mechanism to incorporate group work into summative course assessments. We implemented these exams in an upper-level biology laboratory course over two terms, one with online exams and one with in-person exams. We compared student exam performance and perceptions of two-stage exams and group work…

Biology laboratory instructors play a key role in creating an optimal environment where college students try hard and enjoy their classroom experiences. This study used achievement goal perspective theory to examine the influence of instructor behaviors on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students' perceptions of the…

Effective educational tools are needed to facilitate learning of organismal and ecological sciences in the virtual setting. For entomology laboratory classes, physically collecting insects and curating them in formal collections encompass the traditional learning and assessment tools to introduce students to the natural world and increase their…

Hands-on, inquiry-based laboratory activities are excellent opportunities to introduce first-year undergraduate students to the lab environment and to catalyze new interest in topics they may not yet know or be as enthusiastic about studying. We describe a multisession introductory laboratory activity that couples the research areas of medicinal…