Despite reform efforts emphasizing written communication implemented in the undergraduate science curriculum, college science students still struggle with scientific research writing. Further, science majors have few opportunities to engage in authentic disciplinary scientific research writing. This research was set in an upper-division Scientific…

Molecular biology, broadly defined as the investigation of complex biomolecules in the laboratory, is a rapidly advancing field and as such the technologies available to investigators are constantly evolving. This constant advancement has obvious advantages because it allows students and researchers to perform more complex experiments in shorter…

This article presents a simple, cognitive theory of science and learning. The first section of the paper develops the theory's two main propositions: (i) A wide range of scientific activities rely heavily on one type of reasoning, hypothetical thinking, and (ii) This type of reasoning is also useful to students for learning science content. The…

While undergraduate research has been shown to be a high-impact educational practice, it is logistically impossible for all undergraduate biology majors to have long-term faculty-mentored research experience. Therefore, biology educators and researchers must devise opportunities to engage more students in undergraduate research outside of working…

Citizen science's (CS) deployment and benefit over the last ten years have been remarkably substantial in their contributions to the massification of citizen participation in tech-based CS projects. Insights into how CS projects influence community changes through proposals of actions and public policies are essential to understanding how they…

The University of Montana's Research Education on Air and Cardiovascular Health (REACH) Program works with teachers to engage high school juniors and seniors in rudimentary real-world scientific research with the goals of improving their understanding of and interest in science, and to increase their interest in science careers. To evaluate the…

Despite the current interest in Open Science in the scientific community, it is not clear if Open Science will succeed in higher education. Open Science is based on three basic ideas: open data, open results, and open publication. If these principles can be successfully implemented, it will allow for much greater participation in the scientific…

Advancing equity and justice in undergraduate biology education requires research to address the experiences of disabled students. Scholars working in disability studies have developed models of disability that inform Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER). To date, DBER literature has been predominantly informed by the medical and social…

The aim of this study was to develop molecular genetics inquiry programs using the "eyes absent" gene of "Drosophila melanogaster." The program was composed of various molecular genetics experiments, including mutation observation, cross-breeding, searching for genetic information in web databases, gDNA extraction, and PCR.…

This study aimed to determine preservice science teachers' (PST) attitudes towards the Reconceptualized Family Resemblance Approach to the Nature of Science and to examine PST attitudes towards this approach according to grade levels. The study group consists of 75 people studying in the 3rd and 4th year of undergraduate education. The sample of…

The ability to read, understand, and interpret primary scientific literature is an essential skill for undergraduate students in science. This study aimed to provide a detailed understanding of how second- and third-year undergraduate students in a biochemistry and molecular biology major at the University of Melbourne in Australia feel about…

Science advances through the interplay of idea construction and idea critique. Our goal was to describe varied forms of productive disciplinary engagement that emerged during primary literature discussions. Such descriptions are necessary for biology educators and researchers to design for and recognize diverse repertoires of participation in the…

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…

Scientific practices are the skills used to develop scientific knowledge and are essential for careers in science. Despite calls from education and government agencies to cultivate scientific practices, there remains little evidence of how often students are asked to apply them in undergraduate courses. We analyzed exams from biology courses at…

Purpose: Open science is a collection of practices that seek to improve the accessibility, transparency, and replicability of science. Although these practices have garnered interest in related fields, it remains unclear whether open science practices have been adopted in the field of communication sciences and disorders (CSD). This study aimed to…