A primary aim of science education is to teach students how to interpret and engage with scientific information. To do so effectively requires an adequate understanding of the nature of science (NOS)--in other words, what science is and how it works. There is a long history of evidence to suggest that many undergraduate students struggle to…

Instruments for teaching and assessing student understanding of the five core concepts in biology from "Vision and Change" are needed. We developed four Biology Core Concept Instruments (BCCIs) that teach and assess students' ability to describe a concept in their own words, identify concepts represented in biological phenomena, and make…

First-year experience courses, although common on university campuses, are conducted in a variety of formats. This article outlines strategies and activities used at a large urban commuter campus in a first-year experience sequence run by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics for the College of Science. The course, designed for freshmen…