Young college instructors have become an important force of college teachers in teaching courses and doing research, who play an essential role in promoting the development of high education. From the perspective of system environment for the growth and development of young college instructors, five parts closest to the growth and development of…

Within the context of higher education, the disciplines of science and filmmaking appear disparate, but the importance of storytelling as an integral part of science and research deserves closer examination. Humans have always used stories to share information and convey complex ideas. To those outside science, science communications can be laden…

This article describes a community mentoring model for UREs that avoids some of the common pitfalls of the traditional paradigm while harnessing the power of learning communities to provide young scholars a stimulating collaborative STEM research experience.

The rapid change that higher education is undergoing is impacting all of the core mission elements: teaching and learning, research, service, and engagement with the external world (e.g., community engagement and health care delivery). Navigating this environment requires understanding of the underlying dynamics, with particular attention to how…

A pedagogic intervention, in the form of an inquiry-based peer-assisted learning project (as a practical student-led bioinformatics module), was assessed for its ability to increase students' engagement, practical bioinformatic skills and process-specific knowledge. Elements assessed were process-specific knowledge following module completion,…

We describe Group-Advantaged Training of Research (GATOR), a yearlong structured program at the University of Florida that guided graduate student mentors and their undergraduate mentees through the mentored research process. Using the national Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences for an academic year, we found that outcomes for our…

Undergraduate biology majors are often overwhelmed by and underinformed about the diversity and complexity of biological research that is conducted on research-intensive campuses. We present a program that introduces undergraduates to the diversity and scope of biological research and also provides unique teaching opportunities for graduate…

Traditional multiple-choice concept inventories measure students' critical conceptual understanding and are designed to reveal students' naive or alternate ideas. The overall scores, however, give little information about the state of students' knowledge and the consistency of reasoning. This study investigates whether students have consistent…

Most scientists agree that comprehension of primary scientific papers and communication of scientific concepts are two of the most important skills that we can teach, but few undergraduate biology courses make these explicit course goals. We designed an undergraduate neuroimmunology course that uses a writing-intensive format. Using a mixture of…

Not all biology students get to experience scientific research firsthand, but the National Genomics Research Initiative (NGRI) is working to change that. The NGRI is the first initiative to spring from Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) new Science Education Alliance (SEA). At present, a competitive application process determines which…

Molecular cloning skills are an essential component of biological research, yet students often do not receive this training during their undergraduate studies. This can be attributed to the complexities of the cloning process, which may require many weeks of progressive design and experimentation. To address this issue, we incorporated an…

An exercise on structure elucidation for advanced undergraduate students is described. To determine the structure of an unknown product, students are required to use spectra together with an organic chemistry mechanism. This exercise exemplifies the procedure commonly used in research, thus helping students develop problem-solving skills. In…

In this chapter, the author offers the National Black Male College Achievement Study (NBMCAS) as an example of how to explore and better understand the enablers of minority student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Methods employed in the national study are described, followed by the presentation of an…

Academics are now expected to manage increasingly demanding research, administrative, and teaching obligations. These demands in practice mean that the pressures to balance teaching and research duties render cultivating links between the two activities a less-than-intuitive process. The author describes the difficulties faced by academics in the…

Dramatic enrollment expansion at the undergraduate level and institutional diversification are characteristics frequently used to describe major trends in China's massive higher education system. A less understood phenomenon is the relatively new and rapid establishment of graduate level programs that have implications for national economic…