In this article, the authors showcase 1) how they used assessment and evaluation strategies to determine the efficacy of field-based experiences in biology and 2) how they used this data to develop a new field--based course into a departmental intervention to foster inclusion of marginalized student populations in the life sciences. The authors…

Citizen science is a research collaboration between scientists and volunteers who provide data for education, conservation, and environmental protection. Volunteers, often the locals in the area, provide data on species occurrence while researchers perform distribution mapping or other data analysis. Social networking sites including Facebook,…

This qualitative study examined the building of a beloved community in a seventh grade life science classroom while teaching and learning in a constricting institutional context (U.S. public school). Guided by a Critical Race Praxis for Educational Research lens (CRP-Ed), the findings demonstrated how building a beloved community while situated…

Many professions necessitate a graduate-level education, and research conducted by graduate students is integral in many fields, particularly those in the life science programs like ecology and environmental sciences. However, practices for recruiting and selecting graduate students are inconsistent among and within institutions. Although some…

Early post-apartheid policies envisaged a South African teacher who had autonomy to make professional judgements based on their school context and learners' needs. However, over the last decade, the state has increasingly monitored learner achievement and teachers' work. In this paper, we show how the professional development activities provided…

Background: In the US, bioscience programs now often have more women than men who earn degrees at all levels. Despite this, evidence still exists for gender inequity in bioscience and medical fields. For example, women with careers in these fields tend to get paid less and leave these fields more. Here, we present research investigating grade…

A predicted rapid growth in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers demands a vast and talented workforce, but students most commonly abandon STEM majors within the first 2 years of college. Performance in introductory courses, scientific literacy, and the ability to critically reason are main predictors of retention in STEM,…

Graduate students often face choices about which resources to use to help them succeed in their programs. These choices likely differ among students, in part, due to different perceptions of resource value. However, little is known about why particular resources might be considered highly valuable to students, thus driving choice. Utilizing…

Measuring the factors affecting the implementation process are critical steps for understanding how, why, and under what circumstances integrated STEM curriculum innovations work. The overarching goal of this National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project was to design, field-test, implement, and evaluate contextualized integrated STEM learning…

The necessity to learn competence for collaborative knowledge work during higher education (HE) is accepted widely, but continued work is required to explicate how to define and assess such competence. In this article, the development and validation of a questionnaire for assessing the development of collaborative knowledge work competence is…

Attention paid to awarding gaps in higher education linked to ethnicity tends to focus on outcomes at the final award stage. Our project sought to scrutinise awarding gaps at module level where these gaps may emerge. Our aim was twofold: to identify the most important barriers to student success and determine strategies to reduce awarding gaps at…

South African teachers experience challenges with the implementation of the national school curriculum -- the "Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement" (CAPS). In this regard, teachers may not feel empowered to effectively deal with the demands of the current educational policy. Concerns have been expressed about learners' poor…

In South Africa, where multilingualism is prevalent, codeswitching--a practice of alternating between languages--plays a significant role in shaping classroom dynamics and learning outcomes. This study explores the beliefs of both teachers and learners regarding code-switching in Life Sciences classrooms. Utilizing quantitative methods, the…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, undergraduate research experiences were deeply impacted--either canceled or pivoted to a range of remote experiences. In Summer 2020 and Spring 2021, we designed two rounds of remote programming aimed to build students' life science research skills and provide opportunities for mentoring and networking. Building…

Undergraduate physics laboratory curriculum has undergone significant modification in recent decades in response to research and recommendations from educational and professional organizations and stakeholders. These reforms address multiple issues, such as 1) lack of student agency in experimentation, 2) an incomplete framework for student…