This descriptive study assessed technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) competency among life sciences teachers in rural and marginalized schools. The study was guided by Koehler and Mishra's (2006) TPACK framework as its theoretical lens. Data gathered through questionnaires from 235 teachers in the Eastern Cape province, South…

To maximise the feedback effect, it is crucial to establish a dialogic feedback process between students and teachers. This can facilitate a mutually reinforcing cycle on each other's feedback practice and uncover unrealistic feedback expectations. In this article, we present a co-developed reflective ePortfolio platform designed to foster…

Here's a fresh way to help your students learn life science by determining how you can help them learn best. "Uncovering Student Ideas in Life Science, Volume 2," offers 30 new formative assessment probes--engaging questions that can reveal what students already know (or think they know) about a core science topic. Armed with that…

Research in science education often has the goal of enhancing student success, yet there is a dearth of literature related to how students define success for themselves. In this study, we explored how 10 life science graduate students defined the term "success," as well as their experiences related to success. Using interpretive…

The final year of a biochemistry degree is usually a time to experience research. However, laboratory-based research projects were not possible during COVID-19. Instead, we used open datasets to provide computational research projects in metagenomics to biochemistry undergraduates (80 students with limited computing experience). We aimed to give…

The R programming language and computing environment is a powerful and common platform used by life science researchers and educators for the analysis of big data. One of the benefits of using R in this context is its ability to visualize the results. Using R to generate visualizations has gained in popularity due to the increased number of R…

Individuals with disabilities are underrepresented in postsecondary science education and in science careers, yet few studies have explored why this may be. A primary predictor of student persistence in science is participating in undergraduate research. However, it is unclear to what extent students with disabilities are participating in research…

Whether doctoral students are funded primarily by fellowships, research assistantships, or teaching assistantships impacts their degree completion, time to degree, learning outcomes, and short- and long-term career outcomes. Variations in funding patterns have been studied at the broad field level but not comparing engineering sub-disciplines. We…

This study aims to understand middle and high school students' ecosystem knowledge including knowledge about the food web, food pyramid, and energy flow. The data were collected from 250 middle school and high school students. Students' drawings were used to collect data and coded as correct, wrong, or no answer. Then, students' wrong answers were…

While several studies have investigated gender inequities in the social learning environment of biology lecture courses, that same phenomenon remains largely unexplored in biology laboratory contexts. We conducted a mixed methods study to understand the influence of gender on student perceptions of their peers' research aptitude in introductory…

This Doctor of Arts dissertation addresses the use of drawing as a tool to facilitate life science education and research. The literature review addresses frameworks of drawing-to-learn and Professional Vision which guided the design and implementation of the research and education experiences. A result of this dissertation work is a manuscript…

Articulating the rules, roles, and values that are expected of undergraduate researchers is important as we strive to create a more accessible path into the scientific community. Rules refer to skills required of scientists, roles refer to behaviors consistent with the expectations of a scientist, and values refer to beliefs of the scientific…

Producing original knowledge is the foundation of scientific progress. Originality is associated with certain skills and practices that can be trained and socialised. This study investigates how inbreeding as a career practice influences the socialisation of originality. An analysis based on a sample of mid-career life scientists in Japan finds…

Despite the growing importance of agricultural microbiology at the applied, productive and ecological levels, undergraduate degrees in Agronomy generally do not feature much microbiological experimentation. To address this deficiency, we have designed an experimental programme that evaluates the potential of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria…

We explore how norms of science are given attention through laughter in life science doctoral supervision. Four supervision sessions were observed and video recorded. All laugh units were identified, and instances of humour were coded in relation to norms of science. Our analysis reveals tensions around how to do valid research, governance vs.…