All Journal of College Science Teaching resources

Journal Article

Constructing Knowledge in the Lecture Hall

The standard lecture/note-taking format is not an effective way for students to learn introductory biology. However, it is difficult to implement an active-learning approach unless the students prepare adequately for class. This article describes a f...

Journal Article

Navigating the Active Learning Swamp

The authors surveyed 29 fellow faculty by asking them to define active learning, to rate how effectively different teaching techniques contribute to active learning, and to list the three teaching techniques they use most frequently. After exploring ...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Gauging Students’ Learning in the Classroom

To find out what helps students to learn, the author administered Elaine Seymour’s Student Assessment of their learning Gains instrument to her introductory biology classes. Using the student feedback from the 1998 semester, she changed her teachin...

Journal Article

Creating Direct Channels of Communication

Biology students in a large-class, active-learning environment used e-mail and in-class written notes for student-instructor communication. Most students sent e-mail messages and about half were content-related. Messages from females and males reflec...

Journal Article

Finding the Science in Art

In the interdisciplinary, team-taught course described here, the authors use the subjects of art and art history to bridge to math and chemistry. Specifically, the course investigates ways in which chemical and mathematical concepts inform artistic t...

Journal Article

Practicing Real Science in the Laboratory

In a molecular biology laboratory, students study the role of the enzyme polygalacturonase in the softening of tomatoes during ripening, developing their own hypotheses and designing their own experiments. While the experiment is new to the students ...

Journal Article

Switching Students on to Science

The Extended Physics courses at Rutgers University provide a successful alternative to the traditional introductory physics classes for students at risk of failure. The authors discuss methods for addressing at-risk factors in introductory physics an...