JoinJournal of College Science Teaching—March/April 2021
Volume 50, Number 4
In this issue, we start with an editorial from our Advisory Board on the importance of STEM fields as a conduit of education and the public’s view on the current pandemic. In our Features Section the authors of the first article highlight how a small change in pedagogy can enhance students understanding and appreciation of data modeling, in the second, an important link is discovered between undergraduate research in a STEM Living-learning program and long-term academic success, and in the third, some needed strategies in these pandemic virtual teaching times to help foster a community in an online environment. Under Research & Teaching we have a great example of how to construct a rubric to “assess students’ data skills or measure gains over time within written or task-based assessments.” The next article is tangentially related to the features article on STEM Living-learning program where the authors investigate the impact of undergraduate research experiences in a biology class on student self-efficacy and future goals. The next article describes a plan of action for a physics class and a department to implement and embrace an active-learning pedagogical culture. In our last article, the authors share an innovative link-course model to improve their students’ ability to compose original scientific literature.
View the full Digital Edition
http://digital.nsta.org/view/nsta/jcst
Journal Article
STEM Education as a Vital Preventive Response to a Pandemic
By Katherine Baker, Emily Faulconer, Oliver Grundmann, Sarah Haines, Tyra Hall-Pogar, Lisa Kenyon, Susan Meabh Kelly, Peter Lindeman, Brian Schmaefsky, Candace Timpte, and David Wojnowski
Journal Article
Small Instructional Changes to Emphasize Data Modeling Practices
Data modeling practices are often invisible to students in introductory biology courses. However, developing a well-rounded understanding of these practices is critical for scientific literacy. Furthermore, introductory undergraduate science laborato...
By Joshua W. Reid, Candice M. Quinn, Zhigang Jia, Ryan Jones, and Anna Grinath
Journal Article
First-Year STEM Research Program Facilitates Long-Term Academic Success
Retention and student success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) remains a priority for institutions, and low rates of retention in STEM for underrepresented populations continues to be a concern. In this report, we compiled ...
By Kimberly R. Schneider, Uday Nair, Rachel Straney, Patrice Lancey, and Mary Tripp
Journal Article
Responsive Teaching in Online Learning Environments
Online teaching and learning have become widespread in higher education over the past two decades, and accelerated during the pandemic. Although online learning is expanding and has many benefits, instructors teaching online courses must deal with a ...
By Young Ae Kim, Lisa Rezende, Elizabeth Eadie, Jacqueline Maximillian, Katelyn Southard, Lisa Elfring, Paul Blowers, and Vicente Talanquer
Journal Article
Measuring Data Skills in Undergraduate Student Work
Data literacy, or students’ abilities to understand, interpret, and think critically about data, is an increasing need in K–16 science education. Ocean Tracks College Edition (OT-CE) sought to address this need by creating a set of learning modul...
By Jessica Sickler, Erin Bardar, and Randy Kochevar
Journal Article
Course-based undergraduate research is promoted as an equitable strategy for providing the benefits of research experiences to a larger, more diverse population of students pursuing science degrees. Here, we report the impacts of course-based researc...
By Allison Martin, Adam Rechs, Thomas Landerholm, and Kelly McDonald
Journal Article
In this paper we put forth a model for physics course reform that uniquely uses proven, research-based active-learning strategies to help students improve their physics knowledge and problem-solving skills. In this study, we compared the exam perform...
By Colin S. Wallace, Edward E. Prather, John A. Milsom, Ken Johns, and Srin Manne
Journal Article
Use of a Linked-Course Model to Teach Scientific Writing to First-Year Undergraduates
The ability to read and compose original scientific literature is critical to educating informed citizens, yet may be severely lacking in undergraduate curricula. We developed a linked course offering in fall 2017 consisting of a 16-student group tak...
By Evan Lampert and J. Stephen Pearson