JoinJournal of College Science Teaching—May/June 2022
Volume 51
Number 4
This month’s issue of features interdisciplinary lessons for teaching energy and entropy, self-regulated learning strategies for an introductory physics course, an investigation of elementary pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning, with a special article on social justice service-learning at an HBCU in the wake of COVID-19. Our Research & Teaching section covers articles about, college readiness of Hispanic students in a STEM gateway course, data analysis of a literature intensive undergraduate course, a thought-provoking article on community and skills enhanced by a shared biology-chemistry-communication laboratory with a STEM focus, developing a classroom assessment rubric, and Integrating Contemporary Literature into the Undergraduate Classroom. Plus, an interesting look at why people say, “I believe in science.”
Journal Article
Why Do People Say, “I Believe in Science”?
Many people in the general public say, “I believe in science.” Why don’t they say, “I believe in reading” or similar statements about other subjects? Perhaps people say, “I believe in science” because science is different than other sub...
By Kristy M. Palmer
Journal Article
Social Justice Service-Learning at an HBCU
Integrating social issues into biology courses may be of particular interest for educators seeking to create inclusive science environments that support diverse populations. This social justice–focused service-learning project extended a partnershi...
By Nastassia N. Jones and Francesca M. Mellieon-Williams
Journal Article
Interdisciplinary Lessons on Energy and Entropy
This article presents ideas and narratives of an experiment on the concept of energy developed for an honors seminar on energy and a mechanics course. We argue that energy is an idea best taught in an interdisciplinary manner. While most physics cour...
By Mika Munakata, Ashwin Vaidya, and Dirk Vanderklein
Journal Article
Self-regulated learning (SRL) is the metacognitive aspect of learning that goes beyond learning content and skills. With SRL, students are aware of their content understanding and learning progress and use advanced thinking skills to create goals and...
By Stephanie Toro
Journal Article
Investigating Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs About Teaching and Learning Science
To inform teacher education programs, it is imperative to uncover preservice teachers’ (PSTs) implicit and tacit beliefs about teaching and learning science. The study of teachers’ beliefs requires a range of methodological approaches to unearth ...
By Ezgi Yesilyurt
Journal Article
This study is an exploratory comparison of 69 Hispanic students enrolled in first-semester general chemistry (Chem I) who attended either a Hispanic-Serving or emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution and were not successful in Chem I. Students’ autom...
By Adrian Villalta-Cerdas, Anton Dubrovskiy, Deborah Rush Walker, Blain Mamiya, G. Robert Shelton, Cynthia B. Powell, Susan Broadway, Rebecca Weber, and Diana Mason
Journal Article
A Model for a Data Analysis– and Literature-Intensive Undergraduate Course
This article describes the use of literature to broaden students’ skills in content comprehension, data analysis, modeling, and productive scientific discussion. The design builds on existing models to maximize student gains in ability, confidence,...
By Karen Resendes
Journal Article
This article explores results from a 3-year model of laboratory instruction, Project Synapse, that synthesized biology, chemistry, and communication curricula for first-year science majors at a STEM-focused university. Laboratory biology-chemistry in...
By Margery Gardner, Neal Abrams, Gregory McGee, and Elizabeth Hogan
Journal Article
Developing a Classroom Assessment Rubric
The development and implementation of varied assessment practices is a major focus in higher education. Assessment benefits both students and teachers; it informs teachers about students’ learning and misconceptions, thereby helping teachers improv...
By Chandrani Mishra, Loran Carleton Parker, and Kari L. Clase
Journal Article
An Adapted Journal Club Approach
Students must be able to evaluate primary literature, yet few options exist within the undergraduate curriculum to develop the necessary skills. In this article, we offer an adapted journal club that provides students opportunities to critically anal...
By Melissa Eslinger, Sydney Alekseyev, and Helen Schroeder