Journal of College Science Teaching—November/December 2020

Journal Article

Understanding and Addressing Ambiguity in the STEM Classroom

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are some of the most jargon-heavy areas in higher education. As such, teaching and learning in these areas includes challenges with lexically ambiguous words and phrases, where one t...

By Rachel Yoho

Literacy Preservice Science Education STEM

Journal Article

Applying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Framework During a Community College Chemistry Project-Based Learning Activity

Project-based learning (PBL) instructional methods attempt to make connections between students and their ability to solve real problems. We framed our qualitative study within sociocultural theory and used the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, a...

By Patricia G. Patrick, William Bryan, and Shirley M. Matteson

Postsecondary Chemistry

Journal Article

Modeling the Coronavirus Outbreak for Cross-Discipline Teaching

The Coronavirus outbreak allows for a number of possible applications to classroom teaching (biology, computer science, Earth science, physics, statistics), as well as student research. A number of simple models reproduce fairly well the case numbers...

By Joseph J. Molitoris

Interdisciplinary

Journal Article

Surveying the Safety Culture of Academic Laboratories

The university traditionally has been the foundation for young adults’ professional development, yet the proclivity toward safety culture has garnered less focus in higher education than in the workforce. A survey of faculty at a medium-sized, rese...

By Emily Faulconer, Zachary Dixon, John C. Griffith, and Hayden Frank

Postsecondary Labs Safety

Journal Article

An Investigation Into the Impact of the Flipped Classroom With Active Learning on the Perception and Performance of Biology Nonmajor Students at the Undergraduate Level

We carried out a study of an instructional model that integrates flipped classroom with active learning, in-class activities into our biology course, using a mixed methods research design. According to the survey (n = 331), a majority of students fou...

By Bina Rai, Julia Yajuan Zhu, Dawn C-I Koh, Khoo Xiaojuan, Lakshminarasimhan Krishnaswamy, Rajesh Chandramohanadas, Ong Eng Shi, and Pey Kin Leong

Postsecondary Biology Pedagogy Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Fostering Nonscientist Thinking on Evolution Concepts Through the Teaching for Transformative Experiences in Science (TTES) Model

Understanding of evolution is foundational to be a scientifically literate citizen because it allows analysis of socioscientific issues, such as biodiversity conservation, biotechnology applications, and human-induced climate change. Unfortunately, s...

By Rachel Sparks and Rebekka Darner

Biology Pedagogy Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Changes in Elementary Teachers’ Conceptions About Matter

While research has investigated elementary teachers’ understanding of science content, such research is often limited to topics typically not addressed in elementary school curricula. Yet, research has illustrated that many elementary teachers stru...

By Jerrid W. Kruse, Jesse Wilcox, and Lucas Menke

NGSS Pedagogy Professional Learning old Teacher Preparation

Journal Article

Student-Driven Research in the First Year

We designed the Integrated Sciences First-Year Program (ISFP) to introduce students to the nature and process of science early in their academic career, help them develop skills and competencies, and create an intellectual community of learners to fo...

By Christina Cianfrani, Sarah Hews, and Christene DeJong

Postsecondary Research Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Peer Review and Response

Students in an upper-division Environmental Chemistry course used peer review and response to reviewer comments to improve their writing skills. The process employed an anonymous and timed in-class Peer Review Format. In addition to editing peer pape...

By Dulani Samarasekara, Todd Mlsna, and Deb Mlsna

Postsecondary Chemistry Literacy Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Comparison of Student Success Between High-Clicker and Low-Clicker Frequency in a Large-Enrollment Introductory Biology Course

Active-learning approaches have recently been broadly promoted on many campuses, but research is limited on how varying levels of interaction impact student success. The aim of this study was to compare student success between two sections of an intr...

By Lauren Shea, Chantale Bégin, Christopher Osovitz, and Luanna Prevost

Biology Teaching Strategies