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Blog Post

NSTA Joins Advocacy Efforts for FY 25 Federal Funding

By the NSTA Legislative Affairs Team

Kindergarten Pre-K Preschool Technical and Vocational Education Early Childhood Elementary Middle School High School Postsecondary Pre-service Teachers Informal Education Advocacy News Policy

Journal Article

Data analysis using open data and software reveal environment-mediated microbial heterogeneity in soil and sediment samples, while enhancing STEM research experience at an undergraduate institution

Undergraduate institutions serve as stepping stones to a student’s career. Teaching and learning in the science classrooms requires quality and integrated teaching-research learning experiences that prepare students to advance their careers. Using ...

By Aditi Sengupta, Nallely Delara, Joyce Barahona, and Justin Garcia

Postsecondary Earth & Space Science Research STEM

Journal Article

A Residential Learning Community for Enhancing STEM Education: Program Design and Lessons Learned

There continues to be a concern regarding sustained recruitment and retention of students in STEM majors. Although the rate of attrition in these majors is comparable to other majors (Chen, 2013), the demand for trained scientists to enter the workfo...

By Jessica M. Fautch

Postsecondary Pedagogy Research STEM

Journal Article

Application of retesting as a learning tool in an online science course

Retrieval practice has been proved effective in conceptual science learning and retesting was applied in retrieval practice and showed significant improvement in learning outcomes (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011; Ariel et al., 2018; Lyle et al., 2020). In th...

By Qunxing Ding and Haiyan Zhu

Postsecondary Distance Learning STEM Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

The illogical leap to summative without formative: Low-risk assessments of high-risk students in human anatomy and physiology classes

Nationally, students fail anatomy and physiology courses at some of the highest rates compared to other courses at the undergraduate level. Formative evaluation guides future learning by assessing the quality of student achievement while the student ...

By Amy Benton and Drew Hataway

Postsecondary Assessment Equity Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Here and there: A novel hybrid remote/in-person college-level science lab model at a small primarily undergraduate institution

Moving to remote, online learning to meet local and national health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic posed a challenge for college science courses due to the interactive nature of laboratories. We developed and implemented a remote/in-person l...

By Matthew Lundquist and Ann Aguanno

Postsecondary Distance Learning Labs Technology

Journal Article

Teaching Trees: Revisions to an inquiry-based, service-learning field lab broadens student learning and better aligns to learning outcomes.

Most introductory science courses are large, lecture-style general education classes. Introduction to Environmental Science (ES 100) at NC State University is no exception, enrolling 200-300 students and meeting in the campus cinema. In 2018, I intro...

By Stephanie Jeffries

Postsecondary Environmental Science Inquiry Labs Learning Progression

Journal Article

The Micro Assignment Guided Inquiry and Collaboration (MAGIC) method: A qualitative discussion of the benefits of active learning through scaffolded assignments in upper-level physics and mathematics

In this article, we discuss Micro Assignment Guided Inquiry and Collaboration (MAGIC), an active learning method that draws on the merits of inquiry-based learning in STEM courses. We describe the use of Micro Assignments (MAs) consisting of a serie...

By R.F. Malenda, S. Talbott, and Scott Walck

Postsecondary Inquiry Instructional Materials Mathematics Physics Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Local Ecosystem Observation Cycle: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers Engagement in Sensemaking

Equitable sensemaking enables students to draw on personal resources to investigate and explain phenomena and problems within their communities. Although equitable sensemaking allows for meaningful understanding of big ideas of science and deeper eng...

By Jessica Stephenson Reaves and Anna Arias

Postsecondary Environmental Science Inquiry Preservice Science Education Sensemaking

Journal Article

Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Online Teamwork Activities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was suddenly necessary to shift college courses online. Many instructors without experience teaching online were faced with course design decisions about how to structure their courses and support students during the ...

By Tracy Ediger, Olga Glebova, Michael Waterson, and Matthew Nusnbaum

Postsecondary Distance Learning Inquiry Pedagogy

Journal Article

Authentic assessments for an in-person or online science course for pre-service teachers

Creating authentic science assessments that engage students in conceptual understanding and provide evidence of their learning is challenging. Student-centered instruction and assessments provide an opportunity to build student agency and foster posi...

By Stefany M. Sit and Laura Zeller

Postsecondary Assessment Preservice Science Education Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

A Process for Scaling an Independent Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience: Lessons Learned from Expansion of the Tigriopus CURE to Diverse Institutions

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase student engagement in scientific practices and allow students to generate novel findings. Previous studies demonstrated that CUREs are more effective at enhancing students’ motivation...

By Ginger R. Fisher, Kevin W. Floyd, and Jeffrey T. Olimpo

Postsecondary Biology Preservice Science Education STEM