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 introduced an inquiry-based, service-learning project measuring trees on campus. After experiencing problems, I engaged students to help improve our methods. With the help of sustainability and instructional technology grants and expertise, I developed innovative teaching tools to create an enhanced field lab to collect long-term data on 100+ campus trees. As a result, students’ reflection responses shifted from focusing on processes, like data collection, to more concept-themed ideas about urban trees and their health. Additional revisions to the project in the third year, having students use the National Tree Benefit Calculator (Casey Trees and Davey Tree Experts 2020), led students to focus more broadly on the ecosystem services trees provide in urban environments. Using inquiry-based approaches in large classes is both challenging and rewarding, and making adjustments can better align to learning objectives. Finally, this service-learning project contributed to NC State’s recognition as a Tree Campus USA for 2018, 2019, and 2020.

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 series of short, instructive guiding questions that scaffold the course material. Students work through these questions and present solutions to the class. The instructor facilitates learning as well as collaboration amongst the students during face-to-face interactions, providing the Guided Inquiry and Collaboration (GIC). Here we present a qualitative discussion about this active learning approach that achieves some of the documented benefits such as deep student engagement with material and familiarity with communicating arguments. In addition, this method helps develop skills students need as they move from lower to upper-level courses such as collaboration, active reading, and breaking down involved assignments and problems into manageable steps. Through GIC and use of the MAs, the instructor guides students to become more abstract thinkers who desire evidence, evaluate arguments, and no longer follow step-by-step formulas but rather produce logical thought processes.

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 engagement in the science practices, many non-science majors including elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) do not have opportunities to engage in equitable sensemaking within their secondary or college-level courses. This paper describes an innovative cycle developed to support PSTs’ engagement in equitable sensemaking entitled the Local Ecosystem Observation Cycle (LEOCycle), which was used in both online and in-person sections of an integrated Earth and Life Science undergraduate course for PSTs. In the LEOCycle, students observe, wonder, investigate and make sense of phenomena within their local ecosystem via shared online platforms. We investigate the benefits of engaging in this cycle, PSTs’ prior experiences, and their changing thinking about investigating science outside. The PSTs’ surveys and work within the course suggested that the LEOCycle facilitated students’ connections between the ideas within the course with their personal experiences and supported the development of a community of practice. ??The “LEOCycle” provides an example of how to facilitate students’ equitable sensemaking of science ideas in local ecosystems within science content courses.

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 pandemic. In the three introductory STEM courses described here, instructors chose to include online teamwork activities. In this study, we have surveyed the students about their experience participating in active-learning teamwork activities in online Computer Science or Human Anatomy and Physiology courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The overwhelming majority of students rated the experience of their team as positive. Most students cited either interpersonal interactions, productivity, or team members’ equal contributions as reasons for their positive rating of the team. In all these courses, students reported benefits of the experience to include teamwork, connections, and communication. Overall, instructors in these three introductory STEM courses felt positively about structuring their online courses to include teamwork learning activities and appreciated the community and connection benefits for students.

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 positive student relations with science. This qualitative work showcases assessments that focus on knowledge-in-use and assessments that incorporate opportunities for and evidence of student learning. We present the design, implementation, and reception of two authentic assessments, Science Portfolios and Teaching Presentations, designed for and implemented in an interdisciplinary science content course for pre-service K-8 educators. Each of the assessments was designed to deepen student knowledge and incorporate relevance to students’ future careers as teachers. These science assessments created authentic opportunities for student learning and served as evidence of student learning. We offer our reflections about our implementation and discuss how these types of assessments could be used in other science classrooms.

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’ motivations, attitudes, science identity development, and acquisition of science process skills than traditional (i.e., prescriptive) laboratory exercises. Historically, CUREs have adopted one of two structures – the ‘network’ CURE, where faculty nationwide are provided with training to implement a single CURE model (e.g., SEA-PHAGES), or the ‘independent’ CURE, which is centered around an individual faculty member’s research expertise. Although independent CUREs are quite common, few studies have examined the process for and impacts of scaling up an independent CURE for use in diverse institutional contexts. To address this, we employed a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to evaluate how an independent CURE, the Tigriopus CURE, could be modified for implementation at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, Liberal Arts College, and Women’s College. Analysis of pre-/post-semester data revealed significant differences in CURE students’ science identity development, experimental design skills, and motivations relative to a matched comparison group of students in a traditional laboratory course. These findings highlight the effectiveness of independent CUREs such as the Tigriopus CURE, as well as its utility across institutional settings.

Communicating scientific findings is an accepted part of the research experience, but few science programs include explicit undergraduate curricula for developing or practicing oral science communication. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can provide opportunities to practice science communication, but few studies describe or evaluate authentic oral science communication activities in CUREs. Existing literature lacks considerable evidence for how science communication activities impact students’ science identity and science communication self-efficacy regarding research posters. Therefore, we collected students’ quantitative & qualitative perceptions of science identity and science communication self-efficacy in a face-to-face (F2F) CURE during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also collected students’ qualitative perceptions of participating in a poster symposium and of wearing a face mask while engaging their symposium audience. We found significant improvements in science identity and science communication self-efficacy, as well as benefits and barriers to presenting in a F2F symposium while wearing a face mask. Our results can help educators interested in improving students' science identity and science communication self-efficacy, especially when deciding if a F2F poster symposium in a CURE is appropriate, as affective factors strongly impact students' persistence in science.

An introductory physics course may be run like a video game, where students have an almost unlimited number of attempts to demonstrate their competencies through a sequence of zero-penalty assessments until the end of a semester. Each checkpoint is conducted as a 10-minute, one-on-one oral interview with the instructor, and students are not allowed to move on to the next topic before passing the checkpoint on the current topic. This is an individualized approach to teaching physics, because students take the checkpoints at their own pace throughout the semester. Students strive to clear all checkpoints in sequence without a penalty for each attempt. This course was implemented as an online class with 32 undergraduate students in spring, 2021. It had mixed reviews: some students, who identified themselves as independent learners, found the format effective, and other students reported that it was difficult to stay on track.