JoinResearch and Teaching
Building First-Year Science Writing Skills With an Embedded Writing Instruction Program
Journal of College Science Teaching—January/February 2020 (Volume 49, Issue 3)
By David Dansereau, L. E. Carmichael, and Brian Hotson
An important foundational skill developed in an undergraduate science program is the ability to find, critically evaluate, and communicate scientific information. Effective science communication depends on good writing; therefore, we leveraged student support services offered by the Writing Centre and Academic Communications, in conjunction with the Office of the Dean of Science and the departmental chair of Biology at Saint Mary’s University (Halifax) to help meet science-writing outcomes in the Biology program. Our initiative began with writing-instruction workshops, embedded into firstyear labs, which supported student writing of formal lab reports. The program also featured instructor feedback on drafts and final resubmissions, and mandatory consultations with disciplinespecific writing tutors during the revision phase. We used surveys, attendance records, and grades to evaluate the program’s success. Writing tutoring was incentivized and well attended, and we measured a significant improvement on final lab reports grades for students who made use of the program. Over 80% of participants, both science majors and nonmajors, reported that the program had prepared them for future courses.
An important foundational skill developed in an undergraduate science program is the ability to find, critically evaluate, and communicate scientific information. Effective science communication depends on good writing; therefore, we leveraged student support services offered by the Writing Centre and Academic Communications, in conjunction with the Office of the Dean of Science and the departmental chair of Biology at Saint Mary’s University (Halifax) to help meet science-writing outcomes in the Biology program.
An important foundational skill developed in an undergraduate science program is the ability to find, critically evaluate, and communicate scientific information. Effective science communication depends on good writing; therefore, we leveraged student support services offered by the Writing Centre and Academic Communications, in conjunction with the Office of the Dean of Science and the departmental chair of Biology at Saint Mary’s University (Halifax) to help meet science-writing outcomes in the Biology program.
Research and Teaching
An Introvert’s Perspective: Analyzing the Impact of Active Learning on Multiple Levels of Class Social Personalities in an Upper Level Biology Course
Journal of College Science Teaching—January/February 2020 (Volume 49, Issue 3)
By William C. Beckerson, Jennifer O. Anderson, John D. Perpich , and Debbie Yoder-Himes
With calls to reassess higher education teaching methods, active learning practices have quickly become a popular alternative to traditional lectures, especially in STEM courses that traditionally rely heavily on large-lecture formats. In this regard, active learning environments stand to better prepare students for life after college; however, student personality may play a major role in how students perform in these settings. Our research examines the effect that active learning environments have on the performance of individuals by a variety of personality types, determined by the IPIP Big Five Measures of Personality. Although our research found a trend toward improved tests scores overall for those who attended group-based learning sessions in an active learning environment, we found statistically significant differences between how introverts and extroverts perform on exam questions pertaining specifically to material covered in the groupbased active learning sessions. This research highlights that class composition of personality plays an important role in how active learning should be implemented and provides evidence that active learning is not a one-size-fits-all practice.