Download or read book Scientific Reasoning Skills Development in the Introductory Biology Courses for Undergraduates written by Melissa S. Schen and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract: Scientific reasoning is a critical skill for students aiming to become professional scientists. Yet, there is little research on the development of such reasoning in science majors. Scientific reasoning is often investigated as two separate entities: hypothetico-deductive reasoning and argumentation, even though these skills may be linked. With regard to argumentation, fewer investigations look at its use in analyzing scientific data. This study seeks to address these issues and establish a baseline of both hypothetico-deductive reasoning and argumentation of scientific data of biology majors through their engagement in introductory biology coursework. This descriptive study investigated the development of undergraduates' scientific reasoning skills by assessing them three times throughout a two-quarter introductory biology course sequence for majors. A split-half version of the revised Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) and a paper and pencil argumentation instrument developed for this study were utilized to assess student hypothetico-deductive reasoning and argumentation skills, respectively. To identify factors that may influence scientific reasoning development, demographic information and evidence for course emphasis on scientific reasoning was collected. No trends of improvement were found in the students' hypothetico-deductive reasoning or argumentation skills during the two-course sequence. Specific difficulties in the control of variables and direct hypothetico-deductive reasoning were identified through analysis of the LCTSR data. Students were also found to have trouble identifying and rebutting counterarguments, compared to generating initial arguments from scientific data sets. Although no overall improvement was found, a moderate, positive relationship was detected between LCTSR and argumentation scores at each administration. Lastly, no difference was determined between biology majors and other students enrolled in the courses. The results found here are similar to those classified in the literature for both hypothetico-deductive reasoning and argumentation, indicating that biology majors may be similar to other populations studied. Also, as little explicit attention was paid to scientific reasoning skills in the two courses, these findings complement those that illustrate a need for direct attention to foster the development of these skills. These results suggest the need to develop direct and explicit methods in order to improve the scientific reasoning skills of biology majors.
Download or read book Trends in Teaching Experimentation in the Life Sciences written by Nancy J. Pelaez and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-05-11 with total page 572 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a guide for educators on how to develop and evaluate evidence-based strategies for teaching biological experimentation to thereby improve existing and develop new curricula. It unveils the flawed assumptions made at the classroom, department, and institutional level about what students are learning and what help they might need to develop competence in biological experimentation. Specific case studies illustrate a comprehensive list of key scientific competencies that unpack what it means to be a competent experimental life scientist. It includes explicit evidence-based guidelines for educators regarding the teaching, learning, and assessment of biological research competencies. The book also provides practical teacher guides and exemplars of assignments and assessments. It contains a complete analysis of the variety of tools developed thus far to assess learning in this domain. This book contributes to the growth of public understanding of biological issues including scientific literacy and the crucial importance of evidence-based decision-making around public policy. It will be beneficial to life science instructors, biology education researchers and science administrators who aim to improve teaching in life science departments. Chapters 6, 12, 14 and 22 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.
Download or read book BIO2010 written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-02-13 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological sciences have been revolutionized, not only in the way research is conductedâ€"with the introduction of techniques such as recombinant DNA and digital technologyâ€"but also in how research findings are communicated among professionals and to the public. Yet, the undergraduate programs that train biology researchers remain much the same as they were before these fundamental changes came on the scene. This new volume provides a blueprint for bringing undergraduate biology education up to the speed of today's research fast track. It includes recommendations for teaching the next generation of life science investigators, through: Building a strong interdisciplinary curriculum that includes physical science, information technology, and mathematics. Eliminating the administrative and financial barriers to cross-departmental collaboration. Evaluating the impact of medical college admissions testing on undergraduate biology education. Creating early opportunities for independent research. Designing meaningful laboratory experiences into the curriculum. The committee presents a dozen brief case studies of exemplary programs at leading institutions and lists many resources for biology educators. This volume will be important to biology faculty, administrators, practitioners, professional societies, research and education funders, and the biotechnology industry.
Download or read book Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology written by Stephen H. Jenkins and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Association for the Advancement of Science's report on Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education suggests that instructors "can no longer rely solely on trying to cover a syllabus packed with topics" but rather should "introduce fewer concepts but present them in greater depth." They further suggest that the principles embodied in a set of core concepts and competencies should be the basis for all undergraduate biology courses, including those designed for nonmajors. The theme of Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology will be the first and most fundamental of these competencies: the ability to apply the process of science. Biology courses and curricula must engage students in how scientific inquiry is conducted, including evaluating and interpreting scientific explanations of the natural world. The book uses diverse examples to illustrate how experiments work, how hypotheses can be tested by systematic and comparative observations when experiments aren't possible, how models are useful in science, and how sound decisions can be based on the weight of evidence even when uncertainty remains. These are fundamental issues in the process of science that are important for everyone to understand, whether they pursue careers in science or not. Where other introductory biology textbooks are organized by scientific concepts, Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology will instead show how methods can be used to test hypotheses in fields as different as ecology and medicine, using contemporary case studies. The book will provide students with a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of such methods for answering new questions, and will thereby change the way they think about the fundamentals of biology.
Download or read book A Problems Approach to Introductory Biology written by Brian T. White and published by Amer Society for Microbiology. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Problems Approach to Introductory Biology is an excellent teaching supplement for introductory biology courses. The book introduces a set of problems that guide students through the fundamental steps necessary to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Exercises are designed to measure student learning and help individual students focus their efforts on those areas that need improvement. Both computer-based and "pen-and-paper-based" exercises present problems at various levels of difficulty. Each of the first three chapters provides problems that focus on one of three main topic areas: genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology. The final chapter offers practice problems that combine two or more subject areas that illustrate connections and broaden student understanding of the material. Collectively, the problems teach students the process of synthesizing information and applying knowledge to scientific questions. An important feature of A Problems Approach to Introductory Biology is the detailed solutions provided on the accompanying CD-ROM. The solutions serve to guide students through each problem listed in the workbook, from beginning to end, highlighting common misunderstandings, reinforcing the concepts covered, and assisting each student in the development of a logical approach to problem solving.
Download or read book Faculty Learning Community Development of Course based Undergraduate Research Experiences written by Allison Rose Martin and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education presently suffers from low retention rates, and the attrition rates are disproportionately high for underrepresented minority students (URMs). Increased retention and equitable recruitment are important goals for STEM educators to ensure that a diverse workforce is able to address the developing needs of the 21st century. To address these needs, the National Science Foundation, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and other experts and organizations have urged institutions to redesign their undergraduate biology curricula to include higher levels of inquiry, increased autonomy, and authentic research for their students. Studies provide evidence of multiple benefits associated with participation in research, including enhanced scientific identity, increased knowledge acquisition, improved self-efficacy, and increased likelihood to persist in the major. Unfortunately, there are barriers associated with traditional undergraduate research experiences (UREs), including insufficient time and a lack of space and available faculty mentors. Additionally, there are inequities associated with student access to UREs due to their unpaid nature and often biased recruitment practices. Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) purport to provide many of the same benefits of traditional UREs; however, because they take place within normal class time, they are available to all students. Calls for the transformation of undergraduate biology curriculum were accompanied by calls for coordinated efforts to improve faculty development. Faculty resistance to change is well documented and thought to be due to barriers including inadequate training and incentives; however, there is mounting evidence that Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) are a successful method for encouraging pedagogical change. The Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Sacramento maintains a high student-to-faculty ratio and its faculty members carry heavy teaching loads. These factors contribute to the small proportion of biology majors who are able to participate in faculty-mentored research opportunities each year. The Sustainable Interdisciplinary Research to Inspire Undergraduate Success (SIRIUS) Project aims to solve this problem through the development of an FLC that will design, implement, and assess CUREs in 12 existing biology laboratory courses. This research focused on the assessment of the faculty development portion of the SIRIUS Project and the two CUREs implemented in introductory biology series courses. This study specifically 1) evaluated the impacts of faculty development on SIRIUS FLC members, 2) evaluated the effects of implemented CUREs on introductory biology students' knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and 3) explored the relationships between demographic variables and the dispositions of students who participated in CUREs. Faculty members reported high levels of satisfaction with the SIRIUS Summer Institute, which represented the first activity of the SIRIUS FLC, and all participants felt that a productive and collaborative environment was achieved. Faculty interviews revealed four motivators for participation, which varied according to the stage of career of the faculty member. While student survey data demonstrated successful implementation of CUREs, an instructor effect was observed between students taught by FLC members and nonmembers. The effects narrowed after a short, one-hour training on the SIRIUS Project and CURE strategies was provided for instructors who did not participate in the SIRIUS faculty development activities. The first two CUREs implemented as part of the SIRIUS Project were the introductory biology series courses, BIO1: Introduction to Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity and BIO2: Introduction to Cells, Molecules, and Genes. Student survey data showed increases in self-efficacy within one semester for both BIO1 and BIO2 students who reported low pre-course lab confidence; however, BIO1 students who reported high pre-course lab confidence reported no significant gains post-course. BIO2 students who reported high pre-course lab confidence showed significant losses in self-efficacy post-course. BIO2 students taught with the new CURE curriculum demonstrated more expert-like thinking on questions related to scientific identity than students who were taught with the pre-CURE curriculum. Furthermore, students taught with the CURE curriculum were more likely to explain how their research was relevant beyond the classroom when asked to explain why they thought they were performing real science. When prompted about their future STEM goals, students reported high levels of indecision. When pre-course BIO1 students were compared to post-course BIO2 students, fewer students strongly disagreed they would pursue a STEM career; however, the majority of students remained undecided. BIO1 students reported differences in pre-course lab confidence when genders and Pell Grant qualification were compared, but these differences were eliminated post-course. Notably, students who qualified for Pell Grants reported significantly higher gains by the end of BIO1 than their non-qualifying peers. Overall, we have demonstrated that faculty have successfully implemented CUREs in the introductory series biology courses, and students are self-reporting changes to their scientific identities and increases in their self-efficacy. These data provide evidence that the SIRIUS Project is taking steps toward, and may be able to overcome barriers associated with, equitable and broad student access to UREs.
Download or read book Recipes for Science written by Angela Potochnik and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-08-06 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, scientific literacy is an essential aspect of any undergraduate education. Recipes for Science responds to this need by providing an accessible introduction to the nature of science and scientific methods, reasoning, and concepts that is appropriate for any beginning college student. It is designed to be adaptable to a wide variety of different kinds of courses, such as introductions to scientific reasoning or critical thinking, philosophy of science, and science education. In any of these different uses, the book helps students better navigate our scientific, 21st-century world. Key Features Contemporary and historical examples of science from many fields of physical, life, and social sciences. Visual aids to clarify and illustrate ideas. Text boxes to explore related topics. Plenty of exercises to ensure full student engagement and mastery of the information. Annotated 'Further Reading' sections at the end of each chapter. Final glossary with helpful definitions of key terms. A companion website with author-developed and crowdsourced materials, including syllabi for courses using this textbook, bibliography of additional resources and online materials, sharable PowerPoint presentations and lecture notes, and additional exercises and extended projects.
Download or read book Scientific Teaching written by Jo Handelsman and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seasoned classroom veterans, pre-tenured faculty, and neophyte teaching assistants alike will find this book invaluable. HHMI Professor Jo Handelsman and her colleagues at the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching (WPST) have distilled key findings from education, learning, and cognitive psychology and translated them into six chapters of digestible research points and practical classroom examples. The recommendations have been tried and tested in the National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology and through the WPST. Scientific Teaching is not a prescription for better teaching. Rather, it encourages the reader to approach teaching in a way that captures the spirit and rigor of scientific research and to contribute to transforming how students learn science.
Download or read book Critical Thinking written by Jeris Folk Cassel and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing a balance of reference to theoretical and practical information on critical thinking, this annotated bibliography of 930 selected items from 1980 through 1991 covers the fields of philosophy, psychology, and education. It is geared especially to teachers, administrators, and researchers in elementary, secondary, and higher education. Representing past and current trends in the concepts, research, and teaching of critical thinking, the eight chapters include literature references to the history of critical thinking, the Critical Thinking Movement, the wide range of views on the definition and concept of critical thinking, testing and evaluating, professional development and teacher training, research studies on learning transfer and effective teaching techniques, theory of teaching critical thinking, and instructional methods. Author and subject indexes.
Download or read book The Psychology of Science Text Comprehension written by José Otero and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume's goal is to provide readers with up-to-date information on the research and theory of scientific text comprehension. It is widely acknowledged that the comprehension of science and technological artifacts is very difficult for both children and adults. The material is conceptually complex, there is very little background knowledge for most individuals, and the materials are often poorly written. Therefore, it is no surprise that students are turned off from learning science and technology. Given these challenges, it is important to design scientific text in a fashion that fits the cognitive constraints of the learner. The enterprise of textbook design needs to be effectively integrated with research in discourse processing, educational technology, and cognitive science. This book takes a major step in promoting such an integration. This volume: *provides an important integration of research and theory with theoretical, methodological, and educational applications; *includes a number of chapters that cover how science text information affects mental representations and strategies; *introduces important suggestions about how text design and new technologies can be thought of as pedagogical features; and *establishes academic text taxonomies and a consensus of the criteria to organize inferences and other mental mechanisms.
Download or read book Report on the National Science Foundation Disciplinary Workshops on Undergraduate Education written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Catalogue Number Course Catalog written by Anonymous and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2024-05-31 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology written by Stephen H. Jenkins and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-28 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The American Association for the Advancement of Science's report on Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education suggests that instructors "can no longer rely solely on trying to cover a syllabus packed with topics" but rather should "introduce fewer concepts but present them in greater depth." They further suggest that the principles embodied in a set of core concepts and competencies should be the basis for all undergraduate biology courses, including those designed for nonmajors. The theme of Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology will be the first and most fundamental of these competencies: the ability to apply the process of science. Biology courses and curricula must engage students in how scientific inquiry is conducted, including evaluating and interpreting scientific explanations of the natural world. The book uses diverse examples to illustrate how experiments work, how hypotheses can be tested by systematic and comparative observations when experiments aren't possible, how models are useful in science, and how sound decisions can be based on the weight of evidence even when uncertainty remains. These are fundamental issues in the process of science that are important for everyone to understand, whether they pursue careers in science or not. Where other introductory biology textbooks are organized by scientific concepts, Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology will instead show how methods can be used to test hypotheses in fields as different as ecology and medicine, using contemporary case studies. The book will provide students with a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of such methods for answering new questions, and will thereby change the way they think about the fundamentals of biology.
Download or read book Understanding Student Learning Routledge Revivals written by Noel Entwistle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-08-20 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1983, Understanding Student Learning provides an in-depth analysis of students’ learning methods in higher education, at the time. It examines the extent to which these learning methods reflected the teaching, assessment and individual personalities of the students involved. The book contains interviews with students, experiments and statistical analyses of survey data in order to identify successes and difficulties in student learning and the culmination of these techniques is a clearer insight into the process of student learning.
Download or read book Project Impact Disseminating Innovation in Undergraduate Education written by Ann McNeal and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1998-02 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contains abstracts of innovative projects designed to improve undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Descriptions are organized by discipline and include projects in: astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, geological sciences, mathematics, physics, and social sciences, as well as a selection of interdisciplinary projects. Each abstract includes a description of the project, published and other instructional materials, additional products of the project, and information on the principal investigator and participating institutions.
Download or read book Redefining Scientific Thinking for Higher Education written by Mari Murtonen and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-09-21 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the learning and development process of students’ scientific thinking skills. Universities should prepare students to be able to make judgements in their working lives based on scientific evidence. However, an understanding of how these thinking skills can be developed is limited. This book introduces a new broad theory of scientific thinking for higher education; in doing so, redefining higher-order thinking abilities as scientific thinking skills. This includes critical thinking and understanding the basics of science, epistemic maturity, research and evidence-based reasoning skills and contextual understanding. The editors and contributors discuss how this concept can be redefined, as well as the challenges educators and students may face when attempting to teach and learn these skills. This edited collection will be of interest to students and scholars of student scientific skills and higher-order thinking abilities.
Download or read book The Routledge International Handbook of Student Centered Learning and Teaching in Higher Education written by Sabine Hoidn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 799 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The movement away from teacher-centered toward student-centered learning and teaching (SCLT) in higher education has intensified in recent decades. Yet in spite of its widespread use in literature and policy documents, SCLT remains somewhat poorly defined, under-researched and often misinterpreted. Against this backdrop, The Routledge International Handbook of Student-Centered Learning and Teaching in Higher Education offers an original, comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the fundamentals of SCLT and its discussion and applications in policy and practice. Bringing together 71 scholars from around the world, the volume offers a most comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the fundamentals of SCLT and its applications in policy and practice; provides beacons of good practice that display how instructional expertise manifests itself in the quality of classroom learning and teaching and in the institutional environment; and critically discusses challenges, new directions and developments in pedagogy, course and study program design, classroom practice, assessment and institutional policy. An essential resource, this book uniquely offers researchers, educators and students in higher education new insights into the roots, latest thinking, practices and evidence surrounding SCLT in higher education.
