Building on the literature of student leadership development, Natalie Sew, Adrianne Billingham Bock, and Danielle Allen share an approach to civic education: Deeper Civic Learning. This approach offers students the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and key civic dispositions needed to engage in their communities and develop their…

Authenticity is critical to meaningful civic learning, from understanding history and exploring current issues to discovering how government works and engaging with diverse forms of civic participation. This article explores authenticity in student-led civics through three dimensions: (1) being authentically connected to the self (culturally…

Active learning approaches to biology teaching, including simulation-based activities, are known to enhance student learning, especially of higher-order skills; nonetheless, there are still many open questions about what features of an activity promote optimal learning. Here we designed three versions of a simulation-based tutorial called…

The goal of this research was to test the effectiveness of a new science curriculum focused on increasing awareness and knowledge of microplastic pollution in middle school students. The curriculum utilized three teaching methods including lectures, object-mediated learning, and peer collaboration to enhance student engagement and learning. The 84…

Though zoos and aquariums have become increasingly focused on conservation education, their menageries of unique and diverse learning opportunities have been underused. This practical "NGSS"-aligned guide to field trips at zoos and aquariums is written specifically for science teachers to support broader utilization of zoos and aquariums…

Part of learning science is practicing reasoning, but some of the most common approaches to science instruction offer students little opportunity to do that, especially in the whole-class setting of large-enrollment courses. We present and closely examine a single episode of instructor listening--an instructor deliberately adopting a stance, and…

This article describes one approach to flipping an introductory sociology course. To encourage students to practice 'doing' sociology, we designed a flipped classroom that included a 'pay to play' model, small group work and an emphasis on active learning during class time. With this course design, we linked in-class active learning with outside…

This academic essay provides a strategy for teaching complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the classroom, a subject typically critiqued as unconventional and non-scientific. It demonstrates how students can enhance their critically reflective skills by examining polarizing and controversial medical topics, which are often considered by…

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) integrate active, discovery-based learning into undergraduate curricula, adding tremendous value to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) education. There are multiple challenges in transforming a research project into a CURE, such as the readiness of students, the time commitment of the…

We show how learning can be improved, beyond that shown in actively taught classrooms, by also transforming the homework using the principles of deliberate practice. We measure the impact of transforming the homework on student learning in a course that had already implemented an active approach to teaching in class. We compare performance on the…

Field trips have long been a part of the elementary student experience, and through the years a great deal of research and work has been done around how field trips best support and facilitate learning. When new earth science unit was being rolled out across the Burlington (MA) Public Schools' second grades, the opportunity to shake up the…

During the Spring 2020 semester, many institutions abruptly transitioned their courses from face-to-face instruction to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To address the unique challenges posed by the remote teaching and learning modality, our department used mobile technology to adapt empirically validated instructional…

Developing models, using mathematics, and constructing explanations are three practices essential for science inquiry learning according to education reform efforts, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013). However, students struggle with these intersecting practices, especially when developing and interpreting…

The authors determined whether positive perceptions of integrating lecture and lab in Anatomy and Physiology courses persisted from 2015-2018. Students (843) and instructors (56) completed the Student Assessment of Their Learning Gains survey; perceptions were positive and consistent between both groups. Participant narratives identified the…

Purpose: Process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is a series of learning activities building on student prior knowledge guiding them to construct their own understanding of new concepts in collaborative roles. This paper aims to illustrate how POGIL worksheets can be adapted for low bandwidth and low-computing environments to accommodate…