Recently, our course team transformed a large-enrollment introductory genetics course from being predominantly lecture based to active learning based. During class sessions, students engaged in problem solving, which occurs when a student attempts to solve a problem without knowing the path to complete it. We designed class activities…

Instructors often provide feedback to their class in multiple ways. One way is through their follow-up behaviors, which are the specific strategies instructors implement after active learning activities. These behaviors could play an important role in student learning as students receive feedback from the instructor. However, there is little…

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…

A key tenet of the nature of science is that "knowledge, although reliable and durable, is never absolute or certain" and is subject to change with the accrual of new bodies of evidence (Lederman "et al." 2002). Similarly, pedagogical choices grounded in scientific teaching would also be expected to be modified, refined, and…

Modeling is a scientific practice that supports creative reasoning, motivates inquiry, and facilitates community sense-making. This paper explores students' perspectives on modeling in an undergraduate laboratory course, Authentic Inquiry through Modeling (AIM-Bio), in which they proposed, tested, and revised their own models. We conducted…

In this qualitative study, we examined the process of active learning from the perspective of undergraduate students in a high-enrollment introductory biology class. Eight students participated in a series of five interviews throughout the semester that examined their experiences during and after class. Grades were collected for each student at…

This study measured student engagement in real time through the use of skin biosensors, specifically galvanic skin response (GSR), in a large undergraduate lecture classroom. The study was conducted during an intervention in an introductory-level biology course (N = 420) in which one section of the course was taught with active-learning approaches…

Active learning is frequently used to describe teaching practices, but the term is not well-defined in the context of undergraduate biology education. To clarify this term, we explored how active learning is defined in the biology education literature (n = 148 articles) and community by surveying a national sample of biology education researchers…

Limited access to undergraduate research experiences for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students has led to creation of classroom-based opportunities for students to participate in authentic science. Revising laboratory courses to engage students in the practices of science has been shown to have many benefits for students.…

Science self-efficacy, a student's confidence in being able to perform scientific practices, interacts with science identity and outcomes expectations, leading to improved performance in science courses, persistence in science majors, and ultimately, the pursuit of advanced training in the sciences. Inquiry-based laboratory courses have been shown…

Not all instructors implement active-learning strategies in a way that maximizes student outcomes. One potential explanation for variation in active-learning effectiveness is variation in the teaching knowledge an instructor draws upon. Guided by theoretical frameworks of pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge, this study…

Instructor Talk--the noncontent language used by an instructor during class time--is likely to influence learning environments in science classrooms from the student perspective. Despite Instructor Talk being found in every science course thus far, investigations into student perceptions and memories of it are limited. We investigated to what…

Evidence-based teaching (EBT), such as active learning and formative assessment, benefits student learning but is not present in many college science classrooms. The choices faculty make about how to teach their science courses are influenced by their personal beliefs and motivations, as well as their departmental structures and institutional…

Student anxiety is a growing concern for colleges and universities. As science classrooms transition from traditional lecture to active learning, researchers have sought to understand how active learning affects undergraduate anxiety. However, although community colleges educate nearly half of all undergraduates, no studies have explored the…

Integration of active-learning approaches into increased-structure postsecondary classrooms significantly improves student academic outcomes. We describe here two parallel sections of Introductory Biology that shared learning objectives and content but varied in course structure. The large-enrollment traditional course consisted of four 50-minute…