What instructors say during class-beyond content-has promise for supporting students' perceptions that they are supported, connected, and valued in the classroom, which in turn predict positive outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. We studied noncontent Instructor Talk used by 56 introductory biology instructors around the United States and how it related to sense of belonging among over 4900 students in their courses. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we identified positive relationships between some-but not all-categories of Instructor Talk and belonging among students. Instructor talk aimed at building relationships with students and explaining pedagogical choices had positive relationships with students' sense of connectedness to peers (for both) and comfort seeking instructor help (for the former), but not their comfort sharing ideas with the class. Using effect coding, we probed whether these relationships differed for students with 14 intersectional identities, including men and women from seven racial and ethnic groups. Relationships between Instructor Talk categories and components of belonging varied in their direction and magnitude for students with different intersectional identities. Findings demonstrate that even simple instructor actions-particularly language-may be meaningful to students, but we cannot assume that all students experience these actions the same way.

Despite the significant shift in the career landscape for biology doctorates—a decline in academic positions and robust growth in industry employment—postdoctoral training remains the most common immediate next step. Guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study examines (1) the self-efficacy, contextual factors, and outcome expectations that shape biology PhD graduates’ early career decisions, and (2) the perceived strengths and gaps in doctoral training identified after entering the job market. Drawing on semistructured interviews with 57 biology PhD graduates from the early career research (ECR) project, we found that graduates who pursued postdocs described strong self-efficacy in research and mentoring, whereas those in non-postdoc roles emphasized confidence in transferable skills. Principal investigators (PIs) were generally supportive yet often lacked the resources or networks to guide nonacademic transitions. Career decisions were also shaped by outcome expectations, with both extrinsic factors and intrinsic motivations influencing career choices. Additionally, regardless of career decisions, nearly all participants reported that their programs effectively developed core scientific and research skills but left critical gaps in business and management skills, advanced statistics and programming, and structured career development. These findings suggest areas in which biology doctoral programs may more intentionally support diverse career pathways, including expanded career development support, interdisciplinary skill-building, and strengthened faculty mentorship for diverse careers.

Learning Assistants (LAs) can reduce psychosocial barriers in gateway science courses. In this study, we specify the impact on students from different demographic groups. An inductive analysis of group interviews with 33 students from introductory biology and general chemistry courses revealed six narratives that capture students’ experiences with course structures, people, and personal connections. All students valued varied, flexible resources, but other narratives differed across groups. Underrepresented racial/ethnic and first-generation students described active and collaborative learning as promoting belonging, confidence, and mattering. Instructor interactions were helpful, with underrepresented and first-generation students highlighting the importance of establishing course climate. LAs were crucial for belonging among underrepresented students, first-generation students, and continuing-generation women, but not for continuing-generation men. Shared academic identities were universally important, while shared gender and racial identities held greater significance for underrepresented and first-generation students. Experiences with peers varied, with negative peer interactions and fear of judgment having less impact on well-represented, continuing-generation students. These findings extend Dewsbury's Deep Teaching model by demonstrating how LA integration into STEM courses can support student experiences across diverse populations. The results also reveal how instructors and LA programs can adapt their practices to support all students, ultimately enhancing belonging, confidence, and mattering.

Sustainably increasing the use of active learning in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses is a complex challenge. At Texas State University, we are tackling this by merging the Learning Assistant (LA) model for peer educators with a team-based instructional change approach. This study assesses the efficacy of our approach through the lens of faculty and LAs carrying out the work. In Spring 2023, we interviewed eight faculty and 15 LAs who participated in an effort to redesign and collaboratively teach two multi-section introductory biology courses. We now address the research questions: 1) What do faculty and LAs perceive as supports and barriers for creating more student-centered instruction? and 2) How do faculty and LA perceptions compared with each other? Faculty and LAs focused on similar supports, such as program structures that enabled progress and healthy collaboration across power differences. Faculty and LAs focused on different barriers, with faculty focusing more on structural barriers like classrooms and class sizes, and LAs focusing more on student experiences. Our research suggests practices that can support this type of instructional change, such as creating structures that enable faculty to collaborate with their peers and fostering a program culture where students’ contributions are valued.

Biochemistry is fundamental to medical education; however, traditional teaching may limit clinical integration and long-term retention. Although clinical simulation has emerged as a strategy to promote active and contextualized learning, its effectiveness in biochemistry teaching remains limited. This study evaluated the impact of clinical simulation on cognitive knowledge, technical skills, and communication among first-semester medical students compared with traditional practical instruction. A mixed-methods, quasi-experimental design was used with 404 students from the Central University of Ecuador, allocated to a simulation group (n = 205) or control group (n = 199). Both groups received identical theoretical instruction. Outcomes were assessed at baseline and post-intervention in four domains: theoretical knowledge, clinical interpretation, technical skills, and communication. Student satisfaction and perceptions were evaluated using surveys and qualitative analysis. Both groups improved after sessions; however, the simulation group demonstrated significantly greater gains across all domains (theoretical knowledge, clinical interpretation, technical skills, and communication). Students in the simulation-based group also achieved higher success rates in blood-sampling procedures, completed tasks in less time, and reported more positive emotions, reduced anxiety, increased confidence, and greater satisfaction. Simulation-based education appears to be an effective and feasible approach to enhanceknowledge, technical, communication skills, and student motivation in medical biochemistry teaching.

Participatory sciences (any science that depends on the knowledge or involvement of the public) are increasingly being included in undergraduate courses. Although they have most often been integrated into undergraduate courses to engage students, we expand ideas of how these approaches can be used to promote student learning. First, we explore three theoretical frameworks, culturally sustaining pedagogy, control value theory, and the ICAP (Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive) framework, that help explain why incorporating participatory science is an effective classroom practice at disrupting opportunity hoarding (a fourth framework). These theories focus on motivating learning, illustrating the power of participatory sciences as a mechanism of inclusive science, and attuning pedagogical practices specifically to participatory science curricula. Second, we use these theories to design a model with three orthogonal axes: science agency, breadth of interaction within classes and with external communities, and social justice. This model is designed to be aspirational for instructors to more fully capture how participatory sciences can be used in higher education to maximize instructional goals. We hope to promote reflection among instructors and provide ideas for how they can implement participatory science to expose students to research and use evidence-based reasoning to develop solutions for local and global problems.

Group work is a common and effective strategy for promoting student learning while bridging opportunity gaps in undergraduate science classrooms. Despite documented positive impacts of group work in promoting student success, its efficacy in undergraduate biology classrooms can be enhanced through thoughtful implementation. We suggest that the successful implementation of equitable group work can be achieved by considering the Complex Instruction framework, a pedagogical approach developed specifically to foster equitable learning experiences. In this essay, we address common pedagogical challenges associated with group work and use this framework to discuss strategies for mitigating these challenges in the undergraduate biology classroom. Our hope is the proposed pedagogical approaches outlined in this work can extend to other STEM contexts, thus increasing the positive impact of group work across the undergraduate student population.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) students continue to face violence, exclusion, and barriers at school, including in STEM education. A key underexamined factor in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts is the content of the life science curriculum, which is uniquely positioned to reinforce or refute bioessentialist, binary, and heteronormative biases. Outdated science curricula not only conflict with current scientific evidence but can also perpetuate beliefs that contribute to sexism and LGBTQIA+ marginalization. To address this, we designed four gender and sexual diversity (GSD)-inclusive biology activities, aligned with NGSS standards, and informed by inclusive curriculum frameworks. Using a mixed-methods approach, we studied 127 high school students who participated in two or more inclusive biology activities. Surveys conducted before and after implementation showed significant reductions in essential, binary beliefs about sex and gender, and increases in affirming attitudes toward sex and gender diversity. Interviews conducted after implementation further revealed differences between LGBTQIA+ and straight students’ conceptualizations of biological sex. Our findings demonstrate that even brief curriculum interventions can shift student attitudes, although we hope future studies will explore the impact of sustained interventions. Updating life science instruction is essential for educational equity and scientific accuracy.

Academic advising plays a major role in shaping undergraduate life sciences students’ experiences through college. However, despite the critical nature of advising, there have been relatively few studies examining students’ experiences with advising and how these experiences may influence their academic journeys. Here, we investigate first-generation college students’ experiences with academic advising in biology and throughout STEM. Through the lens of community cultural wealth, we found several themes such as balancing independence and pressures to succeed, identity as a source for empowerment and motivation, wanting reassurance and support from advisors, as well as negative outcomes during interactions with advisors. We also provide recommendations from student participants on how to improve academic advising. This research adds to the limited, but growing, body of literature on academic advising broadly, and within biology and other STEM fields specifically.

Women of Color (WOC) remain underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduate education due to a wide range of entrenched structural, cultural, and institutional barriers. Drawing on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework, this study examines how aspirational, social-navigational, and resistant capital shape WOC's STEM graduate aspirations. We apply multinomial logistic regression to a longitudinal data from 1353 senior WOC graduating with STEM bachelor's degrees to identify factors predicting their likelihood of pursuing a STEM or non-STEM graduate degree, relative to having no graduate aspirations. Results indicate that WOC who received frequent faculty mentorship and had high college involvement scores reported significantly greater likelihoods of pursuing a STEM graduate degree, while WOC who had astrong commitment to community leadership and advocacy for social change demonstrated a lower likelihood of pursuing a STEM graduate degree. The study highlights the need for inclusive mentorship and institutional policies that better support, recognize, and cultivate the diverse cultural wealth of WOC students as they navigate their paths through college and beyond.