Nonscience Majors Research Articles

The Lunar Phases Project: A Mental Model-Based Observational Project for Undergraduate Nonscience Majors

The Lunar Phases Project: A Mental Model-Based Observational Project for Undergraduate Nonscience Majors

Quantitative reasoning in introductory environmental science textbooks

Environmental science courses often are taken by nonscience majors to fulfill core undergraduate requirements. Because of this, these courses should provide students with the necessary skills used to interpret quantitative information from graphs. In this study, 10 environmental science textbooks were evaluated based on their incorporation of quantitative visuals. The mean graph density for the 10 textbooks was 0.22 figures per page. Across the 10 textbooks in the sample, the density of quantitative visuals ranged from 0.069 to 0.41 graphs per page. The type of graph that was represented most frequently was line (54%) followed by bar (29%), pie (12%), scatter (4%), and combination (1%). Other factors were taken into consideration, such as presence of error bars and a graph-interpreting supplemental section. Fifty percent of the textbooks contained at least one graph with error bars, and 30% of textbooks had at least one section dedicated to building graph comprehension. The wide variation in figure densities indicates that there are opportunities to expand the use of quantitative visuals in future editions of introductory environmental science textbooks when current editions have comparatively low figure densities.

Improving Introductory Astronomy Education in American Colleges and Universities: A Review of Recent Progress

Over the past 15 years, professional astronomers, their societies, and associated funding agencies have collaborated to improve astronomy teaching and learning at the introductory undergraduate level. Many nonscience majors and preservice teachers enroll in these introductory astronomy courses, thus meriting the focused attention. In this review of recent developments, issues, approaches, and resources, we describe and document key instructional assets that have been made available to college and university faculty who wish to enhance their teaching of introductory astronomy. We find that although faculty support has progressed intermittently, there exist numerous programs and resources that faculty can access to increase student engagement and learning in astronomy. As funding support for these various instructional assets have waxed and waned, the professional societies have served as vital anchors and agents for advancing the profession of astronomy education at the introductory undergraduate level. Our findings, though focused on astronomy education, can be applied to the practice of introductory undergraduate education throughout the Earth and space sciences.

The Importance of Educating Nonmajors in Microbiology

Educating non-science majors in the basics of microbiology is a MUST. I began teaching microbiology strictly to non-science students through an infectious-diseases course. The course introduced the history, societal aspects, and science of microbiology. My aim was to provide the non-science major with enough information to reliably and intelligently understand their world, at least in relation to microorganisms. Personally, the need for this type of knowledge in non- science majors has become more evident to me in the recent past.Six years ago I became a mother to a beautiful and healthy boy. But between 15 and 18 months of age, we began to see behavioral changes that happened to coincide with his immunization schedule. He stopped jabbering, stopped reacting to stimuli, and began a social regression. This must sound familiar in light of the controversy surrounding a link between autism and immunizations. Indeed, my son was diagnosed with sensory integration disorder and possible Asperger's syndrome, which is defined as at the mild end of the autism spectrum.My husband and I were shocked with the diagnosis. As we are both scientists, we did what we knew how to do: we scanned the literature about this diagnosis and found several discussions that linked childhood immunizations and autism. Because of our professions, we could understand the scientific language and facts. But we had questions. We lived in a state that provided immunizations only through a government health agency, so we did not have personal contact with a physician for the immunizations. We felt abandoned and confused.We discussed delaying our son's immunizations, but we knew and understood their importance. In the end, we continued his immunization schedule, but were we afraid? Yes. In fact, we opted to split the shots into two sequences, in part because of his sensory-integration issues.Now, imagine the above story, also with loving, caring parents, but parents without the background knowledge to comprehend the mountain of available literature on autism and immunizations. These parents are looking for help, understanding, and above all a way to care for their child. How do they weigh the

Assessment of Cooperative Learning in Natural Resources Education

Abstract I compared the academic achievement of students in a biodiversity class before and after I used cooperative learning techniques. Student achievement by nonscience majors before using cooperative learning averaged 66.1% or a class grade of D+. For nonscience students in the classes after I began using cooperative learning techniques, the class average was 77.2% or a class grade of C+. Students who took the class after I began using cooperative learning expressed satisfaction with working in a group but found it challenging to schedule time to work in a group outside of class. Cooperative learning is a well-researched technique that helped improve student achievement in the class.

Science motivation questionnaire II: Validation with science majors and nonscience majors

AbstractFrom the perspective of social cognitive theory, the motivation of students to learn science in college courses was examined. The students—367 science majors and 313 nonscience majors—responded to the Science Motivation Questionnaire II, which assessed five motivation components: intrinsic motivation, self‐determination, self‐efficacy, career motivation, and grade motivation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence of questionnaire construct validity. The motivation components, especially self‐efficacy, were related to the students' college science grade point averages. The science majors scored higher than the nonscience majors on all of the motivation components. Among both science majors and nonscience majors, men had higher self‐efficacy than women, and women had higher self‐determination than men. The findings suggest that the questionnaire is a valid and efficient tool for assessing components of students' motivation to learn science in college courses, and that the components play a role in students' science achievement. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 1159–1176, 2011

Lorenzo’s Oil as a Vehicle for Teaching Chemistry Content, Processes of Science, and Sociology of Science in a General Education Chemistry Classroom

The film Lorenzo’s Oil depicts the challenges faced by the parents of a child with adrenoleukodystrophy, a neurological disorder that, they were told, was certainly fatal. The film contains a significant amount of chemistry, including concepts of fatty acid metabolism, enzyme inhibition, and the purification of substances. The film also raises important issues associated with “who does science?” and “who decides what science is done?” Those sociological issues are important in engaging nonscience majors in the learning of science and the film has been used for several years at the beginning of a course for elementary education majors. A thematically similar film, Extraordinary Measures, is also discussed.

Development and Validation of the Star Properties Concept Inventory

Concept inventories (CIs)—typically multiple-choice instruments that focus on a single or small subset of closely related topics—have been used in science education for more than a decade. This paper describes the development and validation of a new CI for astronomy, the Star Properties Concept Inventory (SPCI). Questions cover the areas of stellar properties (focussing primarily on mass, temperature, luminosity, and lifetime), nuclear fusion, and star formation. Distracters were developed from known alternative conceptions and reasoning difficulties commonly held by students. The SPCI was tested through an iterative process where different testing formats (open-ended, multiple-choice + explain, and multiple-choice) were compared to ensure that the distracters were in fact the most common among the testing population. Content validity was established through expert reviews by 26 astronomy instructors. The SPCI Version 3 was then tested in multiple introductory undergraduate astronomy courses for non-science majors. Post-test scores (out of 23 possible) were significantly greater (M = 11.8, SD = 3.87) than the pre-test scores (M = 7.09, SD = 2.73). The low post-test score—only 51.3%—could indicate a need for changing instructional strategies on the topics of stars and star formation.

Decay of Student Knowledge in Chemistry

It is a common complaint among teachers that students forget what they have learned soon after taking a test. The phenomenon is seen in both secondary and undergraduate chemistry courses. This study examines the length of time after a test that students in three different chemistry courses (undergraduate nursing, nonscience majors, and high school honors) are able to successfully answer the same free response achievement questions that were on the test. Overall effects on achievement were found to be nonsignificant, as were interaction effects of time interval and logical reasoning level. However, a differential effect between courses on achievement was found, leading to the conclusion that students enrolled in courses in which the continued spiral use of chemistry concepts is not evident, frequent quizzing opportunities are not provided, and a final exam is not given experience a significant decrease in achievement during the first 48 h following a test. This decrease remains constant for at least 2 weeks. Students enrolled in courses in which the spiral use of chemistry concepts is more explicit and regular quizzing opportunities and comprehensive final exams are given did not show a significant decrease in achievement from the original testing to delayed quizzing occasions over a 17-day period.

Teaching and Learning with Chemistry in Context

<span>Chemistry in Context is an issues-based curriculum model developed by the American Chemical Society for non-science majors at the college level. Through six editions, the goal has been to establish chemical principles on a “need-to-know” basis, always within a framework of significant issues at the science-society interface. Global warming, air and water quality, acid rain, energy choices, and genetic engineering are just some of the topics that our students explore, helped by appropriate use of web-based materials. Allowing these students the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge necessary for becoming responsible citizens is essential if we are successfully to address global challenges. This paper will discuss features of this successful curricular approach and how it changes both students and faculty.</span>

An illustrated guide to relativity

Aimed at both physics students and non-science majors, this unique book explains Einstein's special theory of relativity pictorially, using diagrams rather than equations. The diagrams guide the reader, step-by-step, from the basics of relativity to advanced topics including the addition of velocities, Lorentz contraction, time dilation, the twin paradox, Doppler shift, and Einstein's famous equation E=mc². The distinctive figures throughout the book enable the reader to visualize the theory in a way that cannot be fully conveyed through equations alone. The illustrative explanations in this book maintain the logic and rigour necessary for physics students, yet are simple enough to be understood by non-scientists. The book also contains entertaining problems which challenge the reader's understanding of the materials covered.

On Gene Concepts and Teaching Genetics: Episodes from Classical Genetics

This paper addresses the teaching of advanced high school courses or undergraduate courses for non-biology majors about genetics or history of genetics. It will probably be difficult to take the approach described here in a high school science course, although the general approach could help improve such courses. It would be ideal for a college course in history of genetics or a course designed to teach non-science majors how science works or the rudiments of the genetics in a way that will help them as citizens. The approach aims to teach the processes of discovery, correction, and validation by utilizing illustrative episodes from the history of genetics. The episodes are treated in way that should foster understanding of basic questions about genes, the sorts of techniques used to answer questions about the constitution and structure of genes, how they function, and what they determine, and some of the major biological disagreements that arose in dealing with these questions. The material covered here could be connected to social and political issues raised by genetics, but these connections are not surveyed here. As it is, to cover this much territory, the article is limited to four major episodes from Mendel’s paper to the beginning of World War II. A sequel will deal with the molecularization of genetics and with molecular gene concepts through the Human Genome Project.

Impact Of Redesigning A Large-Lecture Introductory Earth Science Course To Increase Student Achievement And Streamline Faculty Workload

A Geological Perspective is a general education survey course for non-science majors at a large southwestern research extensive university. The class has traditionally served 600 students per semester in four 150-student lectures taught by faculty, and accompanied by optional weekly study groups run by graduate teaching assistants. We radically redesigned the course to 1) improve student learning and, simultaneously, 2) reduce faculty effort. Previously optional study groups were replaced by weekly mandatory break-out sessions, run largely by undergraduate peer mentors. Twice weekly, lectures are brief with a large portion of class time allocated to active learning in small groups. Completing quizzes on-line reduced grading and allowed students more flexibility. Evaluation of the redesign (mixed methods, quasi-experimental, two-group, pre-testpost-test, multiple-measures study design) revealed no significant improvements in learner outcomes insofar as the instruments could measure. However, qualitative results reveal that overall students greatly valued their learning experience under the redesign. In addition, the redesign reduced the departmental cost of the class offering per student by more than half.

Chemical Dosing and First-Order Kinetics

College students encounter a variety of first-order phenomena in their mathematics and science courses. Introductory chemistry textbooks that discuss first-order processes, usually in conjunction with chemical kinetics or radioactive decay, stop at single, discrete dose events. Although single-dose situations are important, multiple-dose events, such as taking prescription and nonprescription medicines over a period of time, are familiar, practical applications of kinetics that can be presented to science and nonscience majors without increasing the mathematical demand. Continuous dosing events, such as intravenous drips, are readily accessible to students who have completed a semester or more of calculus. Examples of multiple-dose problems are presented that are appropriate for students taking introductory, general, and physical chemistry courses.

A Severe Weather Laboratory Exercise for an Introductory Weather and Climate Class Using Active Learning Techniques

This paper describes a new severe weather laboratory exercise for an Introductory Weather and Climate class, appropriate for first and second year college students (including nonscience majors), that incorporates inquiry-based learning techniques. In the lab, students play the role of meteorologists making forecasts for severe weather. The exercise is designed to teach students how to identify the atmospheric conditions that promote severe weather and how to prepare a severe weather forecast. We utilize collaborative learning in the lab exercise where students are encouraged to work in teams to accomplish the class assignment. Working in teams teaches students about how modern interdisciplinary science is conducted, as well as creates accountability for students to learn the material and complete their share of the work. Our results show that important content knowledge is maintained in comparison with a traditional lab and that students found the new lab more engaging.

Exposing Students to the Idea that Theories Can Change

The scientific method is arguably the most reliable way to understand the physical world, yet this aspect of science is rarely addressed in introductory science courses. Students typically learn about the theory in its final, refined form, and seldom experience the experiment-to-theory cycle that goes into producing the theory. One exception to this is the Powerful Ideas in Physical Science curriculum (PIPS) developed by the American Association of Physics Teachers.1 In this curriculum students develop theories based on experiments. The “Heat and Conservation of Energy” unit illustrates the experiment-to-theory cycle in a set of experiments introducing the conservation of energy. The idea of conservation of energy is developed early in the unit; however, students must expand their idea of energy in order to incorporate new phenomenon, namely the specific heat and phase transitions. Yet even with these experiments, the ideas of energy and of a theory remain abstract. In order to address the abstractness of energy, many authors have introduced energy diagrams.2–5 In these energy diagrams, the height of a bar graph represents the amount of different types of energy, nicely illustrating how energy transfers from one form to another. The PIPS curriculum took this one step further and used area to represent thermal energy when mixing different amounts of water. Thus, the conservation of area illustrates the idea of conservation of energy. Using this as a starting point, we have extended the energy/area diagram so that it includes other aspects of thermal energy, making the idea of a theory more concrete. Every new experiment requires a change in the theory and hence a change in the corresponding energy diagram. In this paper we develop this enhanced energy diagram through a series of experiments taken from the PIPS curriculum. While PIPS is designed for nonscience majors, this sequence of events as a lab or as demonstrations would work for any introductory course. The sequence involves four experiments. We will describe each of the experiments the students perform and the typical results. Then we describe the theory building that subsequently adapts the energy diagram to explain new data. This will demonstrate how the theory building takes place and how the energy diagram is developed based on experimental results.

Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS): The Effectiveness of an Afterschool Environmental Science Program for Increasing Female Students’ Interest in Science Careers

Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) was an afterschool program for 4th and 5th grade girls that provided authentic learning experiences in environmental science as well as valuable female mentoring opportunities in an effort to increase participants’ academic achievement in science. BUGS participants demonstrated significantly greater amounts of gain in science knowledge as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in Science (ITBS-S). The original BUGS participants and contrasts have now completed high school and entered college, allowing researchers to assess the long-term impact of the BUGS program. Fourteen former BUGS participants completed two instruments to assess their perceptions of science and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Their results were compared to four contrast groups composed entirely of females: 12 former BUGS contrasts, 10 college science majors, 10 non-science majors, and 9 current STEM professionals. Results indicate that BUGS participants have higher perceptions of science careers than BUGS contrasts. There were no significant differences between BUGS participants, Science Majors, and STEM professionals in their perceptions of science and STEM careers, whereas the BUGS contrast group was significantly lower than BUGS participants, Science Majors, and STEM Professionals. Additional results and implications are discussed within.

Generating Student Interest In Physics: Using Relevant And Exciting Curriculum Additions

As physics teachers at the collegiate level, we are faced with the difficulty of lack of interest in science among non-science majors. An example of this occurred in a conceptual physics course at West Virginia University, where we taught mostly students attending the education college. A poll taken of the class found 62% of the students wrote they did not want to teach science. A difficulty presented by this is that the students, who are mostly aspiring elementary level teachers, will go into the teaching field with a lack of enthusiasm toward teaching science. It is our goal then to excite these students, and all students, towards science and therefore exhibit eagerness when applying their knowledge in the classroom and elsewhere. One method for accomplishing this is to give these students hands-on, relevant, stimulating, and interesting curriculum in a laboratory environment. We have created several alterations to the course that succeed in meeting these goals and have proven to truly excite the students toward physics and science in general.

Controversial issues in an environmental science course: how do students respond?

This qualitative study described non-science majors’ responses to environmental case studies and news events embedded in an introductory level environmental science course. A phenomenological approach was used for this descriptive emergent design study. Sixty-six participants were enrolled in a 12-week course, structured to reflect science education reform principals, at a liberal arts college. Examples of environmental issues included the CHEERS pesticide study on children; use of depleted uranium in military conflicts; a homeowner’s plastic lawn; and local cases of environmental racism. According to the emergent model, a controversial issue must have an element of injustice to affect a student’s moral code or value system, thus, provoking feelings of cognitive dissonance. An environmental issue may be deemed controversial if the injustice exhibits elements of inequality, absence of freedom, or intentional affliction or abuse. To reduce the dissonance, some students sought participation in environmentally-friendly practices beyond the classroom.

Teaching Bacterial Arrangements and Morphologies with Candy

Determining bacterial morphology and arrangement is a first lesson in undergraduate microbiology or in an introductory lecture to the Prokaryotes in general biology. By identifying cell arrangement and morphology, students can successfully communicate descriptives in microscopy-based labs, can take the first steps in identifying unknown organisms, and are able to understand genus and/or species names of standard laboratory bacteria. This activity is intended to help students visualize and practice naming basic bacterial morphology and arrangements, and is appropriate in either the laboratory or lecture setting of a general microbiology or introductory biology course. Students with a weak background and non-science majors will benefit most from this activity.