Non-majors Course Research Articles

Exploring Species Interactions with "Snapshot Serengeti"

Authentic learning experiences are a valuable way for students to gain an in-depth understanding of the scientific process. However, implementing such experiences in large enrollment courses can be challenging. Here, we present a community ecology lab module that uses data from a long-term camera trap study to allow students to design and conduct their own scientific inquiries. "Snapshot Serengeti" is a 10+ year wildlife monitoring survey in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Over 200 camera traps continuously collect fine-scale spatial and temporal data on the dynamics of ~50 animal species. The charismatic subject matter (large African animals) engages students, encouraging excitement about the topic, while the ample amount of processed data enables students to conduct real ecological research. In this lab, students collaborate in all stages of the research process. We present two lab variations: a four-week in-person and five-week remote-learning online option. From this module, students learn to generate testable research questions, produce and interpret graphs, participate in peer review, and communicate their results in both oral and written format. While originally developed for a 1000-level introduction biology course for non-majors, this material could easily be adapted to provide authentic hypothesis testing and data analysis experience to biology majors. In addition to a greater awareness of community ecology principles, students will come away from this lab with a better understanding of how exploratory research fits into the scientific process and confidence in their own ability to engage in the process of science. <em>Primary image: </em>Captured by camera trap - a wildebeest and zebra grazing in the Serengeti: Using camera trap images such as this from the long-term camera trapping program “Snapshot Serengeti”, students will analyze real data on Serengeti ecosystem dynamics and generate their own questions to explore African animal behavior and ecology. This image is available under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License.

Science and Business of Medicinal Chemistry: A “Bench-to-Bedside” Course for Nonmajors

“The Science and Business of Medicinal Chemistry” was developed to provide nonscience majors with an in-depth perspective into the pharmaceutical industry. As a lecture course with a laboratory component, topics discussed include an introduction to the basic concepts of medicinal chemistry, such as drug discovery, development, and commercialization; a discussion of chemical bonding and the organic functional groups found in drug molecules; and an examination of the physiochemical properties related to drug action. Student scientific literacy of the public policy debates surrounding the pharmaceutical industry and the commercialization of science was enhanced through class discussions and group-based projects. The details of this course, its implementation, and assessment are discussed.

Pairing practice and feedback with animations optimizes student learning in online module

AbstractIn this study, we investigated the optimal placement of animations and practice and feedback exercises with respect to each other and to static text and graphics in an online DNA replication module. We randomly assigned students in a first‐semester introductory biology course for freshmen biology majors and nonmajors to one of four online modules with animations and practice exercises (assets) either embedded with the text and images or saved until the end after all the text and images. Although we expected to find that embedding assets with text and images would improve learning outcomes, we were surprised to find that outcomes did not change with the location of these assets with respect to the text and static images. Instead, we found that colocation of exercises with animations was correlated with the biggest student learning gains, independent of where these assets appeared relative to the static text and static images. This held true both for immediate posttest scores and delayed application questions on a midterm exam. Our findings could have potential implications for how to best design online learning modules that feature multiple assets.

Implementing Cognitive Science and Discipline-Based Education Research in the Undergraduate Science Classroom.

Cognitive science research on learning and instruction is often not directly connected to discipline-based research. In an effort to narrow this gap, this essay integrates research from both fields on five learning and instruction strategies: active retrieval, distributed (spaced) learning, dual coding, concrete examples, and feedback and assessment. These strategies can significantly enhance the effectiveness of science instruction, but they typically do not find their way into the undergraduate classroom. The implementation of these strategies is illustrated through an undergraduate science course for nonmajors called Science in Our Lives. This course provides students with opportunities to use scientific information to solve real-world problems and view science as part of everyday life.

The First Line of Contact: How Course Syllabi Can Be Used to Gauge &amp; Reform Learner-Centeredness in a College Classroom

While learner-centeredness is important to quantify, education researchers disagree on how best to measure it. The overall aim of this research was to measure the learner-centeredness of introductory biology classrooms with a valid and reliable instrument that offers a different perspective than self-reported faculty surveys or expert observation protocols – Palmer et al.'s (2014) syllabus scoring rubric. We investigated whether syllabus rubric scores aligned with both faculty self-reports and expert observations of learner-centeredness from the same classrooms, and whether these other metrics predict an instructor's total syllabus score better than instructor gender or years of teaching experience. Course syllabi from eight instructors who taught the same nonmajors biology course were scored independently using this syllabus scoring rubric. Our results suggest that syllabus learning objectives link to learner-centeredness and, interestingly, that other external metrics of learner-centeredness may predict syllabus rubric scores derived from Palmer et al.'s instrument.

Covariational reasoning and mathematical narratives: investigating students’ understanding of graphs in chemical kinetics

Graphical representations are an important tool used to model abstract processes in fields such as chemistry. Successful interpretation of a graph involves a combination of mathematical expertise and discipline-specific content to reason about the relationship between the variables and to describe the phenomena represented. In this work, we studied students’ graphical reasoning as they responded to a chemical kinetics prompt. Qualitative data was collected and analyzed for a sample of 70 students through the use of an assessment involving short-answer test items administered in a first-year, non-majors chemistry course at a Swedish university. The student responses were translated from Swedish to English and subsequently coded to analyze the chemical and mathematical ideas students attributed to the graph. Mathematical reasoning and ideas related to covariation were analyzed using graphical forms and the shape thinking perspective of graphical reasoning. Student responses were further analyzed by focusing on the extent to which they integrated chemistry and mathematics. This was accomplished by conceptualizing modeling as discussing mathematical narratives, characterizing how students described the “story” communicated by the graph. Analysis provided insight into students’ understanding of mathematical models of chemical processes.

Demonstrating the impact of classroom transformation on the inequality in DFW rates (“D” or “F” grade or withdraw) for first-time freshmen, females, and underrepresented minorities through a decadal study of introductory geology courses

Implementation of active-learning practices into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been shown to increase student learning and performance, improve retention of material, and reduce achievement gaps among different student populations when compared to lecture-based approaches. To this end, we transformed two large-enrollment introductory geoscience courses (160 to 270 and 60 to 190 students) at a large public university in the midwestern United States into active-learning classrooms, and systematically analyzed student achievement data over a 10-year period. One course is required for majors in geology as well as majors in petroleum and architectural engineering, and also serves as a natural science distribution requirement for bachelor degrees. The other course serves as a natural-science distribution requirement for bachelor degrees. In both courses, there were measurable but not statistically significant (<95% confidence) improvements in overall student performance in the transformed course when compared to all student performances in the untransformed course, as judged by overall decreases in percentage of students in the course earning D or F grade, or withdrawal (%DFW). In the majors course, however, there were measurable decreases in %DFW in female students (–9.5% decrease) and also students from underrepresented minority groups (–5.6% decrease). During the 10-year study, female students remained ∼30% of the class, whereas underrepresented minority student enrollment increased from 10.8% to 17.1%, consistent with institutional undergraduate enrollment trends. In the nonmajors course, %DFW for first-time freshman decreased by 7.6%. Our data support previous studies that demonstrate a narrowing in student performance gaps with active-learning practices for at-risk and underrepresented populations.

Rebutting remarks on Feynman and Wheeler

I must take issue with some of the assertions in Terry Christensen’s review “Entertaining biography lacks rigorous history” (Physics Today, April 2018, page 56) of my book The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality. Contrary to the headline, the history in the book is well documented and based on extensive archival research, examinations of conference proceedings, numerous phone and email interviews with those who knew the two physicists, and so forth.Christensen asserts that I credit Feynman and Wheeler for other physicists’ accomplishments. Although I point out their considerable achievements, I devote much of the book to describing the work of other thinkers, including Freeman Dyson, Bryce DeWitt and Cécile DeWitt-Morette, Charles Misner, and Kip Thorne.“Halpern does not offer any supporting evidence,” writes Christensen, for my claim that Wheeler was glad that Feynman was his student. Yet I include direct quotes from Wheeler to that effect—for example, on page 7, “Through some wonderful freak of fate I ended up with him assigned to me.”“Halpern’s narrative,” says Christensen, “downplays some key aspects of the Feynman–Wheeler story. One is the sheer improbability of their relationship.” However, I wrote, “When admitted to Princeton, Feynman had originally been assigned as Wigner’s teaching assistant. At the last minute, Feynman was switched to assisting Wheeler instead.”Christensen says that I do not “take stock of the difficulties inherent” in producing a significant paper during wartime. But I do. I emphasize that issue, including on page 92 a key quote from Wheeler in a March 1942 letter he wrote to Feynman: “I would advise you very strongly to write up what you have in these remaining few weeks before you get into the situation in which I now find myself, where there is absolutely no time to work on our theory of action at a distance.”At another point Christensen says of me, “He … fails to point out Feynman’s aversion to working with graduate students; his celebrated Physics X course was open to undergraduates only.” Yet that depiction is based more on folklore than on fact. Actually, Feynman mentored numerous graduate students—Laurie Brown, Albert Hibbs, and others—but urged them to work independently, a style many other theorists have chosen. Julian Schwinger, for example, spent very little time with his many PhD students. There are many pedagogical reasons why Feynman would dissuade graduate students from taking Physics X, a freshman course for nonmajors; for one thing, their extensive knowledge would intimidate novices.Christensen states that I gloss over “Wheeler’s reluctance to support either Feynman or Hugh Everett III when his own mentor, Niels Bohr, expressed disapproval of their work.” Perhaps he missed where I had written, on page 147, “Wheeler took careful notes but, as far as history records, did not defend Feynman. Wheeler always treated Bohr, his dear mentor and role model, with the utmost deference and respect,” and on page 192 that Wheeler “met with Bohr and Petersen to try to convince them of the merits of Everett’s hypothesis.”In short, The Quantum Labyrinth is historically rigorous, extensively researched, and accurate.Editor’s note: The headline for the review was written by a staff member, not by the reviewer. Section:ChooseTop of page <<CITING ARTICLES© 2018 American Institute of Physics.

Typhoid Mary: A Story-Based Approach to the Teaching of Epidemiological Concepts

Understanding Koch's postulates, including how they are used to study the spread of disease within a population, is central to the teaching of microbiology. These concepts are often presented and discussed with little or no historical background, and as a result students fail to appreciate how the field has developed from past to present. We designed a lesson based on the story of Typhoid Mary to engage students in the learning and application of Koch's postulates in the field of epidemiology and provide insight into the interplay between scientists and the public as illustrated by this episode. The lesson uses an interrupted story technique in which students watch a documentary about Typhoid Mary, with pauses to discuss the events and engage in a role-play to reenact Mary's trial. The purpose is to improve student understanding of central concepts and to foster a deeper understanding of issues associated with the nature of science (NOS), such as how the process of science is influenced by culture and society (and vice versa). This lesson plan was created for a college-level microbiology course for non-majors, but can be easily modified for use in high school settings.

Buffers in Context: Baby Wipes As a Buffer System

An understanding of buffers is important in a variety of chemistry subdisciplines, with relevant applications to the life sciences and health profession-related fields. Here, we describe the development and implementation of a lab that involves creating a buffer solution using baby wipes and deionized water. The goal of this lab was to emphasize a conceptual understanding of buffers within a context that would be interesting and relevant for students in a nonmajors general chemistry course, a population composed primarily of health/human science and agricultural science majors. The prelaboratory assignment and postlaboratory discussion focus on modeling by making connections between laboratory observations and the particulate-level view of a buffer. Overall, the experiment seeks to prompt students to think beyond the macroscopic view that buffers resist changes in pH and guide students toward thinking mechanistically about how a buffer resists changes in pH, a process that depends largely on the buffer co...

The nature of collaborations on programming assignments in introductory physics courses: a case study

We are providing a mixed-method case study of student collaborations on a programming assignment in an introductory physics course for non-majors. Clustering techniques provide insights on code similarity, and network analysis uncovers social networking in the completion of the assignment. These results are complemented by an open-ended survey, which aims to explain the formation of these network structures, as well as elicit affective and epistemological feedback. It was found that students generally underestimate the size of their collaboration network, except for students who feel overwhelmed by the task—these students believe that everybody copies. The crucial question whether student learning is aided or hindered by these collaborations leads to recommendations for future implementations of programming activities and assignments in physics courses.

Clash of Harmonics in Stravinsky’sThe Rite of Spring

This paper describes a fascinating connection between the physics of music and the famous chord in the dissonant rhythmic section of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (1913). The analysis of Stravinsky’s chord will draw from the physics of harmonics, musical intervals, mathematics, and cognitive psychology. This highly interdisciplinary approach will especially appeal to students typically found in a physics course for non-majors. A video accompanies this paper so that readers and students can hear the construction of Stravinsky’s dissonant chord as well as an orchestra performing an excerpt of The Rite of Spring.

Evaluating the efficacy of a student-centered active learning environment for undergraduate programs (SCALE-UP) classroom for major and non-major biology students

During the 2012–2013 academic year the University of North Dakota (UND) piloted the use of a Student Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) classroom. Genetics, a 300 level class for Biology majors, and Concepts of Biology, an introductory course for non-majors were two of the classes piloted. Here, we examine the effects of this transition on overall academic performance, grade distribution, exam question performance classified by Bloom’s Taxonomy, student performance by quartile, and University Student Assessment of Teaching (USAT) surveys. Comparisons are made to historical data from a lecture-based setting to examine the effects of switching from an instructor-centered to a learner-centered format. Following the transition, both courses showed a higher proportion of students receiving an A/B/C grade and a concomitant decrease in D/F/W grades, and students continued to have positive perceptions about themselves, the course and the instructor. Paradoxically, both courses experienced a concerning decrease in performance by lower quartile students on comparable exam questions.

A network approach to vertical transfer and articulation for student success in biology: A fourth workshop hosted by the Northwest Biosciences Consortium RCN‐UBE

The Northwest Bioscience Consortium (NWBC) is an NSF funded RCN‐UBE group working to align introductory biology curricula in the Pacific Northwest with the concepts and competencies of Vision and Change. During the last four years, the NWBC has hosted three workshops providing faculty development opportunities for colleagues across the region focused on classroom inclusivity, designing curricula for majors' introductory biology classes, and designing curricula for non‐majors introductory biology courses. We now report on our fourth winter workshop, entitled “A network approach to vertical transfer and articulation for student success in biology.” Held February 8–9, 2018, this workshop brought together faculty and administrative participants to collaborate on the NWBC model that all students are transfer students, whether they are transitioning from one institution to another or from introductory courses to advanced courses within the same institution. Day one of the workshop addressed issues affecting faculty, advisors, and administrators working with students in introductory biology courses, including state level initiatives mandating course topic coverage. The second day facilitated faculty groups working on common curricular outcomes to help students be successful in introductory biology courses and in vertical transfer to advanced biology courses. Here we present an overview of our workshop accomplishments and future plans for the NWBC and its RCN‐UBE funding.Support or Funding InformationThis work is funded by NSF RCN‐UBE 1248121.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Evaluation of Students Scientific and Medical Literacy After Performing Laboratory Exercises in a Microbiology Laboratory for Non-Majors

Introduction to Microbes and Disease was designed to introduce students to the field of Microbiology, with a focus on medicine and disease. In this course, students develop a comprehensive understanding of the structure of biology of microbes and how the human immune system interacts with them to fight disease. All undergraduate students directed on a health science course path will benefit from this introductory course, but this course does not fulfill requirements for Biology majors. The newly developed course was developed in 2013 and was first offered in the fall semester of 2014.&#x0D; Pre-assessment and post-assessment exams were used in the Microbes and Disease - Biology 2510 (Introduction to Microbes and Disease) for the spring 2017 semester in which the total enrollment was 140 students. In this study, the assessments were used to examine the confidence and competence in biological concepts and lab techniques in the biology lab course for non-majors. The assessments were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. Lab experiment reports were used to examine the collaboration and student-learning occurring in lab. Grades for individual assessments and laboratory reports were collected, and analyzed using Microsoft Excel.&#x0D; Scatter plots illustrated the grade distribution of 98 pre and post assessments representing all students enrolled in BIOL 2510 for the 2017 spring semester. Differences between pre and post assessment grades and laboratory report grades are indicated by line charts These graphs also provided comparisons between the different lab sections.&#x0D; This science education project addressed active learning themes, the importance of weekly lab write ups, collaborative group work and confidence and competence of biological concepts and laboratory techniques.

Bacterial Survivor: An Interactive Game that Combats Misconceptions about Antibiotic Resistance.

The growing threat of antibiotic resistant infections remains a huge public health concern. While many people are aware of “superbugs”, the vast majority of the general public does not understand how antibiotic resistance arises in a population of bacteria, and how exactly over use or misuse of antibiotics contributes to this problem. We developed an active learning exercise called “Bacterial Survivor” in order to combat misconceptions about antibiotic resistance in a large undergraduate non-majors microbiology course. The game models the random nature of genetic change, the impact of environment on survival, and illustrates the basic principles of evolution. This hands-on approach has been effective in counteracting student misconceptions about this important topic.

Improving Student Learning Through an Interdisciplinary Case Study: Exploring Eutrophication in Lake Erie

This pedagogical project examined how embedding an interdisciplinary case study in an undergraduate ecology course impacted student learning outcomes. Specifically, we examined learning outcomes following participation in a group-based case study project, which asked students to adopt the role of an expert phycologist, microbiologist, agronomist, or limnologist in order to jointly investigate the problem of eutrophication in Lake Erie. We examined student learning outcomes on exam questions that tested students’ knowledge of eutrophication compared to their performance on exam questions that tested knowledge of course content taught using traditional lecture-based methods. We also examined how students’ recognition of the value of interdisciplinary approaches to solving science problems changed across the semester, as well as changes in students’ views of the ways in which the skills and knowledge of their major could contribute to solving eutrophication problems and the complex problem of climate change. Results indicated significant increases in student understanding of eutrophication through comparisons of pre- and posttest scores, and dramatic twofold increases in student learning on the eutrophication exam questions relative to the content taught using traditional instructional methods. Interestingly, at the end of the course, the non-science majors in the course were more likely to endorse interdisciplinary approaches for solving complex science problems than were the science majors in the course. Implications for educational practices for both major and nonmajor science courses are discussed.

Outside the box

There has been little scholarly work looking at the use of creative writing pedagogy within non-creative writing courses. However, ‘Outside the box: Incorporating high stakes creative writing assignments into non-major literature courses, a case study’ demonstrates promising findings when incorporating high stakes creative writing assignments into the curriculum for core English literature courses. This article gives an overview of the Progressive history of ‘creative’ writing in the academy and then outlines contemporary sources that reference the burgeoning field of Creative Writing Studies and how creative writing pedagogy may be used more broadly in classrooms in a variety of disciplines. Then the case study details the assignments and experience of teaching a high stakes creative assignment in a non-major literature course at an undergraduate liberal arts institution. Using 25 representative student responses from among 50 total students over multiple semesters, the article concludes by asserting the findings that the inclusion of a high stakes creative assignment – in this case an original short story that is workshopped by peers and then revised – results in students who note increased confidence and creativity, and who state making connections between the relevance of writing instruction and workshopping to their lives outside of the classroom. While further, more formalized study would be beneficial on this topic, this study provides a useful perspective not just to teachers within the English department but also has ramifications for interdisciplinary scholarship.

The Mysterious Murder of Christa Worthington

This lesson presents an interrupted case study based on the true story of the 2002 murder of Christa Worthington in Massachusetts. The case was developed for use in an undergraduate non-majors life science course, but would also be appropriate for a high school biology course or a forensic science course. During this lesson, students examine a crime scene diagram and discuss evidence collection. Students then conduct a hands-on activity extracting DNA from wheat germ to simulate how DNA would be isolated from crime scene samples. Lastly the students will analyze simulated DNA profiles produced using STRs, polymerase chain reaction, and gel electrophoresis to help match a crime scene sample to one of five suspects. The pros and cons surrounding the use of a DNA dragnet are also discussed.

Correction for A Call to Develop Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for Nonmajors Courses.

Correction for A Call to Develop Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for Nonmajors Courses.