According to Carl Sagan (1987), "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." Field studies and undergraduate research provide students with the best opportunities for "thinking" about science, while at the same time acquiring a body of knowledge. Natural History of Tropical Carbonate Ecosystems is a spring semester…

Students, faculty, and advisers must have ready access to current, accurate, and useable information about programs and curricula (Commission for Undergraduate Education 1995). College and university publications (e.g., bulletins, catalogs, schedules of classes, websites) generally provide brief descriptive overviews of each major and list courses…

Inquiry-based learning was used to enhance an undergraduate molecular biology course at Georgia Southern University, a primarily undergraduate institution in rural southeast Georgia. The goal was to use a long-term, in-class project to accelerate higher-order thinking, thereby enabling students to problem solve and apply their knowledge to novel…

While problem solving is a generally accepted goal of most science courses, it has previously been difficult to determine the extent to which students' problem-solving abilities are impacted by these courses. Interactive Multi-Media Exercises (IMMEX) is a web-based software package that can deliver multiple cases of case-based problems and keep…

Using the simple approach described in this article, college science instructors can help students become independent thinkers and writers in science. The unique character of this approach is that it shows students how to formulate the questions they need to answer in their writing, as well as how to answer them. Rather than using a cookbook…

The authors argue for the involvement of science undergraduates in K-12 outreach to enhance their communication skills, generate enthusiasm for science in today's youth, and extend relationships between institutions of higher learning and surrounding communities. Here we present three opportunities created at Oregon State University for engaging…

A large enrollment, instructor-centered chemistry course taught with science demonstrations was transformed into one that was more student-centered. Course survey and examination results revealed more positive perceptions of the benefits of demonstrations and greater content mastery for students in the modified course than for those in the…

Librarians instruct students where to find information, but rarely demonstrate its management, while faculty have difficulty incorporating real-time laboratory experience with library research. This paper focuses on the development of a hands-on biology laboratory experiment in an introductory course that integrates bibliographic software into the…

While formats and conventions of scientific and technical writing vary from field to field, the transcendent requirement is precision, so that the work can be understood and, if necessary, reproduced. Science teachers undoubtedly tell students about the importance of precision in collecting data and analyzing results; what is less commonly…

Recent studies have indicated that college undergraduates have retained little understanding of the information in the science courses they have taken when they graduate. Science is taught as detailed, factual content, and most students are evaluated by their ability to recall and summarize the information provided. As such, students concentrate…

Attrition from the sciences remains a national problem. The authors present results from a survey of over 2,100 undergraduates that, contrary to previous research, suggests that teaching assistants (TAs) influence student retention in the sciences in multiple ways. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and student comments suggest that TAs influence…

The authors incorporated chemistry into information technology (IT) programming assignments and IT problem solving into chemistry. At-risk students, performing well below control groups of their peers in both courses, achieved end-of-term chemistry exam results and IT final project results that were statistically indistinguishable (p varies) from…

Though difficult to implement in large courses, undergraduate science writing and peer reviews are valuable learning experiences for students and valid mechanisms for student evaluation. This study describes improved writing and reviewing skills of students in introductory biology lecture classes that incorporate a web-based instructional tool,…

The case presented in this article is an exploration of the process of natural selection using white clover ("Trifolium repens") as an example. In general, two forms of white clover can be found around the world in various habitats. One type has plain green leaves and the other type produces cyanide as a defense against herbivores and signals the…

A retrospective analysis examines the relationships between formative assessments and exam grades in two undergraduate geoscience courses. Pair and group-work grades correlate weakly with individual exam grades. Exam performance correlates to individual, weekly online assessments. Student attendance and use of assessment feedback are also…