We developed and implemented a series of workshops and seminars in an undergraduate journal club targeted at improving student development in applying the scientific process. Students were surveyed before and after participating in the club about their confidence in accessing, analyzing, and reporting scientific research. Post-club, the students…

The authors engage students in inquiry-based learning by presenting laboratory exercises as mini-journal articles that mirror the format of a scientific journal article, including a title, authors, abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and citations. Students develop and carry out their follow-up investigation, then…

The ability to read, understand, and interpret primary scientific literature is an essential skill for undergraduate students in science. This study aimed to provide a detailed understanding of how second- and third-year undergraduate students in a biochemistry and molecular biology major at the University of Melbourne in Australia feel about…

News media reports of scientific discoveries are often oversimplified, lacking nuance and context. As a result, citizens need both science literacy and information literacy skills to both decode the science content in a media report and track down the original scientific literature that prompted the media report. This article evaluates the…

This article describes a general education course offering, Physics and the Arts. During the development of this course, physics and arts faculty collaborated closely. We cover the usual physics phenomena for such a course--light, color, and sound--in addition to gravity, equilibrium, and spacetime. Goals of the course are to increase students'…

Describes the Mock Experiment which introduces both science and non-science majors to the scientific method, literature, and journal articles. Explains guidelines, experiment application, and manuscript evaluation. (YDS)

Science faculty are being asked to create active learning experiences that engage students in core concepts and science practices. This article describes an approach to developing active learning lessons from authentic science research projects using the 5E lesson format. Included is a description of the 5Es and a template for creating a 5E…

Researcher innovation and leadership skills are fundamental for creating implementable solutions to pressing societal and market-based global problems. The Research to Innovation to Society (R2I2S) program is a transformative approach to graduate education, training students at the intersection of research, innovation, and leadership. In this…

In this study, a cohort of final-year undergraduate science students were surveyed to examine whether they fully read journal articles, including whether they seek to understand how the results support the conclusions. Their writing was also examined to see if they use deep or surface approaches to scientific writing.

This column shares reflections or thoughtful opinions on issues of broad interest to the community. This article encourages teachers to use emerging scientific evidence to change classroom culture--accept the evidence from neuroscience and find ways to make classrooms less stressful and more successful.

Many studies illustrate the positive influences of undergraduate research experiences on student learning, attitudes, and retention in the sciences. At our institution, over 90% of the biology majors surveyed reported a desire to participate in undergraduate research, but only 3% per year have the opportunity to work in a traditional…

Students in a beginning level undergraduate classical mechanics course engaged in collaborative inquiry through the "Windwalker Project". The aim of this project was for students to create a free-standing movable structure as a way of testing and applying their understanding of the conceptual and theoretical elements of the course. This…

This article describes a culminating assignment for students enrolled in a human ecology course in a Masters in Science Education program. The goal of this assignment was for students to use published scientific data to link daily life, human impact, and sustainability to ecological function. This activity required students to consider the…

Broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers requires that underrepresented students, including women and minorities, persist in their studies and complete undergraduate and graduate degrees. Studies have shown that engaging students in undergraduate research and improving students' science…

A meaningful research experience with a strong mentor early in a student's educational career is formative. Many institutions recognize this and would like to have such an experience available to their best students, but it can be difficult to involve first-year students in a laboratory-based research because of their lack of background knowledge.…