High structure courses ask students to be active participants in the learning process with preclass content acquisition and assessment, in-class active-learning exercises, and after-class review assignments. Although faculty may suggest certain strategies for success in high structure courses, it is unknown what students find valuable and what…

Within the context of higher education, the disciplines of science and filmmaking appear disparate, but the importance of storytelling as an integral part of science and research deserves closer examination. Humans have always used stories to share information and convey complex ideas. To those outside science, science communications can be laden…

Undergraduate engineering education in the United States is in need of reform that addresses the recruitment and retention of a diverse population of students. Change Chem is a curriculum reform model that has been created to address this issue for freshman students. This article reports on a mixed method efficacy study of Change Chem, which uses…

This article describes a community mentoring model for UREs that avoids some of the common pitfalls of the traditional paradigm while harnessing the power of learning communities to provide young scholars a stimulating collaborative STEM research experience.

The authors describe a collaborative group-testing strategy implemented and studied in undergraduate science classes. This project investigated how the assessment strategy relates to student performance and perceptions about collaboration and focused on two sections of an undergraduate biotechnology course taught in separate semesters.

This article discusses the challenges of keeping international students involved in class activities.

This article provides readers with details concerning the implementation of four active learning techniques used to help undergraduate students critically discuss primary literature. On the basis of undergraduate and graduate student perceptions and experiences, the authors suggest techniques to enhance the quality of dual-listed courses and…

Research has suggested that teaching that incorporates students' funds of knowledge can offer an authentic connection to students' lives outside the classroom (Moje et al., 2004) and should aim to enhance active participation of the learners using methods that reduce the unfamiliarity with science felt by some students. In the following…

Undergraduate biology majors are often overwhelmed by and underinformed about the diversity and complexity of biological research that is conducted on research-intensive campuses. We present a program that introduces undergraduates to the diversity and scope of biological research and also provides unique teaching opportunities for graduate…

To recruit and retain more students in all science disciplines at our small (5,000 student) public university, we implemented an interdisciplinary strategy focusing on nanotechnology and enhanced undergraduate research. Inherently interdisciplinary, the novelty of nanotechnology and its growing career potential appeal to students. To engage…

Retention of majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a national problem that continues to be the focus of bridging and first-year experience programs. This article presents an innovative course, Scientific Thought and Methods, that targets students with low math placement scores. These students are not eligible for…

This paper presents details about a summer instructional program created by physics graduate students who sought a chance to help students from the local community and to gain greater experience teaching science and math. The students initiated, designed, and conducted the program, which gave the instructors their first chance to independently…

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs have been shown to be effective mechanisms to recruit undergraduate students into the sciences and also to retain them, especially as related to underrepresented students. Academic-year REU programs have numerous benefits, including participation in longer-term research projects that allow…

Despite numerous calls for reform, the early chemistry experience for most college students has remained unchanged for decades. In 2004 the National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a call for proposals to create new models of chemical education that would infuse authentic research into the early stages of a student's college experience. Under this…

To help undergraduates make connections among disciplines so they are able to approach, evaluate, and contribute to the solutions of important global problems, our campus has been focused on interdisciplinary research and education opportunities across the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This paper describes…