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"Do I Need to Know This for the Exam?" Using Popular Media, Inquiry-based Laboratories, and a Community of Scientific Practice to Motivate Students to Learn Developmental Biology

Marga Madhuri^*, and Christine Broussard

*Education Department, College of Education and Organizational Leadership and Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, University of La Verne, La Verne, CA 91750

Monitoring Editor: Jeffrey Hardin

Address correspondence to: Christine Broussard (broussac{at}ulv.edu)

One of the greatest challenges instructors face is getting students to connect with the subject in a manner that encourages them to learn. In this essay, we describe the redesign of our Developmental Biology course to foster a deeper connection between students and the field of developmental biology. In our approach, we created a community of scientific practice focused on the investigation of environmental impacts on embryonic development and informed by popular and scientific media, the students' own questions, and the instructor. Our goals were to engage students in meaningful ways with the material, to develop students' science process skills, and to enhance students' understanding of broad principles of developmental biology. Though significant challenges arose during implementation, assessments indicate using this approach to teach undergraduate developmental biology was successful.