Science instruction has largely avoided engaging students in political issues. Recent scholarship is drawing attention to the ways in which students’ political identities influence science learning and the need for science learning that engages with students’ political beliefs and values. In this Current Insights, I explore emerging work that provides a launching point for research and teaching at the intersection of political and science learning.

This essay describes the concept of access needs as a tool for improving accessibility in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education broadly, from the classroom, to research group meetings, to professional conferences. The normalization of stating access needs and creating access check-ins is a regular practice used in disability justice activist circles, but it has not yet been normalized in STEM education spaces. Just as normalizing the use of pronouns has been an important step for supporting gender justice, we argue that normalizing access talk is an important step for advancing disability justice in STEM fields. Moreover, we argue that all individuals have access needs, regardless of whether they are disabled or nondisabled. We provide concrete suggestions and techniques that STEM educators can use today.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused nearly all colleges and universities to transition in-person courses to an online format. In this study, we explored how the rapid transition to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic affected students with disabilities. We interviewed 66 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) undergraduates with disabilities at seven large-enrollment institutions during Spring 2020. We probed to what extent students were able to access their existing accommodations, to what extent the online environment required novel accommodations, and what factors prevented students from being properly accommodated in STEM courses. Using inductive coding, we identified that students were unable to access previously established accommodations, such as reduced-distraction testing and note-takers. We also found that the online learning environment presented novel challenges for students with disabilities that may have been lessened with the implementation of accommodations. Finally, we found that instructors making decisions about what accommodations were appropriate for students and disability resource centers neglecting to contact students after the transition to online instruction prevented students from receiving the accommodations that they required in STEM courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study illuminates current gaps in the support of students with disabilities and pinpoints ways to make online STEM learning environments more inclusive for students with disabilities.

Metabolic systems form the very foundation of life and as such are broadly taught in the molecular life sciences. Here, we describe the biochemistry educator community-based development and use of an assessment instrument designed to evaluate students’ ideas about metabolic pathway dynamics and regulation in undergraduate biochemistry courses. Analysis of student responses showed that most students were able to interpret visual representations in an unfamiliar metabolic pathway and that many could make basic predictions about how the system would be expected to respond to changes. However, fewer students generated nuanced responses that accounted for both microscopic changes at the protein level and macroscopic changes in pathway product outputs. These findings identify some of the challenges of meaningfully assessing students’ understanding of metabolic pathways and could inform how instructors think about teaching and assessing metabolism in undergraduate biochemistry and beyond. The results also suggest future avenues for biochemistry education research.

Although recent studies have used the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) to make claims about faculty reform, important questions remain: How should COPUS measures be situated within existing reform frameworks? Is there a universal sampling intensity that allows for valid inferences about the frequency of student-centered instruction within a semester or across semesters of a course? These questions were addressed using longitudinal COPUS observations (128 classes, three faculty, 4 years). COPUS behaviors were used to categorize classes into didactic, interactive lecture, or student-centered instructional styles. Sampling intensities (one to 11 classes) were simulated (1000 times) within a course and across semesters. The sampling intensities required for generating valid inferences about 1) the presence of student-centered instruction and 2) the proportion of instructional styles in a course and through time were calculated. Results indicated that the sampling intensity needed to characterize courses and instructors varied and was much higher than previously recommended for instructors with: 1) rare instances of student-centered classes, 2) variability in instructional style, and 3) longitudinal changes in instructional patterns. These conditions are common in early reform contexts. This study highlights the risks of broad, decontextualized sampling protocol recommendations and illustrates how reform frameworks, sampling intensities, and COPUS measures interact to impact inferences about faculty change.

A primary goal of science and engineering (S&E) education is to produce good problem solvers, but how to best teach and measure the quality of problem solving remains unclear. The process is complex, multifaceted, and not fully characterized. Here, we present a detailed characterization of the S&E problem-solving process as a set of specific interlinked decisions. This framework of decisions is empirically grounded and describes the entire process. To develop this, we interviewed 52 successful scientists and engineers (“experts”) spanning different disciplines, including biology and medicine. They described how they solved a typical but important problem in their work, and we analyzed the interviews in terms of decisions made. Surprisingly, we found that across all experts and fields, the solution process was framed around making a set of just 29 specific decisions. We also found that the process of making those discipline-general decisions (selecting between alternative actions) relied heavily on domain-specific predictive models that embodied the relevant disciplinary knowledge. This set of decisions provides a guide for the detailed measurement and teaching of S&E problem solving. This decision framework also provides a more specific, complete, and empirically based description of the “practices” of science.

Community colleges are a pathway in higher education for many students, including students who are pursuing baccalaureate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Because of the increased demand for professionals in the STEM workforce, a successful transition from community colleges to the university setting is essential for increasing the number of transfer students who complete STEM degree programs. Fostering a stabilized academic transition for transfer students requires an understanding of how different academic and sociocultural backgrounds can influence students’ identity trajectories during their undergraduate education. In this study, Holland et al.’s framework of figured worlds was used to examine how transfer students pursuing STEM degrees negotiated their identities in their transition to the university. Because identity is a complex construct that can influence student experiences in STEM, this study examined areas of compatible and incompatible expectations of what constitutes success across the university, community college, and high school learning environments, and among students, families, and faculty. Inconsistent expectations across these figured worlds provide insight into the challenges associated with the community college to university transition that can affect transfer students’ experiences and identity production at the university.

Evolutionary trees are central to learning about evolutionary processes, yet students at all educational levels struggle to read and interpret them. The synthetic tree-reading model (STREAM), based on published and not yet empirically tested models, was tested to determine whether the assumed hierarchy of the model could be substantiated and how far students’ skills could be distinguished empirically. We developed a tree-reading test instrument based on STREAM and assessed it with 592 undergraduate and graduate biology students. Following item response theory, we conducted a dimensional analysis and evaluated item difficulty. Investigating item difficulty and the resulting Wright map showed that skill levels displayed a broad scatter of overlapping item difficulty. Furthermore, the skill level assumed easiest was actually the third most difficult. No conclusive evidence of the hierarchical nature of the model was obtained. Dimensional analysis showed that a five-dimensional model outperformed all other reasonable models, corroborating that the skills could be arranged in empirically differentiable groups. Consequently, we revised the STREAM by discarding the hierarchical organization, using a five-dimensional organization instead. Comparison of the revised STREAM with another recently published approach showed that, although these two instruments have a different focus, they are supplemental approaches that show comparable results.

The main aim of this study is to teach students to take a systems perspective in understanding complex biological problems. Two lessons were designed and tested in two secondary classes (15- to 16-year-old students), using a lesson study approach. Three students from each class were observed more closely when visualizing and reasoning about two complex biological problems. The results, based on student worksheets, peer discussions, classroom observations, and interviews, indicated that students were able to visualize complex problems with the aid of a systems model based on eight system characteristics: boundary, components, interactions, input and output, feedback, hierarchy, dynamics, and emergence. Moreover, explicit scaffolds encouraged students to reason across different levels of biological organization. Based on the findings, four design guidelines were formulated: 1) Start with a central complex problem/question. 2) Let students visualize a complex biological problem using a systems model. 3) Assist students in reasoning step by step within and between the levels of biological organization. 4) Make students explicitly aware of the use of the system characteristics in various contexts. As systems thinking assists students in creating an overview of a system and reasoning about a complex problem systematically, it is also valuable outside the biology classroom.

In response to calls for curricular materials that integrate molecular genetics and evolution and adhere to the K–12 Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC) at the University of Utah has developed and tested the “Evolution: DNA and the Unity of Life” curricular unit for high school biology. The free, 8-week unit illuminates the underlying role of molecular genetics in evolution while providing scaffolded opportunities to engage in making arguments from evidence and analyzing and interpreting data.  We used a randomized controlled trial design to compare student learning when using the new unit with a condition in which teachers used their typical (NGSS-friendly) units with no molecular genetics. Results from nationwide testing with 38 teachers (19 per condition) and their 2269 students revealed that students who used the GSLC curriculum had significantly greater pre/post gain scores in their understanding of evolution than students in the comparison condition; the effect size was moderate. Further, teacher implementation data suggest that students in the treatment condition had more opportunities to engage in argumentation from evidence and have in-class discussions than students in the comparison classes. We consider study implications for the secondary and postsecondary science education community.

The focus of biology education has shifted from memorization to conceptual understanding of core biological concepts such as matter and energy relationships. To examine undergraduate learning about matter and energy, we incorporated constructed-response (CR) questions into an interactive computer-based tutorial. The objective of this tutorial is to teach students about matter and energy and help dispel common misconceptions through the context of cellular respiration. We used a constructed-response classifier (CRC) tool to categorize ideas in responses to three CR questions and measure changes in student thinking about cellular respiration. Our data set includes 841 undergraduates from 19 geographically diverse institutions including two-year colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, and research-intensive colleges and universities. We found students from all institution types included more scientific ideas in CRs post-tutorial. Students used an average of 2.1 ideas in CRs and frequently used both scientific and developing ideas. We found this mixed thinking persisted after the tutorial regardless of institution type. Students’ multiple-choice (MC) selections were correlated with their CRs, but CRs revealed more mixed thinking than would be inferred from MC responses. Our study shows a CRC tool can measure student learning after a computer-based tutorial and provides more complete information than MC responses.

In March 2020, colleges in the United States rapidly switched in-person courses online because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To chronicle how biology faculty responded to this emergency remote teaching, we surveyed faculty across the United States in August of 2020. Our survey included open-ended questions to identify a memorable moment, difficulties encountered, and unexpected benefits during the first COVID-19 semester. Faculty responses were coded by two researchers, and 21 themes emerged. Seventeen coding themes corresponded to one of four facets of adult personal resilience theory, and we used nonparametric statistical tests to compare resilience between inexperienced and experienced online instructors, as well as trained and untrained instructors. Experienced online instructors were more likely to describe an act of kindness in their memory but were also more likely to include negative student behavior as a difficulty. Untrained faculty were the only instructors who included student engagement as a difficulty and were more likely to describe a negative, discouraging memory. We used conditional forest analysis to identify polarizing themes between faculty with and without previous experience teaching online and between faculty who did and did not receive formal training. Our results underline the importance of training faculty, including experienced instructors, to improve emergency preparedness.

This paper presents community college (CC) instructors’ responses to the Community College Anatomy and Physiology Educational Research (CAPER) project, a professional development program focused on active learning and educational research. We engage with conceptual change theory to better understand why and how CC instructors shifted their perspectives toward active learning. Qualitative data indicate that the participating CC instructors experienced pedagogical discontentment, leading to increased positive beliefs about active learning and educational research. In addition, we find that CC instructors have continued their pursuit of pedagogical change and educational research through communities of practice, which provide positive learning environments.

Evolution is controversial among students and religiosity, religious affiliation, understanding of evolution, and demographics are predictors of evolution acceptance. However, quantitative research has not explored the unique impact of student perceived conflict between their religion and evolution as a major factor influencing evolution acceptance. We developed an instrument with validity evidence called “Perceived Conflict between Evolution and Religion” (PCoRE). Using this measure, we find that, among students in 26 biology courses in 11 states, adding student perceived conflict between their religion and evolution to linear mixed models more than doubled the capacity of the models to predict evolution acceptance compared with models that only included religiosity, religious affiliation, understanding of evolution, and demographics. Student perceived conflict between evolution and their religion was the strongest predictor of evolution acceptance among all variables and mediated the impact of religiosity on evolution acceptance. These results build upon prior literature that suggests that reducing perceived conflict between students’ religious beliefs and evolution can help raise evolution acceptance levels. Further, these results indicate that including measures of perceived conflict between religion and evolution in evolution acceptance studies in the future is important.

To investigate patterns of gender-based performance gaps, we conducted a meta-analysis of published studies and unpublished data collected across 169 undergraduate biology and chemistry courses. While we did not detect an overall gender gap in performance, heterogeneity analyses suggested further analysis was warranted, so we investigated whether attributes of the learning environment impacted performance disparities on the basis of gender. Several factors moderated performance differences, including class size, assessment type, and pedagogy. Specifically, we found evidence that larger classes, reliance on exams, and undisrupted, traditional lecture were associated with lower grades for women. We discuss our results in the context of natural science courses and conclude by making recommendations for instructional practices and future research to promote gender equity.

Graduate students are more than six times as likely to experience depression compared with the general population. However, few studies have examined how graduate school specifically affects depression. In this qualitative interview study of 50 life sciences PhD students from 28 institutions, we examined how research and teaching affect depression in PhD students and how depression in turn affects students’ experiences teaching and researching. Using inductive coding, we identified factors that either positively or negatively affected student depression. Graduate students more commonly mentioned factors related to research that negatively affected their depression and factors related to teaching that positively affected their depression. We identified four overarching aspects of graduate school that influenced student depression: the amount of structure in teaching and research, positive and negative reinforcement, success and failure, and social support and isolation. Graduate students reported that depression had an exclusively negative effect on their research, primarily hindering their motivation and self-confidence, but that it helped them to be more compassionate teachers. This work pinpoints specific aspects of graduate school that PhD programs can target to improve mental health among life sciences graduate students.

The historic underrepresentation of women, certain racial and ethnic minorities, and members of other marginalized groups in careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) reflects a disproportionate exit of individuals from these academic and career paths due to both environmental and personal factors. To transition successfully from classroom-based learning to the research environment, students must acquire various forms of capital nested within a largely hidden curriculum that most scientists learn informally. We have developed a semester-long course for undergraduate researchers that makes explicit concepts and strategies that contribute to STEM persistence. The course teaches skills for: 1) scientific communication; 2) maximizing the effectiveness of research mentoring relationships; and 3) navigating scientific culture and its interactions with multiple social identities. We offered the course for three consecutive semesters at the University of Massachusetts Boston to 33 students from different backgrounds, academic majors, and educational experiences. Quantitative and qualitative assessments demonstrated student learning in all three areas of emphasis. By deliberately combining instruction and practice in skills, such as those needed to present and critique scientific research, with skills needed to optimize personal interactions and key research relationships, we have created a novel learning experience to promote persistence in STEM.

Many science training programs are successful at supporting students in completing their degree programs. However, it is not clear which aspects of these programs meaningfully contribute toward achieving this goal. The current longitudinal study examined a well-established science training program, the Biology Scholars Program (BSP) at the University of California, Berkeley, to see whether social connections formed in BSP and/or enthusiasm about the BSP activities are key components in contributing to students’ greater integration into their professional communities at 12 months and intentions to persist at 18 months into the program. Results indicated social connections and program enthusiasm at 6 months were unassociated with science efficacy, identity, and community values. However, social connections and program enthusiasm at 12 months were generally associated with higher levels of all these variables, with science identity and community values uniquely related to greater integration. Together, results show that students’ connection to faculty, staff, and peers and enthusiasm for the program activities are both key components of successful, multiyear science training programs. Our results also suggest that, while connections and enthusiasm might develop quickly, their downstream consequences might only be observed after students build stronger social relations and enthusiasm for program activities in ways that foster greater integration.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) engage students in authentic research experiences in a course format and can sometimes result in the publication of that research. However, little is known about student-author perceptions of CURE publications. In this study, we examined how students perceive they benefit from authoring a CURE publication and what they believe is required for authorship of a manuscript in a peer-reviewed journal. All 16 students who were enrolled in a molecular genetics CURE during their first year of college participated in semistructured interviews during their fourth year. At the time of the interviews, students had been authors of a CURE publication for a year and a half. Students reported that they benefited personally and professionally from the publication. Students had varying perceptions of what is required for authorship, but every student thought that writing the manuscript was needed, and only two mentioned needing to approve the final draft. Additionally, we identified incomplete conceptions that students had about CURE publications. This work establishes student-perceived benefits from CURE publications and highlights the need for authorship requirements to be explicitly addressed in CUREs.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), which often engage students as early as freshman year, have become increasingly common in biology curricula. While many studies have highlighted the benefits of CUREs, little attention has been paid to responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education in such contexts. Given this observation, we adopted a mixed methods approach to explore the extent to which RECR education is being implemented and assessed in biological sciences CUREs nationwide. Survey and semistructured interview data show a general awareness of the importance of incorporating RECR education into CUREs, with all respondents addressing at least one RECR topic in their courses. However, integration of RECR education within the CURE environment primarily focuses on the application of RECR during research practice, often takes the form of corrective measures, and appears to be rarely assessed. Participants reported lack of time and materials as the main barriers to purposeful inclusion of RECR education within their courses. These results underscore a need for the CURE community to develop resources and effective models to integrate RECR education into biology CUREs.

Undergraduate research is one of the most valuable activities an undergraduate can engage in because of its benefits, and studies have shown that longer experiences are more beneficial. However, prior research has illuminated that undergraduates encounter challenges that may cause them to exit research prematurely. These studies have been almost exclusively conducted at research-intensive (R1) institutions, and it is unclear whether such challenges are generalizable to other institution types. To address this, we extended a study previously conducted at public R1 institutions. In the current study, we analyze data from 1262 students across 25 public R1s, 12 private R1s, 30 master’s-granting institutions, and 20 primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) to assess 1) to what extent institution type predicts students’ decisions to persist in undergraduate research and 2) what factors affect students’ decisions to either stay in or consider leaving their undergraduate research experiences (UREs) at different institution types. We found students at public R1s are more likely to leave their UREs compared with students at master’s-granting institutions and PUIs. However, there are few differences in why students enrolled at different institution types consider leaving or choose to stay in their UREs. This work highlights the importance of studying undergraduate research across institutions.

Although a growing number of studies indicate that simple strategies, intuitions, or cognitive shortcuts called heuristics can persistently interfere with scientific reasoning in physics and chemistry, the persistence of heuristics related to learning biology is less known. In this study, we investigate the persistence of the “moving things are alive” heuristic into adulthood with 28 undergraduate students who were asked to select between two images, one of which one represented a living thing, while their electroencephalographic signals were recorded. Results show that N2 and LPP event-related potential components, often associated with tasks requiring inhibitory control, are higher in counterintuitive trials (i.e., in trials including moving things not alive or nonmoving things alive) compared with intuitive ones. To our knowledge, these findings represent the first neurocognitive evidence that the “moving things are alive” heuristic persists into adulthood and that overcoming this heuristic might require inhibitory control. Potential implications for life science education are discussed.