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Writing is usually integrated in the curriculum of science studies. However, students often lack the skills to write for various audiences or, to produce a well written manuscript. We developed a concise project of 15 European Credits to improve the writing skills in an early phase of the bachelor study. Students worked on texts from various journals and looked at the writing styles. They rewrote texts in a popular and more scientific way and practiced with clear, vivid language, avoiding clutter and hedge words, considering a proper use of grammar and interpunction. Medical writing was also introduced during the project. Grading was based on rewriting for a non-expert and expert audience. A rewritten text was presented to the public in the form of a student-initiated survey. This project shows an inverted approach creating student ownership and enthusiasm for writing. In addition, we created and tested successfully a concise two-day workshop based on this project. Based on the results we herewith present the work as an idea to explore., (© 2024 The Author(s). Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.)

Antimicrobial resistance poses one of the most significant medical challenges for humanity. The current burden is overwhelming and is projected to escalate rapidly, with predictions for 2050 indicating 10 million deaths per year due to antibiotic-resistant microorganisms. Enhancing public awareness and education on this topic is crucial in efforts to mitigate this issue. In our study, we translated an existing questionnaire on antimicrobial resistance into Portuguese, validated it, and applied it between December 2020 and March 2021 to a group of Portuguese students (n = 112) and science teachers (n = 95). A majority of the students surveyed (65.1%) incorrectly believed that antibiotics could treat colds/flus. As anticipated, the teachers outperformed the students in the questionnaire. However, difficulties with this topic were evident in both groups. Most notably, the misconception that the human body becomes resistant to antibiotics was prevalent among most participants (77.0% of students and 68.4% of teachers). Consistent with previous studies in other populations and geographic locations, our research reveals a worrying lack of knowledge about antimicrobial resistance among Portuguese students and science teachers. Consequently, it is deemed urgent to implement effective measures to raise awareness and educate on this topic., (© 2024 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.)

Purpose: Professional identity development (PID) has become an important focus of medical education. To date, contributions of basic science education to physician PID have not been broadly explored. This review explores the literature surrounding the contribution of basic science education to the PID of medical learners and interprets findings critically in terms of the landscapes of practice (LoP) framework., Method: In this critical scoping review, the authors searched 12 different databases and professional organization websites from January 1988 to October 2022 for references relating to how, if at all, the basic science component of medical education contributes to the PID of medical learners. The LoP learning theory was chosen as a framework for critically interpreting the identified articles., Results: Of the 6,674 identified references, 257 met the inclusion criteria. After data extraction, content analysis of recorded key findings was used to ensure all findings were incorporated into the synthesis. Findings aligned with and were critically interpreted in relation to the 3 LoP modes of identification: engagement (engaging in the work of a physician), imagination (imagining oneself becoming a "good doctor"), and alignment (aligning with the practices and expectations of a medical community or specialty). Within each mode of identification, it was possible to see how basic science may support, or catalyze, PID and how basic science may serve as a barrier, or an inhibitor, to PID or contribute to the development of negative aspects of identity development., Conclusions: The LoP learning theory suggests that the effect of basic science on physicians' PID is most effective if educators view themselves as guides through interfaces between their scientific disciplines and medicine. Learners need opportunities to be engaged, to imagine how their current learning activities and developing skills will be useful as future physicians, and to feel alignment with medical specialties., (Copyright © 2024 the Association of American Medical Colleges.)

This paper demonstrates how Longitudinal Qualitative Research (LQR) is an innovative method to understand the lived experiences of members of minoritized groups when temporality is a structuring element of their experiences. Most qualitative research in psychology is cross-sectional, which limits our understanding of individuals whose experiences are context-dependent and linked to the temporal norms of specific social environments. LQR is unique for allowing researchers to compare change and stability over time and reveal how social challenges and barriers impact perspective shifts and long-term decision-making. To demonstrate the usefulness of LQR as an inclusive methodology, we discuss an ongoing study of career decision-making among a diverse cohort of biomedical scientists. We have used annual interviews to follow biomedical science trainees from the beginning of their PhD into the initial stages of their careers. We present case studies of minoritized scientists to illustrate the methods for long-term engagement used to elicit sensitive and critical information during their training. We show how LQR is a viable methodology for a variety of research questions and can be accomplished using large or small sample sizes and limited resources. Our primary goal is to show how LQR is useful to understand the experiences of minoritized individuals in contexts that have historically excluded them.

Undergraduate research has been identified as a high-impact educational practice. However, despite the body of evidence on the outcomes of undergraduate research, few studies have focused on the influences students face regarding participation. Developed using Science Capital and Social Cognitive Career Theory, a survey comprised of potential influences to undergraduate science research participation was disseminated to science majors at four R1 institutions in the Southeastern United States. Participation rates across several demographic factors and effect of participation influences were analysed. Results reveal a significantly greater proportion of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Plus (LGBTQ+) and disability communities indicating participating in research than their peers. Additionally, fourteen participation influences were identified as having a significant difference in their level of influence to the ability to participate in research between researchers and non-researchers. These include professor influence, interest in research, interest in science, coursework in the major, and major all being rated as opportunities with a significant difference of effect between researchers and those who have not yet participated in research. The results of this study will be beneficial for science departments and their respective institutions to improve the equity of access to their undergraduate research experiences., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Boyd, Lazar. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Self-regulatory and metacognitive instruction regarding student conceptions can help students become metacognitively (or more specifically, metaconceptually) aware of their conceptions and self-regulate their intuitive conceptions in scientific contexts when they are not appropriate. Two approaches have been found effective in enhancing conceptual knowledge: (a) self-assessing one's conceptions and (b) acquiring conditional metaconceptual knowledge about why and in which contexts specific conceptions are appropriate or not. However, it is unclear how these approaches influence other cognitive and affective variables, such as self-efficacy and cognitive load. Nevertheless, it is essential to investigate whether making students aware of their intuitive conceptions affects their self-efficacy and to what extent reflecting on one's conceptions requires additional (meta-)cognitive resources. Thus, we conducted an experimental intervention study using a 2×2 factorial design with N  = 602 upper secondary biology students. Becoming metaconceptually aware of one's (intuitive) conceptions did not lower students' self-efficacy but enabled more accurate beliefs about their abilities. However, the self-assessment increased mental load, which partly suppressed the beneficial effect of the self-assessment on conceptual knowledge. In contrast, the instruction on conditional metaconceptual knowledge did not result in higher mental load and, thus, aligned more with students' cognitive capacities. Furthermore, students with more pronounced general metaconceptual thinking reported lower mental load, implying that regular instruction focusing on metaconceptual thinking may reduce load. Thus, it is suggested to continuously promote students' metaconceptual thinking and to embed metaconceptual activities (e.g., self-assessments) repeatedly across longer instructional units., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Hartelt and Martens.)

Citizen science is increasingly used to collect ecological data. Specifically, participation of school students in authentic research has been suggested as having a multitude of benefits from serving as data collection to providing science education. Nevertheless, the overall quality and quantity of data is concerning for ecologists who are using data for research. In the Helsinki Urban Rat Project, lower- and upper secondary school students (13-19-year-old) collect data on urban rat occurrence using track plates that record rat footprints. I measured the success of school-aged citizen scientists in collecting and submitting data, and I determined the accuracy of the data they submitted by comparing their results to the results from professional researchers. Furthermore, I used additional questionnaire to relate success and accuracy to student attributes, including age, attitudes about biology as a school subject, interest in the environment and disgust sensitivity toward rats. I learned that, in contrast to results from previous studies, age was not a significant variable but rather available support from a teacher and voluntary participation with rewards were associated with higher data quality. Additionally, attitudes played a part in observer quality: higher liking of biology as a school subject was associated with lower accuracy, whereas a higher interest in the environment was associated with higher accuracy. The young citizen scientists provided broadly accurate data, although false-positive observations were comparatively common. The results suggest that the quality and quantity of citizen-generated data are not straightforwardly dependent on the selected target groups. Citizen science activities should be planned by careful consideration of the context as, for example, the organization of the participation strongly shapes the participatory activities., Competing Interests: The author declares no conflicts of interest., (© 2024 The Author(s). Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Integrating remote Internet of Things (IoT) laboratories into project-based learning (PBL) in higher education institutions (HEIs) while exploiting the approach of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is a challenging yet pivotal endeavor. Our proposed approach enables students to interact with an IoT-equipped lab locally and remotely, thereby bridging theoretical knowledge with practical application, creating a more immersive, adaptable, and effective learning experience. This study underscores the significance of combining hardware, software, and coding skills in PBL, emphasizing how IoTRemoteLab (the remote lab we developed) supports a customized educational experience that promotes innovation and safety. Moreover, we explore the potential of IoTRemoteLab as a TEL, facilitating and supporting the understanding and definition of the requirements of remote learning. Furthermore, we demonstrate how we incorporate generative artificial intelligence into IoTRemoteLab's settings, enabling personalized recommendations for students leveraging the lab locally or remotely. Our approach serves as a model for educators and researchers aiming to equip students with essential skills for the digital age while addressing broader issues related to access, engagement, and sustainability in HEIs. The practical findings following an in-class experiment reinforce the value of IoTRemoteLab and its features in preparing students for future technological demands and fostering a more inclusive, safe, and effective educational environment.

Science communication is an important skill. It is easier for nonacademic audiences to remember stories that resonate with their imagination rather than facts and figures. To help early-career researchers develop their skills, the EU-LIFE Science Communications Working Group (SCWG) developed a training course based on the experience from previous workshops held at a research institute in Denmark. The stories crafted in the workshops proved impactful, with some integrated into broader campaigns and featured in science magazines. The initiative holds potential for transformative change, helping researchers promote their findings and increasing awareness of emerging research topics among the public. Recently, the initiative has been customized for a summer school aimed at medical doctors pursuing a PhD, marking a step forward in the SCWG's mission to equip researchers with essential communication skills., (© 2024 Federation of European Biochemical Societies.)

Despite making strides in gender equality, women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) continue to face a persistent underrepresentation in leadership roles. In an effort to reverse this trend, the National Cancer Institute created the Sallie Rosen Kaplan (SRK) Postdoctoral Fellowship, a year-long coaching-based leadership training program. The SRK program aims to empower women to explore careers across a broad range of fields, including academia, industry, and government, and to excel in leadership positions in those fields. Analyzing a decade of data from 111 participants, we describe the positive impact of the SRK program on participant's self-reported capabilities. Increased self-confidence, improved time management and work/life balance, enhanced goal-setting and attainment skills, and strengthened communication and relationship-building abilities are highlighted as statistically significant outcomes. Moreover, the program's emphasis on coaching, mentorship, peer cohort support, and building lasting professional relationships also contributed to high ratings for satisfaction and value of the program. Successful programs like SRK can serve as a model for institutions striving to close gender gaps in leadership., (© 2024. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Despite attempts to diversify healthcare workplaces and education, racial and ethnic minorities (REM) remain underrepresented in these fields. This study investigated changes in high school students' health science interest following a single exposure, hands-on anatomy laboratory visit. One hundred and eighty-eight high school students participated in a single day, one-hour visit to a human anatomy laboratory on a university campus. Participants engaged in hands-on activities centered around both human and animal specimens led by university mentors. Using a modified Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics-Career Interest Survey (STEM-CIS) questionnaire, health science STEM interest was calculated before and after the visits and compared using a paired t-test (α = 0.05). A 2 × 2 ANOVA (α = 0.05) was run on pre-to-post-visit interest score differences with factors of Race (White/REM) and Gender (Male/Female) to determine if race/ethnicity and/or gender moderated the gains observed. Overall, health science STEM interest increased significantly from pre- to post-visit (p < 0.001), and these gains were greater in REM students (p < 0.05) but did not differ as a function of gender. These findings indicate that a single visit to an anatomy laboratory with hands-on activities can be used as a tool to engage high school aged students in STEM and may be particularly beneficial for racial/ethnic minority students, potentially influencing health science STEM interest., (© 2024 American Association for Anatomy.)

Adult verbal input occurs frequently during parent-child interactions. However, few studies have considered how parent language varies across informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) activities. In this study, we examined how open and closed parent questions (a) differed across three STEM activities and (b) related to math, science, and vocabulary knowledge in their preschool-aged children. A total of 173 parents and their preschool children (M age  = 4 years) from lower socioeconomic households were video-recorded participating in three STEM-related activities: (a) a pretend grocery store activity, (b) a bridge-building challenge, and (c) a book read about a science topic. Parent questions were categorized as open or closed according to the presence of key question terms. Results indicate that the three activities elicited different frequencies of parent open and closed questions, with the grocery store activity containing the most open and closed questions. Children's science knowledge was predicted by the frequency and proportion of parent open questions during the book read. These results enhance our understanding of the role of parent questions in young children's language environments in different informal learning contexts., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

With an educational issue that has caught the attention of many countries in the world (study load), a population of 8th graders from a typical Chinese metropolitan city (40,536 from 118 schools), and an advanced statistical strategy (multilevel piecewise regression), we examined whether there was a turning point in terms of the effects of study load on science achievement. We did identify a turning point for each and every measure of study load. For weekday learning on science achievement, we identified a turning point of 22.50 hr for the effects of in-school learning, 7.50 hr for the effects of homework, and 12 hr for the effects of after-school learning. For weekend learning on science achievement, we identified a turning point of 1.50 hr for the effects of in-school learning, 5 hr for the effects of homework, and 1 hr for the effects of after-school learning. In each case, the difference in effects before and after the turning point was statistically significant, indicating that the effects of study load on science achievement were nonlinear. All of these turning points offered important implications for science education., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Scientific integrity is the most important aspect that higher education institutions have to take care of, as it conveys credibility and acceptance of science to the public. Although science has a very powerful built-in self-regulation process for detecting and correcting scientific misconduct, there is a need for clear guidelines that have to be adapted on regular intervals to the rapidly changing world caused by scientific developments themselves. Outlined here are recent advances in how Switzerland increases awareness and transparency of scientific misconduct and how it handles cases of misconduct to improve the quality of science., (Copyright 2024 Christian J. Leumann. License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.)

Neocolonialism has led to an imbalance in the production of knowledge and a clunky imposition of frameworks and models of practice that do not meet the needs of local communities. In contrast they can serve the central function of colonialism by draining valuable resources. Inequity of science diplomacy has diluted local voices and given precedence to colonialist knowledge and models of practice. It is argued that clinical, training and research excellence applies to those activities that meet and fulfil the clinical, training and research needs of the community in which they are embedded. Through personal reflection on contrasting Middle Eastern settings (Palestine and the UAE), the call is for the source of knowledge production and the driver for innovation to be daily clinical experiences listening to families in the community. This will result in policy and practices that are meaningful and impactful as illustrated by way of three examples: (1) a narrative approach to exploring suicide (2) an "all-hands-on-deck" clinical pathway for Autism assessments which transformed the lives of children and families with little additional resource, but with a fundamental shift in approach from "top down" to "bottom up" one as part of an organization-wide "Patient First" approach and (3) a rights-based, collective approach to developing mental health strategy. These examples are linked in terms of taking a shared "listening approach" but are applied to different levels moving from personal individual narratives to community clinical service to national strategy., Competing Interests: The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Dabbagh.)

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to better understand the climate for LGBTQ+ science major undergraduates in their departments through a transformative queer theory lens with intersectionality. Prior research demonstrates inclusion issues continue to persist for LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM. One such issue is discrimination in the form of microaggressions, which have been demonstrated to cause physical, mental, and academic harm. In the literature, there is limited information on how microaggressions impact students in particular STEM subfields. LGBTQ+ science undergraduates from public colleges and universities in one US Midwestern state were recruited via e-mail to participate in semi-structured interviews to learn about their experiences with and perspectives on microaggressions. Participants completed a first interview to learn more about their experiences, an online training related specifically to LGBTQ+ microaggressions, and a second interview. Emergent coding was utilized to capture the full perspectives of participants to follow themes related to the research questions and that the participants brought to the conversation. The study demonstrated LGBTQ+ science students are aware of potential issues, but many struggle to articulate the issues in ways they find meaningful. This paper explores the experiences LGBTQ+ science students described in their departments and other science spaces.

University learning and teaching involves contrasting and interacting emotional experiences. Even in disciplines considered as objective as Science and Engineering, emotion plays a significant role in catalysing and sustaining learning. Although emotions are individually felt, they are socially constructed between people. This is especially relevant in group-based learning evident in much contemporary higher education. This paper applies the concept of emotion socialization to illustrate how groups of students and teachers cope and succeed in cognitively and emotionally challenging learning settings. The study is based on qualitative data collected across six STEMM university departments, from 280 students via in-situ questionnaires and from 20 teachers via group and follow-up interviews. Two key findings offer insight into processes of reciprocal influence on cognition and emotion. The first relates to ways in which students' and teachers' differing knowledge-related goals and relationships with knowledge influenced cognition and emotion, uncovering previously unacknowledged connections. The second relates to how students' comparisons of progress towards academic goals with peers contributed considerably to their emotional experiences in cognitively and emotionally helpful and unhelpful ways. Practical implications are presented, including possibilities for capitalising on existing emotion socialization processes and enhancing how they influence cognition and emotional well-being., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Ethics is central to scientific and engineering research and practice, but a key challenge for promoting students' ethical formation involves enhancing faculty members' ability and confidence in embedding positive ethical learning experiences into their curriculums. To this end, this paper explores changes in faculty members' approaches to and perceptions of ethics education following their participation in a multi-year interdisciplinary faculty learning community (FLC). We conducted and thematically analyzed semi-structured interviews with 11 participants following the second year of the FLC. Qualitative themes suggested that, following two years of FLC participation, faculty members (1) were better able to articulate their conceptualizations of ethics; (2) became cognizant of how personal experiences, views, and beliefs informed how they introduced ethics into their curriculum; and (3) developed and lived instructional principles that guided their ethics teaching. Results thus suggested that faculty members benefitted from exploring, discussing, and teaching ethics, which (in turn) enabled them to see new opportunities and become confident in integrating ethics into their courses in meaningful ways that aligned with their scholarly identities. Taken together, these data suggest faculty became agents of change for designing, implementing, and refining ethics-related instructional efforts in STEM. This work can guide others interested in designing faculty learning communities to promote instructional skill development, faculty members' awareness of their ethical values, and their ability and agency to design and integrate ethics learning activities alongside departmental peers in an intentional and continuous manner., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In this exploratory mixed-methods analysis of students' perceptions of inclusion in introductory STEM courses for STEM majors, we asked students to rate inclusion in their class and to provide an open-text explanation of their rating. Analyzing 1930 qualitative responses resulted in a codebook containing academic, identity, and nonspecific categories. The majority of responses (>80%) cited academic factors such as interactions between students and instructors or course elements and policies. Most academic responses aligned with evidence-based teaching practices fostering inclusion, describing a range of strategies and policies instructors can implement to increase students' perceptions of inclusion. A small number of student responses indicated that their perception of the required knowledge background for the course impacted course inclusivity. Few differences in frequency distributions were found between subgroups examined (gender, race and ethnicity, self-reported inclusion score, and discipline). Additionally, tracking a subset of students (135) across three courses revealed that most (80%) cited different factors influencing their perception of inclusion in each course. This suggests students' perceptions of inclusive practices are complex, and most students recognize multiple factors that influence their inclusion. Overall, our findings suggest instructors can significantly influence students' perceptions of inclusion by using multiple inclusive teaching strategies and course policies.

At many research-intensive universities in North America, there is a disproportionate loss of minoritized undergraduate students from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors. Efforts to confront this diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) challenge, such as faculty adoption of evidenced-based instructional approaches that promote student success, have been slow. Instructional and pedagogical change efforts at the academic department level have been demonstrated to be effective at enacting reform. One potential strategy is to embed change agent individuals within STEM departments that can drive change efforts. This study seeks to assess whether tenure-track, teaching-focused faculty housed in STEM departments are perceived as influential on the instructional and pedagogical domains of their colleagues. To answer this, individuals across five STEM departments at large, research-intensive campuses identified faculty who were influential upon six domains of their instruction and pedagogy. Social network analysis of individuals in these departments revealed heterogeneity across the instructional domains. Some, like the teaching strategies network, are highly connected and involve the majority of the department; while others, like the DEI influence network, comprise a significantly smaller population of faculty. Importantly, we demonstrate that tenure-track, teaching-focused faculty are influential across all domains of instruction, but are disproportionately so in the sparsely populated DEI influence networks., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Much of the research on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students' motivation measures the relationship between student motivation and academic outcomes, focusing on the student's mindset. Our mixed-methods research takes a different approach and considers the relationship between student motivation and instructional practices. Teaching practices and student motivation were analyzed simultaneously in undergraduate Biology classes using a self-determination theory-based survey to measure students' motivation during courses that were observed using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS), and observation notes were collected to document instructor and student behaviors. Quantitative data were used to differentiate students' motivational levels, and qualitative data were collected to describe how instructors use specific teaching practices. The results provide a lens into how students' intrinsic motivation varies alongside the instructional practices and interactions in these classes. We found a correlation between higher levels of student motivation in interactive lectures and student-centered teaching profiles. This study highlights how the same practice can be implemented by multiple instructors with varying student motivation scores, pointing out the importance of fidelity to evidence-based instructional practice methods. The results of this study are discussed in the context of published empirical studies examining evidence-based instructional practices that are conceptually supportive of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Active learning practices observed in this study correlated to positive learning outcomes are discussed and may serve as a guide for instructors interested in implementing specific active learning practices. Recommendations for instructors and departments that are interested in flexible methods to monitor progress toward active learning practices in biology and other STEM disciplines by combining the COPUS and self-determination survey results are presented. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study uses a novel combination of instruments to describe students' intrinsic motivation in response to teaching practices. Findings demonstrate that active learning methods may support higher student motivation. Recommendations drawn from the study include using a variety of active learning methods, using evidence-based instructional methods with fidelity, and monitoring the students' affective response to those methods. Alignment of active learning practices to the components of self-determination may result in higher quality student motivation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses.

Background: Mentorship is critical to success in postgraduate science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) settings. As such, the purpose of this study is to comprehensively explore the state of mentorship interventions in postgraduate STEMM settings to identify novel practices and future research directions. The selection criteria for reviewed articles included: 1) published between 2002 and 2022, 2) peer-reviewed, 3) in English, 4) postgraduate mentees, 5) a program where mentorship is a significant, explicit focus, and 6) a description of mentee outcomes related to the mentorship intervention. Overall, 2583 articles were screened, and 109 articles were reviewed., Results: Most postgraduate STEMM mentorship intervention studies lack strong evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, with only 5.5% of articles designed as randomized controlled trials. Most mentorship interventions (45.6%) were created for faculty, and few (4%) were for postdoctoral researchers. Also, only 18.8% of interventions focused on underrepresented groups in STEMM. Most interventions (53.7%) prescribed a dyadic structure, and there was more mentorship training for mentors than mentees., Conclusion: Overall, these findings identify gaps in mentorship interventions and provide step-by-step guidance for future interventions, including a consideration for underrepresented groups and postdoctoral scholars, robust mentorship training, and more randomized controlled trials., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Information literacy skills are an important part of research skills for undergraduate science students. This case study presents a novel approach to developing these types of research skills. By deconstructing the research process into separate steps, explicitly defining, and practicing the skills involved, students can progressively develop these skills and apply them. In this course, systematic reviews are used as exemplars for the research process. We align the Research Skills Development Framework with the steps of a systematic review and present specific skills and accompanying activities for each step. This workshop-based course emphasizes skill development and can help overcome assessments that rely solely on a final paper, with no record or evidence of the student research process, that could be created by a generative artificial intelligence tool. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study presents a novel approach to teaching undergraduate science students rigorous research skills with scaffolded systematic review practice.

Ungrading is an emancipatory pedagogy that focuses on evaluative assessment of learning. Self-regulated learning (SRL) has consistently been referred to as the learning theory that undergirds ungrading, but SRL-with its deficit frame in the literature and in practice-fails to uphold ungrading's emancipatory aims. An asset-framed learning theory-one that combines the cultural orientation of funds of knowledge with the power dynamics of community cultural wealth-is proposed as an alternative to SRL. The proposed learning theory aligns ungrading to its emancipatory aims and may provide an opportunity to better understand the learning that occurs in ungraded classrooms. Scholarly and practical impacts for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), and specifically biology, educational research and practice include investigating the plausibility of mixing learning theories, aligning learning theory to emancipatory aims and researching how faculty activate funds of knowledge and community cultural wealth, both individually and collectively, in ungraded STEM classrooms., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests: The author declares no conflicts of interest.

Science communication is a core skill for undergraduate science students to acquire in preparation for their future careers, but studies show that this skill is underdeveloped in science graduates. The aim of this study was to discover the resources and approaches undergraduate students use to effectively develop their science communication skills and how the use of these methods relates to academic performance on a communication task. Undergraduate students undertaking a second-year biomedical science course ( n = 490) were asked which approaches and resources they used to aid the development of their science communication skills, and the frequency of their responses was correlated against their laboratory report mark, using multiple regression and relative weights analysis. Students' ( n = 453) use of Communication Learning in Practice for Scientists (CLIPS; an open-access interactive website on science communication), resources provided by the university, interactions with university teaching staff, and engagement with the scientific literature significantly predicted the laboratory report mark. Students enrolled in a blended format or in remote online learning only, and in different programs, performed comparably in the written report and used similar approaches and resources, other than remote students reporting more use of other online resources and students in blended learning engaging more with university resources. Together, these findings provide insight into which strategies are most helpful for undergraduate students to engage with to improve their scientific communication skills. The findings highlight that the provision of well-designed interactive communication resources, guided assessment resources, and opportunities to engage with teaching staff can assist in the development of science communication skills. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study identifies the approaches and resources that undergraduate science students use to develop their science communication skills. It reveals which of these approaches and resources predict improved academic performance in a written science communication assessment task. The findings point to the importance of explicit guidance, and engagement with teaching staff, in advancing the development of science communication skills.

A compelling body of research suggests that students from racially marginalized and minoritized (RMM) backgrounds are systematically deterred from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields when teachers and scientists create ideologically colorblind STEM learning environments where cultural differences are deemed irrelevant and disregard how race/ethnicity shapes students' experiences. We examine whether and how STEM faculty can serve as important sources of information that signal racial/ethnic diversity inclusion (or exclusion) that influence RMM students' motivation to persist in STEM. Specifically, we focus on RMM students' perceptions of their faculty research mentors' cultural awareness-the extent to which students believe that their faculty research mentor acknowledges and appreciates racial/ethnic differences in STEM research. Results from a longitudinal survey of RMM students ( N = 150) participating in 74 faculty-led STEM research labs demonstrated that RMM students who perceived their faculty research mentor to be more culturally aware experienced more positive social climates in the lab and were more identified as scientists . Increased science identity, in turn, predicted their motivation to pursue STEM careers 3 months later. These findings demonstrate the importance of acknowledging, welcoming, and celebrating racial/ethnic diversity within STEM learning environments to broaden inclusive and equitable participation in STEM.

Research experiences are an integral part of training future scientists and fostering diversity in science. Providing culturally responsive research mentorship, defined as mentorship that incorporates cultural knowledge to improve learning experiences for a particular group, is a critical step in this endeavor. While culturally responsive mentoring is most commonly associated with mentoring students with underrepresented races and ethnicities in the sciences, it can also be helpful for mentees with a diversity of abilities, sexualities, economic backgrounds, and religions. In this essay, we discuss how mentors can provide more culturally responsive mentoring of Muslim research mentees in the sciences. Muslims are a stigmatized minority group in the United States who participate in a religious culture that often differs from the secular culture of science. Notably, there are few resources for how to engage in culturally responsive mentoring of Muslim research mentees. To address this gap, we drew from the extant literature on the challenges that Muslims encounter in the United States, which likely extends to the context of scientific research, and identified potential culturally responsive accommodations in research., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

When teachers explain science concepts-for example, the solar wind, or plasma waves-some methods seem to be quick-acting and others long-lasting. Still others pose as many problems as they seem to solve. How, for example, does a parent explain how there can be solar wind without any air in space? How does a teacher explain how there can be plasma waves without any water? Locating metaphor between thinking and speech rather than within one or the other, we work out a single scheme to analyze two conversations with adult Koreans. These suggest that a text studied some ten years ago in middle school science class, replete with striking visual images, has left little more than everyday concepts. Instead of trying to use the striking visual images to refill gaps in the memory, however, the questions asked by a skilled science teacher suggest ways in which thinking could be freed from the middle school dogma of only three matter phases (solid, liquid, gas). To understand a metaphor like "solar wind", we need to replace fixed matters of fact with some more elusive facts of matter., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Steeped in the AsianCrit theoretical framework, the current study examined how anti-Asian hate impacted the mental health of Asian and diasporic Asian doctoral women in STEM. Six emergent themes were identified: 1) Witnessing and Experiencing Anti-Asian Hate; 2) Lack of Institutional and STEM Departmental Support; 3) Impact of Anti-Asian Hate on Asian Women's Mental Health; 4) Protecting One's Mental Health; 5) Resist to Persist; and 6) Calls for Action to Combat Lack of Departmental Support. These findings highlight how Asianization through stereotypes such as the forever-foreigner status, viewing Asians as a monolith, the yellow peril stereotype, and model minority myth simultaneously rendered Asian graduate women hypervisible in the U.S. society and invisible in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Implications for teaching and mentoring are included. These highlight the need for faculty to challenge institutional norms that perpetuate the erasure of the toll that anti-Asian hate levied on Asian doctoral women in STEM., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

In higher education and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), interlocking oppressions can lead to inequitable environments for those who hold marginalized identities. Instructors can play key roles in either exacerbating or mitigating these inequities through their pedagogical approaches and choice of curricular material. However, it remains unclear how instructors who self-identify as committed to justice achieve higher levels of consciousness around areas of injustice and develop the self-efficacy to dismantle barriers for students over time. Here, we draw upon critical race theory and critical white studies to investigate what events or life experiences influence STEM instructors to understand the importance of social justice and examine how STEM instructors use this understanding to drive pedagogical shifts. We find variations in the ways that instructors' experiences and identities shape their understanding of justice. In addition, we uncover factors that influence the switch moment; curriculum and pedagogical shifts; their relationship to justice work broadly; and barriers and supports for justice work. These stories hold powerful lessons for STEM education, but also for education more broadly, both in terms of pedagogical practice and the questions that shape research agendas on equity in education., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Field biology courses can be formative learning experiences that develop students' science identities. Yet, they can also pose challenges to students that may disaffirm their science identities-especially to those who identify with underrepresented, excluded, and minoritized groups. It is largely unknown how students' social (e.g., gender) and personal (e.g., where they grew up) identities intersect with their science identities in field biology courses. Therefore, we used the Expanded Model of Science Identity to determine: 1) the factors that influence students' science, social, and personal identities; and 2) whether and how these identities intersect in field biology courses. Using a card sorting task during semistructured interviews, we found variation in science identities with which students identified, mediated by social factors (e.g. , social comparison). These social factors influenced how students' social and personal identities intersected with their science identities. Intersections between students' social and science identities were also facilitated by structural factors (e.g., privilege, lack of representation) that perpetuate inequities in field biology. Based on our findings, we offer suggestions to support welcoming, equitable, and inclusive field biology education that nurtures the science identities of all students., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Undergraduate laboratory courses can provide opportunities for students to participate in science practices. This requires rethinking both curricula and instruction. Science practice-based courses require students to be positioned as epistemic agents, implying a shift in instructor role. Teaching assistants (TAs) are the primary instructors for laboratory courses. The current study aims to understand how TAs support students in science practices. Specifically, we sought to characterize variation in teaching and to understand how TAs learned and adapted their teaching approaches over time. Our study takes place in the context of a large, introductory laboratory course, Authentic Inquiry through Modeling in Biology (AIB-Bio). Our approach investigated the intersection between instructor reasoning and actions using stimulated-recall interviews, where instructors reflected on audio recordings from their classrooms. Application of our conceptual framework revealed that TAs' instructional roles and purposes were fluid and influenced how they supported students' science practices. We also showed how interactions with students cued fluctuations in TAs instructional approaches. Results include a case study that suggests potential mechanisms for TA learning. We propose a model to explain the variation in the enactment of a science practice-based curricula. We end with practical implications to consider when building professional development for science practice-based instruction., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Building on decades of scholarship critiquing scientist representation in classrooms and textbooks, the present study characterizes the lifetime experiences of undergraduate students regarding their perceptions of scientists and science identity. Informed by the theoretical framework of Cultural Learning Pathways (CLP), we conducted 31 semistructured interviews with undergraduates who completed six Scientist Spotlights (scientistspotlights.org), which are inclusive curricular supplements that feature counterstereotypical scientists. Despite decades of progress in curricular representation, our results revealed almost all students (94%, n = 29) recounted exposure to predominantly (if not exclusively) stereotypical scientists across social institutions (e.g., media, K12, universities, healthcare environments) throughout their lifetime, which limited their Scopes of Possibility to pursue science. All students (100%, n = 31) reported that Scientist Spotlights enhanced Scopes of Possibility for themselves and others from marginalized backgrounds to pursue science. Last, almost all students (97%, n = 30) shared characteristics they hoped to see when imagining Scopes of Possibility, emphasizing the need for a concerted effort to increase representation of counterstereotypical scientists across science curriculum and social institutions more broadly., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Mixture modeling is a latent variable (i.e., a variable that cannot be measured directly) approach to quantitatively represent unobserved subpopulations within an overall population. It includes a range of cross-sectional (such as latent class [LCA] or latent profile analysis) and longitudinal (such as latent transition analysis) analyses and is often referred to as a "person-centered" approach to quantitative data. This research methods paper describes one type of mixture modeling, LCA, and provides examples of how this method can be applied to discipline-based education research in biology and other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. This paper briefly introduces LCA, explores the affordances LCA provides for equity-focused STEM education research, highlights some of its limitations, and provides suggestions for researchers interested in exploring LCA as a method of analysis. We encourage discipline-based education researchers to consider how statistical analyses may conflict with their equity-minded research agendas while also introducing LCA as a method of leveraging the affordances of quantitative data to pursue research goals aligned with equity, inclusion, access, and justice agendas., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Students who hold minoritized identities are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Educational institutions often apply a deficit lens to understanding disproportionate outcomes between minoritized students and those from the cultural majority. Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) is an asset-based framework that focuses on the cultural strengths that diverse students develop in response to oppressive social structures, and which students use to be successful. Using a QuantCrit approach, we developed and collected evidence of validity for a measure of CCW. QuantCrit is a methodological framework that challenges researchers to critically evaluate their own biases to produce more equitable analyses. Each author reflected upon our experiences and the ways in which CCW manifested within our lived experiences. Through iterative reflection and discussion, we elected to design items that capture intersecting forms of CCW capital. We conducted cognitive interviews with minoritized students identifying with both seen and unseen forms of diversity to collect evidence of validity based on response process and to avoid construct underrepresentation. The resulting measure consists of 100 items on a 6-point response scale of agreement. Our methodological approach integrates teachings from critical theories to challenge deficit narratives and to capture the experiences of those frequently unheard by the majority culture., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Discourse around Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the United States has long focused on improving the persistence and academic achievement of students. On the surface, such goals are reasonable and well-intentioned. However, the near-exclusive focus on those two outcomes as shorthand for "success" serves hegemonic norms which preclude the equitable success of all students. Although STEM education research has begun to address the inequitable systems within which students and faculty operate, the language of success has largely not changed. While previous work has aimed to recognize and characterize how normative definitions of success harm students and faculty, they fall short of providing readers with strategies for how to sustainably change these systems of injustice. Utilizing the four frames model for systemic change, this Essay 1) deconstructs the operational definitions of student success among key stakeholders involved in STEM higher education: students, faculty, departments, and institutions; 2) determines how extant policies and practices drive misalignments among these definitions and thwart equity; and 3) highlights three key opportunities for change agents to transform how success is measured and defined within STEM higher education., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Science communication has historically been inequitable, with certain voices and perspectives holding the power and dominant ways of knowing being promoted over others. Recently, there has been a push toward inclusive science communication, which values diverse perspectives and ways of knowing in collaborative conversations to solve complex socioscientific issues. However, there is a lack of both trainings in inclusive science communication for undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students as well as established ways to evaluate the efficacy of these trainings. To address this need, we designed a new multifactorial survey based on the Theory of Planned Behavior to assess students' attitudes/norms, self-efficacy, behavioral intents, and behaviors in inclusive science communication, which we termed the Planned Behaviors in Inclusive Science Communication (PB-ISC) Scale. We utilized expert review, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, cognitive interviews, and quantitative measures to gather evidence of validity supporting the proposed use of the final 4-factor, 26-item survey. This survey can be used as a tool by science communication educators and researchers to assess students' planned behavior in inclusive science communication in response to trainings or experiences in science communication or related topics like socioscientific issues, civic engagement, and citizen science., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Scientist Spotlights are homework assignments that highlight the personal and scientific stories of counterstereotypical scientists. Previous research has focused on whether these assignments promote possible selves in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). We sought to understand the value students themselves placed on the assignment using expectancy-value theory complemented by further analysis of the assignment's self-reported impacts on students. Therefore, at the end of an introductory biology course with several Scientist Spotlights, we asked students to reflect on how the course would influence them for years to come. We found that although the assignments had low instrumental value, 49% of students mentioned Scientist Spotlights or a highlighted scientist. Thematic analysis on the Scientist Spotlight-related parts of the reflections found novel emergent themes including diversity in science, humanizing scientists , and self-efficacy . Most students mentioned multiple themes, with few differences between students from minoritized and nonminoritized groups. We interpreted our results through the lens of the "mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors" framework, as Scientist Spotlights appeared to function as "windows" into the diverse scientific world, "mirrors" for seeing human traits in scientists, and "sliding glass doors" inviting students further into science. Our study expands our understanding of the broad, multiple, and intersecting impacts of Scientist Spotlights., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Office hours are an integral component of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) courses at nearly all colleges and universities. Despite their ubiquity as a support mechanism, there has only been limited work examining how instructors approach office hours and what shapes these approaches. Here, we conduct a phenomenographic study to investigate how instructors of STEM courses experience office hours and how these experiences may impact their approaches to promoting and managing office hours. We identified variations in how instructors promoted office hours, the modality of office hours (i.e., when and where office hours were held), and how instructors facilitated learning during office hours. These variations spanned from student-centric (strategies instructors use with students' interest in mind, e.g., wanting to increase student learning, accessibility, comfort, etc.) to instructor-centric (strategies the instructors use with their own self-interest in mind, e.g., saving time and/or bandwidth, personal needs, comfort, etc.). Additionally, we identify several challenges and barriers, including a lack of formal training or opportunities to discuss office hour approaches with other faculty, and conclude with general recommendations for instructors and administrators in STEM departments for engaging and supporting students during office hours., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Hawai'i students, and in particular Native Hawaiian students, face high rates of attrition and low representation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) academic majors and careers, but place-based Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) such as the Research Experiences in Marine Science (REMS) summer program may help to better engage these students with scientific content understanding and skills development. This article assesses latent factors of student gains after participating in the REMS program as they relate to student science identity. Results from an exploratory factor analysis examining the internal structure of an assessment measure delivered during the program suggest strong evidence of four latent factors in student self-reported learning gains: Content Understanding, Scientific Skills, Interest, and Integration. These factors will guide the development and delivery of the REMS survey as it is applied to additional cohorts of students participating in REMS and other, similar programs being developed and implemented in Hawai'i to support Native Hawaiian students. Although there were no significant relationships between these factors and responses to a science identity survey item, additional insights from an alumna of the program highlight how place-based elements in CUREs provide authentic and rigorous research training experiences for students from populations historically marginalized in STEM., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

The underrepresentation and underperformance of low-income, first-generation, gender minoritized, Black, Latine, and Indigenous students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) occurs for a variety of reasons, including, that students in these groups experience opportunity gaps in STEM classes. A critical approach to disrupting persistent inequities is implementing policies and practices that no longer systematically disadvantage students from minoritized groups. To do this, instructors must use data-informed reflection to interrogate their course outcomes. However, these data can be hard to access, process, and visualize in ways that make patterns of inequities clear. To address this need, we developed an R-Shiny application that allows authenticated users to visualize inequities in student performance. An explorable example can be found here: https://theobaldlab.shinyapps.io/visualizinginequities/. In this essay, we use publicly retrieved data as an illustrative example to detail 1) how individual instructors, groups of instructors, and institutions might use this tool for guided self-reflection and 2) how to adapt the code to accommodate data retrieved from local sources. All of the code is freely available here: https://github.com/TheobaldLab/VisualizingInequities. We hope faculty, administrators, and higher-education policymakers will make visible the opportunity gaps in college courses, with the explicit goal of creating transformative, equitable education through self-reflection, group discussion, and structured support., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

"Bee the CURE" is a Power-of-Place course-based undergraduate research experience (PoP-CUREs; Jaeger et al. , 2024) that combines place-based education (Demarest, 2014; Gruenewald, 2014) with CUREs, emphasizing student scientific civic engagement where research is relevant to the community where the research is taking place. PoP-CUREs have potential to build students' knowledge, skills, value, and self-efficacy when engaging with the public using science skills (i.e., scientific civic engagement). A mixed-methods sequential explanatory design utilizing surveys and semistructured interviews was used for this study (Warfa, 2016). Students made gains in science self-efficacy over the course of the semester and showed a trend of increasing science identity in both Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. Students' scientific civic knowledge, or a student's sense of how to use or apply knowledge and skills to help a community, increased significantly, while other predictors of scientific civic engagement started high and remained high throughout the course. Bee the CURE demonstrates psychosocial outcomes that are similar to previously studied CUREs and expands our understanding of how PoP-CUREs might influence outcomes with evidence that an important predictor of future scientific civic engagement increases. Implications for PoP-CURE instruction at Hispanic serving community colleges are discussed.

Science knowledge refers to the depth and breadth of facts acquired within the life, social, and earth sciences, and it has implications for both public and personal health. Drawing from cognitive aging theory, we examine whether levels of science knowledge are associated with age, neuropsychological functioning, and personal health literacy. Fifty-two younger and fifty older healthy adults completed our telephone-based study that included a commonly used test of science knowledge, as well as measures of neuropsychological functioning, health literacy, and relevant descriptives (e.g., mood). Adjusting for other demographics and neuropsychological functioning, older adults had significantly lower science knowledge test scores than younger adults. In the full sample, lower science knowledge showed medium-to-large associations with episodic memory, executive functions, and health literacy, independent of years of education. These results suggest that older adults' science knowledge falls slightly below that of their younger counterparts and is independently associated with higher order neuropsychological functions and aspects of personal health, which may have implications for accessing, understanding, and using relevant public health information across the lifespan., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Introduction: In today's world, which is progressively oriented towards science and technology and facing a growing demand for skilled professionals, it becomes essential to identify the factors that encourage individuals to pursue careers in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Previous research has shown that affective-motivational factors, math performance and gender influence STEM occupational and academic choices in adulthood. However, few studies examined how these factors may influence STEM choices as early as middle school. This study aims to assess how math anxiety, math self-efficacy, math performance and gender influence STEM school choices during middle school., Methods: We longitudinally assessed a group of 109 students (Year 6) over three school years, with measurements taken on three different occasions., Results: Findings indicated that individuals who made an STEM school choice experienced lower math anxiety, higher self-efficacy and math performance and were predominantly male. Furthermore, the results indicated that both math anxiety in Year 7 and self-efficacy in Year 6 made the most substantial unique contributions to the STEM school choice., Conclusion: Math anxiety and math self-efficacy seem to be both crucial in influencing middle school students' STEM choices, offering new perspectives for early interventions aimed at promoting more informed school choices., (© 2024 The Author(s). British Journal of Educational Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society.)

Children's early awareness about cancer, through exposure to cancer biology and prevention strategies and research principles, is a promising focus of education and learning. It may also benefit the pipeline of people entering into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. We describe an educational pilot program for elementary school students, using developmentally appropriate activities focused on cancer at a museum dedicated to children's maker-centered learning and STEM. The program was implemented through a public school in Washington, DC serving students underrepresented in STEM. Program conceptualization, museum and school engagement, and maker learning pedagogy are described, as well as curricular outcomes. A total of N = 111 students (44% female, 75% Black/African American, 5% Latine) participated in a day-long field trip. Museum educators, assisted by cancer center researchers, led a multipart workshop on cancer and the environment and hands-on rotation of activities in microbiology, immunology, and ultraviolet radiation safety; students then completed self-report evaluations. Results indicate that nearly all (> 95%) students practiced activities typical of a STEM professional at the program, and > 70% correctly answered factual questions about topics studied. Importantly, 87-94% demonstrated clear STEM interest, a sense of belonging in the field, and practice implementing skills for success in STEM (e.g., perseverance, imagination, teamwork). This pilot demonstrated acceptability and feasibility in delivering a cancer-focused curriculum to underserved elementary students using maker learning while favorably impacting key objectives. Future scale-up of this program is warranted, with the potential to increase students' motivation to engage in STEM and cancer research., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics Approval This program was reviewed by the sponsoring university’s institutional review board and was determined to not meet the requirements of human subjects research. Consent to Participate Not applicable. Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to American Association for Cancer Education.)

Climate change education is both important and challenging. Prior research suggests that many secondary school science teachers in the United States were conveying "mixed messages" to students that legitimized scientifically unwarranted explanations of recent global warming. In this paper, we focus on US climate education at the middle school level and assess whether teacher attention to recent global warming, and whether the messages conveyed to students, changed between 2014 and 2019. Pooling data from two nationally representative probability surveys of middle school science teachers, we show significant advances on several key criteria, but the prevalence of mixed messages remained high. Exploratory analysis suggests that improvements were spurred partly by the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards by many states and by partly by shifts in the personal views of science educators., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Causal illusions consist of believing that there is a causal relationship between events that are actually unrelated. This bias is associated with pseudoscience, stereotypes and other unjustified beliefs. Thus, it seems important to develop educational interventions to reduce them. To our knowledge, the only debiasing intervention designed to be used at schools was developed by Barberia et al. (Barberia et al. 2013 PLoS One 8 , e71303 (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071303)), focusing on base rates, control conditions and confounding variables. Their assessment used an active causal illusion task where participants could manipulate the candidate cause. The intervention reduced causal illusions in adolescents but was only tested in a small experimental project. The present research evaluated it in a large-scale project through a collaboration with the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), and was conducted in schools to make it ecologically valid. It included a pilot study ( n = 287), a large-scale implementation ( n = 1668; 40 schools) and a six-month follow-up ( n = 353). Results showed medium-to-large and long-lasting effects on the reduction of causal illusions. To our knowledge, this is the first research showing the efficacy and long-term effects of a debiasing intervention against causal illusions that can be used on a large scale through the educational system., Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests., (© 2024 The Author(s).)