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Abstract Background Evolution continues to be one of the most difficult biological topics to teach, warranting innovative pedagogical tools and assessment strategies for enhancing evolutionary instruction. A major advance in measuring the evolution knowledge of undergraduate students came with the development of the Conceptual Assessment of Natural Selections (CANS). In this study, we use the CANS to measure knowledge and learning of natural selection in a large (N > 6000) sample of undergraduate students to expand upon prior validity testing of this instrument and advance knowledge of student evolutionary reasoning. We apply the Rasch measurement framework to examine if the CANS productively measures the intended construct and investigate the patterns of knowledge and learning about evolution among students with different backgrounds and demographic characteristics. Results While a unidimensional Rasch model demonstrated acceptable reliabilities and fit for most of the CANS items, some items showed problematic fit statistics and were resistant to instruction. The instrument items also did not span the full range of student abilities, which suggests relatively low measurement precision. Our large sample also allowed rigorous tests of multidimensionality, revealing the presence of multiple dimensions or constructs, some of which may not be intentional. These results generated specific item-level recommendations for improving this instrument. Using Rasch measures to examine learning patterns, we found that pre-test evolution knowledge was low but that there were high learning gains by the end of the course. However, some concept categories were found to be more difficult than others, suggesting the need for more attention to these areas by instructors. We also identified pre-test disparities in evolutionary knowledge by socially defined race and biological sex, yet students from all groups achieved comparable learning gains at the end of the course. Conclusion The CANS holds great potential to generate critical insights about student evolutionary reasoning and provide information about which instructional approaches most effectively mitigate the notable knowledge disparities among students. We leverage the findings of this study to propose tangible ways in which this instrument may be improved in order to better achieve both of these goals.

Abstract Undergraduate research experiences enculturate students into the research community by providing support networks to explore advanced professional opportunities. However, transfer students are at a considerable disadvantage for pursuing these opportunities due to the time constraints imposed by institutional structures. Here, we report a case study of a novel summer bridge program to prepare incoming transfer students for research experiences in biological sciences. During the summer, participants committed to full-time program activities, including hands-on training with laboratory techniques through research projects and designing and executing an independent project. Pre- and post-program surveys were administered, and participants reported substantial gains in research self-efficacy and knowledge of scientific career pathways. Participants also reported strong learning and social support in the program. After the program, 30 out of 32 participants secured positions in faculty laboratories, with most continuing on to positions in industry, graduate programs, or medical and health professions. In a post-program interview, participants reported many benefits from the program, such as mentorship from faculty, developing transferable skills and research interests, and an easier transition from community college to university. While descriptive, this summer bridge program could inform future design-based research and implementations in different institutional contexts.

Abstract Background The University of California system has a novel tenure-track education-focused faculty position called Lecturer with Security of Employment (working titles: Teaching Professor or Professor of Teaching). We focus on the potential difference in implementation of active-learning strategies by faculty type, including tenure-track education-focused faculty, tenure-track research-focused faculty, and non-tenure-track lecturers. In addition, we consider other instructor characteristics (faculty rank, years of teaching, and gender) and classroom characteristics (campus, discipline, and class size). We use a robust clustering algorithm to determine the number of clusters, identify instructors using active learning, and to understand the instructor and classroom characteristics in relation to the adoption of active-learning strategies. Results We observed 125 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate courses at three University of California campuses using the Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM to examine active-learning strategies implemented in the classroom. Tenure-track education-focused faculty are more likely to teach with active-learning strategies compared to tenure-track research-focused faculty. Instructor and classroom characteristics that are also related to active learning include campus, discipline, and class size. The campus with initiatives and programs to support undergraduate STEM education is more likely to have instructors who adopt active-learning strategies. There is no difference in instructors in the Biological Sciences, Engineering, or Information and Computer Sciences disciplines who teach actively. However, instructors in the Physical Sciences are less likely to teach actively. Smaller class sizes also tend to have instructors who teach more actively. Conclusions The novel tenure-track education-focused faculty position within the University of California system represents a formal structure that results in higher adoption of active-learning strategies in undergraduate STEM education. Campus context and evolving expectations of the position (faculty rank) contribute to the symbols related to learning and teaching that correlate with differential implementation of active learning.

Mentorship has been widely recognized as an effective means to promote student learning and engagement in undergraduate research experiences. However, little work exists for understanding different mentors' perceived approaches to mentorship, including mentorship of students from backgrounds and educational trajectories not well represented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Transfer students, in particular, face unique trajectories in their pursuit of research opportunities, yet few studies investigate how mentors describe their approaches to supporting these students. Using semistructured interviews, this study examines how mentors approach mentoring students from diverse backgrounds as research trainees, with an emphasis on transfer students. First, using phenomenography as an analytical approach, we identified four categories describing variations in how mentors reflected upon or accounted for the transfer student identity in their approaches. We find that research mentors vary in their understanding and exposure to the transfer student identity and may have preconceived notions of the transfer student experience. Second, we present vignettes to illustrate how mentors' approaches to the transfer student identity may relate or diverge from their general approaches to mentoring students from different backgrounds and identities. The emerging findings have implications for developing effective mentorship strategies and training mentors to support transfer students.