Search

Identity production is a complex process in which a person determines who he or she is via internal dialogue and sociocultural participation. Understanding identity production is important in biology education, because students' identities impact classroom experiences and their willingness to persist in the discipline. Thus, we suggest that educators foster spaces where students can engage in producing science identities that incorporate positive perceptions of who they are and what they have experienced. We used Holland's theory of identity and Urrieta's definitions of conceptual identity production (CIP) and procedural identity production (PIP) to explore the process of students' science identity production. We interviewed 26 students from five sections of a general biology course for majors at one higher education institution. The interview protocol included items about students' identities, influential experiences, perceptions of science, and perceptions of their classroom communities. From the interviews, we developed hierarchical coding schemes that focused on characterizing students' CIP and PIP. Here, we describe how students' socially constructed identities (race, gender, etc.) and their experiences may have impacted the production of their science identities. We found that authoring (i.e., making meaning of) experiences and recognition by others as a community member influenced students' science identity production.

Authentic scientific data, when richly contextualized, can provide the basis for compelling learning experiences. Many undergraduate students either do not have access to primary data, or if they do, the data are so abstract that student engagement is limited. Here, we describe contextual information and data-rich, student-centered activities we developed to give life to data sets from an intensely studied place, the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL). The project Web site, Digital RMBL, highlights charismatic organisms, scientists, and long-term data sets as a tool for engaging students who are unable to physically visit a field station. The "Biology of Climate Change" module, the focus of this paper, has been tested in college-level classrooms by 10 collaborating faculty and 243 undergraduate students at a variety of colleges and universities across the nation. Authentic long-term data sets, primary literature, data visualizations, and a flexible format suitable for laboratory sections have led to very high usability ratings by collaborating faculty. In student surveys, a surprising number of undergraduate science majors (20%-30%) report that they have never worked with authentic scientific data--even at major research universities. The percentage of students who have not worked with data is much higher at collaborating 2 y institutions (60%-80%). The majority of students report that they appreciate the opportunity to explore long-term climate science data sets despite the frustrations they experience with the ''messiness'' of authentic scientific data. The impact of this climate change activity is achieved through "engagement" with people, place, and research subjects, followed by student-centered data "exploration" that builds personal interest and scientific discovery skills. This paper outlines one model in which scientists can meet funding agency requirements to share data publicly while providing excellent opportunities for improving climate and data literacy at the college level.

An understanding of biological variation is important for understanding ecological interactions, ecosystem function, and species' response to environmental change. Biological variation is essential to species survival because natural selection acts upon the phenotypic variation within a population: the more varied the population's genetic resources, the more likely that the population will persist into the future. We explored how students think about biological variation by evaluating written assessments and interviews of grades 6--16 students about starting a captive breeding programme for species conservation. We created a qualitative framework that describes levels of proficiency in student ideas about biological variation. Lower level responses reason about attributes related to an individual's reproduction and survival rather than population-level variability. Student responses at a middle level of sophistication point to the importance of variation but do not link it mechanistically to species survival and resilience. We also describe alternative conceptions related to biological variation and natural selection which exist at all grade levels. Educators can use these findings to inform curriculum and instruction in terms of addressing important concept areas (e.g. variation at the population scale) and some common alternative conceptions that may impact an accurate understanding of natural selection and evolution.

Threshold concepts have been referred to as "jewels in the curriculum": concepts that are key to competency in a discipline but not taught explicitly. In biology, researchers have proposed the idea of threshold concepts that include such topics as variation, randomness, uncertainty, and scale. In this essay, we explore how the notion of threshold concepts can be used alongside other frameworks meant to guide instructional and curricular decisions, and we examine the proposed threshold concept of variation and how it might influence students' understanding of core concepts in biology focused on genetics and evolution. Using dimensions of scientific inquiry, we outline a schema that may allow students to experience and apply the idea of variation in such a way that it transforms their future understanding and learning of genetics and evolution. We encourage others to consider the idea of threshold concepts alongside the "Vision and Change" core concepts to provide a lens for targeted instruction and as an integrative bridge between concepts and competencies.

Biology majors often take introductory biology, chemistry, and physics courses during their first two years of college. The various and sometimes conflicting discourse about and explanations of matter and energy in these courses may contribute to confusion and alternative conceptions (those that differ from scientific consensus) in biology learners. An important area of biology education research--students' alternative conceptions--has produced a lengthy list of alternative conceptions related to students' understanding of matter and energy flow through biological systems through processes such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration. By synthesizing the research literature and conducting interviews of science faculty members, we have identified similarities and differences in matter and energy discourse and teaching in these different science disciplines. This study can help biology instructors recognize and appreciate the ways in which instructors present concepts related to energy and matter in their courses and alter their discourse and teaching practices to promote learning and minimize confusion among their students.

The Diagnostic Question Cluster (DQC) project integrates education research and faculty development to articulate a model for the effective transformation of introductory biology and ecology teaching. Over three years, faculty members from a wide range of institutions used active teaching and DQCs, a type of concept inventory, as pre- and posttests to assess students' understanding of concepts about energy and matter across biological scales of organization. Surveys of the instructors indicated a substantial use of DQCs and active teaching, and nearly all of those faculty members participating in the research saw significant student gains and a large positive effect size between the pre- and posttests. Important programmatic components included reliable research-based conceptual questions and the associated active-learning exercises; formative examination of preinstruction data, including the students' written answers; a professional society for recruitment, workshops, and dissemination; progressive faculty growth over three years; and cooperative communities of practice. We propose that research-based conceptual inventories can be effective tools in faculty-development programs offered through biology professional societies.

The Diagnostic Question Cluster (DQC) project integrates education research and faculty development to articulate a model for the effective transformation of introductory biology and ecology teaching. Over three years, faculty members from a wide range of institutions used active teaching and DQCs, a type of concept inventory, as pre- and posttests to assess students' understanding of concepts about energy and matter across biological scales of organization. Surveys of the instructors indicated a substantial use of DQCs and active teaching, and nearly all of those faculty members participating in the research saw significant student gains and a large positive effect size between the pre- andposttests. Important programmatic components included reliable research-based conceptual questions and the associated active-learning exercises; formative examination of preinstruction data, including the students' written answers; a professional society for recruitment, workshops, and dissemination; progressive faculty growth over three years; and cooperative communities of practice. We propose that research-based conceptual inventories can be effective tools in faculty-development programs offered through biology professional societies. INSET: What faculty in the large effect-size category said about.... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]