scholarly journals Defining and Measuring Students’ Interest in Biology: An Analysis of the Biology Education Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. ar34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley A. Rowland ◽  
Eva Knekta ◽  
Sarah Eddy ◽  
Lisa A. Corwin
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Physical Object ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Mathematics Students ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
And Mathematics

Understanding how students develop biology interests and the roles interest plays in biology contexts could help instructors and researchers to increase science, technology, engineering, and mathematics students’ motivation and persistence. However, it is currently unclear how interest has been defined or measured in the biology education research literature. We analyzed this body of literature to determine how interest has been defined and used by the biology education research community. Specifically, we determined the extent to which previously published work drew on theories that conceptualize interest. Further, we identified studies that measured student interest in biology and characterized the types of measures used. Our findings indicate that biology education researchers typically describe interest as a relationship involving positive feelings between an individual and a physical object, activity, or topic of focus. We also found that interest is often not defined, theories involving interest are not often consulted, and the most common measures of interest only assess a single aspect of the construct. On the basis of these results, we make suggestions for future research seeking to examine biology students’ interest. We hope that this analysis can serve as tool for biology educators to improve their own investigations of students’ interest and measure outcomes of interest-generating educational activities.

scholarly journals Formation of the Inclusive Environments and Metrics in Biology Education and Research (iEMBER) Network: Building a Culture of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. mr1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel E. Tennial ◽  
Erin D. Solomon ◽  
Latanya Hammonds-Odie ◽  
Gary S. McDowell ◽  
Michael Moore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biology Education ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Biennial Conference ◽  
Network Building ◽  
Foundation Program ◽  
Future Events ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Interdisciplinary Networking ◽  
Equity And Inclusion

The Inclusive Environments and Metrics in Biology Education and Research (iEMBER) network is a newly forming national community of practice that engages diversity, equity, and inclusion stakeholders in interdisciplinary collaborative projects. iEMBER was initiated with incubator funding from the National Science Foundation program for Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education. In June 2017, biology education researchers, social scientists, biologists, and program and policy administrators, all with interests in diversity, equity, and inclusion, met to lay the foundation for the iEMBER network. iEMBER provides a distinct forum to coordinate efforts through networking, professional development, and the initiation of collaborative research. iEMBER advances science, technology, engineering, and mathematics reform focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion through the initiation of research teams at the iEMBER biennial conference and outreach efforts at discipline-specific meetings and conferences. The focus of iEMBER is on understanding how to create inclusive, supportive, and engaging environments to foster the success of all biology students and trainees. This report focuses on the structure of the iEMBER network, two takeaways that emerged from the 2017 conference (interdisciplinary networking/collaboration and intradisciplinary broadening participation strategies), and ways for prospective members to engage in ongoing dialogue and future events. Learn more at http://iember.org .

scholarly journals When bibliometrics met mathematics education research: the case of instrumental orchestration

ZDM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 1455-1469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Drijvers ◽  
Sebastian Grauwin ◽  
Luc Trouche
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Mathematics Education Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Teaching With Technology ◽  
Instrumental Orchestration ◽  
Identity Cards ◽  
Set Up

Abstract Thanks to digital technology, methods for finding and analysing research literature have become dramatically more powerful over the last decades. Also, new bibliometric techniques have been developed and applied to the results of such literature search queries. The application of these bibliometric tools to mathematics education research, however, is rare. In this paper, we explore the value of these techniques for mathematics education research through triangulating bibliometrics and expert findings. To do so, we address the case of instrumental orchestration, and want to know how this notion developed over time and was used in research practices. The results show that bibliometric clustering techniques provided a sense-making sketch of the ‘landscape’ of instrumental orchestration research. Triangulating the bibliometric findings with expert interpretations seemed an appropriate method to set up compact ‘identity cards’. In the case of instrumental orchestration, we identified five main clusters in research literature, characterized by the following labels: Managing teaching complexity, Designing living resources, Teaching with technology, Adult learners, and Interacting with computers. The paper ends with some reflections on the potential of bibliometrics in our field and on future research on instrumental orchestration.

scholarly journals An early exploration of undergraduate student definitions of learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-352
Author(s):  
Staci N. Johnson ◽  
Eliza D. Gallagher
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Interview Protocol ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Process And Outcome ◽  
Early Exploration ◽  
Specific Definition

Biology education research often utilizes the terms learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding without providing their specific definition. When definitions have been provided, they are often inconsistent across publications. As part of a larger research study, we interviewed 11 participants on 2 occasions while they were enrolled in a sequence of anatomy and physiology courses. Part of the interview protocol asked participants for their definitions of learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding. Definitions were isolated from the transcript, deidentified, and sorted by qualitative similarities. The research team developed code categories and assigned definitions to these groups after discussing coding differences. Multiple definition groups emerged for each term. Learning, memorizing, and studying definition groups highlighted processes, outcomes, or a combination of both a process and outcome. Understanding definition groups focused solely on an outcome. These findings highlight the need for communication between students and instructors with regard to term usage. In addition, future research in biology and physiology education should be careful to provide working definitions of these terms to ensure communicative and interpretive validity and to promote transferability and repeatability of findings.

scholarly journals Preparing for a future career through entrepreneurship education: Towards a research agenda

2020 ◽  
pp. 095042222096963
Author(s):  
Nils Magne Killingberg ◽  
Elin Kubberød ◽  
Per Blenker
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Entrepreneurship Education ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Future Career ◽  
Future Research Agenda ◽  
Conceptual Paper

Although most students of entrepreneurship education find employment in established organizations after graduation, the employability of entrepreneurship education graduates remains largely overlooked in the education research literature. In this conceptual paper, the authors address this gap to motivate a future research agenda. The paper describes how entrepreneurship education may enable or impede the graduates’ entrance, development and transition in the labour market. To develop the theoretical arguments, the authors build on a processual conceptualization of employability. Seven propositions are presented to conceptually explore how competencies that are obtained through entrepreneurship education may influence the employability of graduates in a dynamic labour market. The propositions lay the groundwork for future studies on entrepreneurship education graduates’ employability and set a research agenda for how the employability of these graduates could be studied.

Mathematical Persistence Among Four African American Male Graduate Students: A Critical Race Analysis of Their Experiences

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. Jett
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
African American Male ◽  
African American Men ◽  
Racial Microaggressions ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Mathematics Students ◽  
Critical Race

The stories of high-achieving African American mathematics students are gaining prominence in the research literature. In this multiple case study, I use a critical race theoretical frame to document and analyze the experiences of 4 mathematically persistent African American male students who earned undergraduate degrees in mathematics and subsequently enrolled in mathematics or mathematics education graduate programs. The findings reveal that these African American men drew from internal factors to influence their mathematical persistence and identified how racial microaggressions manifest themselves in postundergraduate contexts. Recommendations for practice, policy implications, and future research directions that emerged from this study are discussed to better understand African American men's mathematics experiences.

scholarly journals Helping Practitioners and Researchers Identify and Use Education Research Literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. fe3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy J. Wilson ◽  
Cynthia J. Brame
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Specific Context ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Education Literature ◽  
New Feature ◽  
Critical Components ◽  
Practical Recommendations

Evidence-based teaching practices are being encouraged to increase student skills and understanding in the sciences. Finding, interpreting, and applying education literature to a specific context are barriers to adopting these evidence-based practices. Here, we introduce a new feature, Evidence-Based Teaching Guides. This feature identifies literature associated with specific pedagogies, which we distill to practical recommendations for teaching. The goals of the feature are: to provide instructors with tools to make research-supported choices to implement the pedagogy in question, to articulate the reasons for their choices, and to develop increased awareness of biology education research. We think these guides may also be useful for biology education researchers in identifying critical components, adaptations, and contextual features that could be investigated for a given pedagogy. Each guide consists of a website with a visual map of instructional choices associated with the topic and linked pages that summarize findings from the literature and provide additional links to and summaries of key articles. Each guide will include an instructor checklist of recommendations consolidated from the entire guide in order to provide instructors with a snapshot of instructional choices and actionable advice.

scholarly journals How Can We Improve Problem Solving in Undergraduate Biology? Applying Lessons from 30 Years of Physics Education Research

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.-M. Hoskinson ◽  
M. D. Caballero ◽  
J. K. Knight
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Physics Education ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Patterns And Processes ◽  
Problem Solvers ◽  
Student Problem

If students are to successfully grapple with authentic, complex biological problems as scientists and citizens, they need practice solving such problems during their undergraduate years. Physics education researchers have investigated student problem solving for the past three decades. Although physics and biology problems differ in structure and content, the instructional purposes align closely: explaining patterns and processes in the natural world and making predictions about physical and biological systems. In this paper, we discuss how research-supported approaches developed by physics education researchers can be adopted by biologists to enhance student problem-solving skills. First, we compare the problems that biology students are typically asked to solve with authentic, complex problems. We then describe the development of research-validated physics curricula emphasizing process skills in problem solving. We show that solving authentic, complex biology problems requires many of the same skills that practicing physicists and biologists use in representing problems, seeking relationships, making predictions, and verifying or checking solutions. We assert that acquiring these skills can help biology students become competent problem solvers. Finally, we propose how biology scholars can apply lessons from physics education in their classrooms and inspire new studies in biology education research.

scholarly journals Post–Vision and Change: Do We Know How to Change?

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene D’Avanzo
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Faculty Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
National Research Council ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Active Teaching ◽  
National Research Council Report ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Effective Use

The scale and importance of Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action challenges us to ask fundamental questions about widespread transformation of college biology instruction. I propose that we have clarified the “vision” but lack research-based models and evidence needed to guide the “change.” To support this claim, I focus on several key topics, including evidence about effective use of active-teaching pedagogy by typical faculty and whether certain programs improve students’ understanding of the Vision and Change core concepts. Program evaluation is especially problematic. While current education research and theory should inform evaluation, several prominent biology faculty–development programs continue to rely on self-reporting by faculty and students. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty-development overviews can guide program design. Such studies highlight viewing faculty members as collaborators, embedding rewards faculty value, and characteristics of effective faculty-development learning communities. A recent National Research Council report on discipline-based STEM education research emphasizes the need for long-term faculty development and deep conceptual change in teaching and learning as the basis for genuine transformation of college instruction. Despite the progress evident in Vision and Change, forward momentum will likely be limited, because we lack evidence-based, reliable models for actually realizing the desired “change.”

scholarly journals Penggunaan STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Terintegrasi Pembelajaran berbasis Proyek untuk Mahasiswa

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Anggi Tias Pratama ◽  
Kintan Limiansi ◽  
Rizqa Devi Anazifa
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Stem Learning ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
And Mathematics

This study provides insights into STEM practices that are integrated with project-based learning. We show that when investigations into student interest and active participation, there are opportunities to experience project-based learning. The sample in the study was 30 students of biology education who attended environmental science lectures. The data analysis was carried out qualitatively with descriptive analysis to see the dominance of learning arrangements, learning activities, and the products of each of these learning settings. Students work on projects using the STEM learning steps. The results show that students can work on projects well, and are able to publish their work on YouTube. Keywords: STEM, Project-Based Learning, Environmental Science

scholarly journals Broadening Participation in Biology Education Research: Engaging Community College Students and Faculty

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. mr1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey N. Schinske ◽  
Virginia L. Balke ◽  
M. Gita Bangera ◽  
Kevin M. Bonney ◽  
Sara E. Brownell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Student Diversity ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
Teaching Learning

Nearly half of all undergraduates are enrolled at community colleges (CCs), including the majority of U.S. students who represent groups underserved in the sciences. Yet only a small minority of studies published in discipline-based education research journals address CC biology students, faculty, courses, or authors. This marked underrepresentation of CC biology education research (BER) limits the availability of evidence that could be used to increase CC student success in biology programs. To address this issue, a diverse group of stakeholders convened at the Building Capacity for Biology Education Research at Community Colleges meeting to discuss how to increase the prevalence of CC BER and foster participation of CC faculty as BER collaborators and authors. The group identified characteristics of CCs that make them excellent environments for studying biology teaching and learning, including student diversity and institutional cultures that prioritize teaching, learning, and assessment. The group also identified constraints likely to impede BER at CCs: limited time, resources, support, and incentives, as well as misalignment between doing research and CC faculty identities as teachers. The meeting culminated with proposing strategies for faculty, administrators, journal editors, scientific societies, and funding agencies to better support CC BER.

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