"Scientists are People too": Biology Students Relate More to Scientists When They are Humanized in Course Materials.

Featuring scientists in classroom materials provides opportunities for students to relate to scientists as role models and see themselves in science. However, it is unclear what information students find most relatable when encountering scientists throughout their education. In this study, we manipulated the amount and type of information provided about scientists featured in biology courses.

"It's been a Process": A Multiple Case Study of Biology Instructor Efforts to Reform their Sex and Gender Curriculum to be More Inclusive of Students with Queer Genders and Intersex Students.

Inaccurate sex and gender narratives have saturated the political landscape, resulting in legal restrictions for people with queer genders. Biology educators can correct these false narratives by teaching scientifically accurate and queer gender and intersex inclusive sex and gender curriculum. Here, we interviewed four undergraduate biology instructors who were working to reform their sex and gender curriculum.

"It let me merge my love of teaching with research": A qualitative investigation of the career pathways of biology education researchers.

Discipline-based education research-a field of research that investigates teaching and learning within STEM disciplines-has emerged over the last few decades to improve the quality of STEM education worldwide. Simple qualitative questions concerning the career backgrounds and motivations of the individuals who conduct this research have yet to be explored. Here, we surveyed and interviewed discipline-based education researchers about their career trajectories and motivations to pursue this field of research.

A Comparison of Study Behaviors and Metacognitive Evaluation Used by Biology Students.

Student-study behaviors and metacognition are predictors of student-academic success. However, student metacognitive evaluation of their own study habit behavior use has been largely unexplored. To address this gap, we gave students enrolled in three different Biology courses ( = 1140) a survey that asked them to identify the study behaviors used to prepare for their first and third exams and to appraise the effectiveness of each behavior.

Biology Instructors See Value in Discussing Controversial Topics but Fear Personal and Professional Consequences.

Traditional biology curricula depict science as an objective field, overlooking the important influence that human values and biases have on what is studied and who can be a scientist. We can work to address this shortcoming by incorporating into the curriculum, which is an understanding of biases, stereotypes, and assumptions that shape contemporary and historical science. We surveyed a national sample of lower-level biology instructors to determine 1) why it is important for students to learn science, 2) the perceived educational value of ideological awareness in the classroom, and 3) hesitancies associated with ideological awareness implementation.

Evaluating open-note exams: Student perceptions and preparation methods in an undergraduate biology class.

Although closed-note exams have traditionally been used to evaluate students in undergraduate biology classes, open-note exams are becoming increasingly common, though little is known about how students prepare for these types of exams. We investigated student perceptions of and their preparation habits for online open-note exams in an undergraduate biology class, as compared to their previous experiences with closed-note exams in other classes. Specifically, we explored the following research questions: (1a) How do students perceive open-note exams impact their exam scores, their anxiety, the amount they studied, and the amount their peers studied? (1b) How do these perceptions impact performance outcomes? (2a) How do students prepare for open-note exams? (2b) How do these preparation methods impact performance outcomes? Results demonstrate students perceived increased exam scores, decreased exam-anxiety, decreased study time spent personally, and decreased study time spent by their peers for open-note exams, as compared to past experiences with closed-note exams.

Why Students Struggle in Undergraduate Biology: Sources and Solutions.

Students' perceptions of challenges in biology influence performance outcomes, experiences, and persistence in science. Identifying sources of student struggle can assist efforts to support students as they overcome challenges in their undergraduate educations. In this study, we characterized student experiences of struggle by 1) quantifying which external factors relate to perceptions of encountering and overcoming struggle in introductory biology and 2) identifying factors to which students attribute their struggle in biology.

Teaching the Tough Topics: Fostering Ideological Awareness through the Inclusion of Societally Impactful Topics in Introductory Biology.

While science has profound social impacts, we often teach biology as removed from societally debated issues. Here, we address this gap in biology education through the implementation of novel materials that promote ideological awareness (IA). Using mixed-method analyses, we explore students' perceptions of the relationship between science and society, as well as their attitudes toward and knowledge of IA in biology.

Addressing the Unique Qualities of Upper-Level Biology Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences through the Integration of Skill-Building.

Early exposure to course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in introductory biology courses can promote positive student outcomes such as increased confidence, critical thinking, and views of applicability in lower-level courses, but it is unknown if these same impacts are achieved by upper-level courses. Upper-level courses differ from introductory courses in several ways, and one difference that could impact these positive student outcomes is the importance of balancing structure with independence in upper-level CUREs where students typically have more autonomy and greater complexity in their research projects. Here we compare and discuss two formats of upper-level biology CUREs (Guided and Autonomous) that vary along a continuum between structure and independence.

Demystifying the Meaning of Active Learning in Postsecondary Biology Education.

Active learning is frequently used to describe teaching practices, but the term is not well-defined in the context of undergraduate biology education. To clarify this term, we explored how active learning is defined in the biology education literature ( = 148 articles) and community by surveying a national sample of biology education researchers and instructors ( = 105 individuals). Our objectives were to increase transparency and reproducibility of teaching practices and research findings in biology education.