How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students' Motivation, Learning, and Grades through Brief Relevance Writing and Worked-Example Interventions.

The high failure rate of students in "gateway" science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been a persistent problem for biology programs nationwide. Common wisdom contends that addressing this problem requires major curricular overhauls. While desirable, such large systematic changes are often expensive or impractical.