Membrane trafficking plays a fundamental role in eukaryotic cell biology. Of the numerous known o... more Membrane trafficking plays a fundamental role in eukaryotic cell biology. Of the numerous known or predicted protein components of the plant cell trafficking system, only a relatively small subset have been characterized with respect to their biological roles in plant growth, development, and response to stresses. In this study, we investigated the subcellular localization and function of an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis
ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from ... more ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from biology educators to reform curricula to include quantitative reasoning (QR) in instruction and assessment. Indeed, QR is one of several key competencies threaded through five core biological concept areas, as identified in the 2011 Vision and Change report. However, it remains unclear what QR skills promote biological literacy, what assessments demonstrate mastery and even, what QR skills students bring to undergraduate biology courses. We begin answering these questions through our work embedding QR into the instruction and assessment of a large-enrollment, introductory biology course (n=155). We focused our intervention on basic quantitative skills routinely applied by practicing biologists. Specifically, we assessed students’ ability to manipulate and graph data and to use their graph as evidence when articulating scientific arguments. Through a jigsaw homework assignment on evolution, each student was given one of three datasets corresponding to 3 different regional populations. Students were asked to calculate a simple arithmetic mean, plot the data to illustrate the relationship between fitness and phenotype, and construct an argument regarding selection for their population. Each dataset illustrated a different relationship between fitness and phenotype (positive, negative, or no correlation). Results/Conclusions Over 95% of students correctly calculated means and represented the data through a scatter or line plot. Although all students correctly identified the variables to graph (fitness and phenotype), a few (8%) had difficulty identifying the independent and dependent variables and thus inverted their axes. Students with datasets that showed a positive or negative correlation between fitness and phenotype were more likely to articulate a complete and correct claim (53% and 67%, respectively) than students with a dataset showing no correlation (30%). Few students (25%) cited the correlation between fitness and phenotype as support for their claim, and fewer still (11%) referred to their graphs as evidence for their claim. Although mathematically competent, undergraduate biology students are challenged to interpret quantitative data and reason from graphs. These results underscore both the need to further incorporate QR instruction and assessment in the undergraduate biology curriculum and to identify baseline QR skills we expect from biologically literate graduates.
ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods Efforts to reform college-level introductory biology are gai... more ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods Efforts to reform college-level introductory biology are gaining momentum nationally. Demand is high for professional development venues that train faculty to adopt learner-centered instructional strategies that better reflect science practice. Despite our unified enthusiasm for improving biology teaching, a recent report by Momsen, et al. (in review) suggests that overwhelmingly, students in introductory biology are being assessed primarily for their ability to recall factual information. This finding is inconsistent with the goals of the reform movement that place a premium on engaging students in cognitive processes that reflect disciplinary epistemology. We applied principles of Backward Design to guide and inform the redesign of introductory biology (BioSci) at MSU. Unlike conventional approaches that use content to guide course development, Backward Design foregrounds the roles of learning objectives and acceptable evidence over subject matter and instructional method. In this reform model, instructional decisions are driven by and responsive to data about student learning. We compared assessments from the BioSci course pre- and post-reform to test the assumption that instructors would assess students at higher cognitive levels in the context of a reform model that situates assessment as a core organizing principle. Results/Conclusions Five high-stakes assessments (i.e., exams and quizzes) were randomly selected from sections of the BioSci course before and after reform. Items were rated for level of cognitive complexity by two trained raters (ICC=0.77) using Bloom's Taxonomy for Educational Objectives. Pre-reform assessment items ranged from Bloom level 1-3 (knowledge, comprehension, application) and achieved a mean rating of 1.34 (± 0.031) with the median at 1. Bloom ratings for assessments from the reformed course were, on average, significantly higher (2.78 ± 0.141; Mann-Whitney U Test in R, p<0.001) and spanned the full range of Bloom's levels 1-6 with the median at 2.5. Among the pre-reform assessments, only 1% of items targeted the cognitive processes of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Bloom levels 3-6). This value increased to 48% for post-reform assessments. Our results support the hypothesis that a backward-designed, assessment-driven reform model will motivate faculty to incorporate assessment strategies that are broader in their scope and that engage science process skills (e.g., application and analysis) that facilitate students' learning of biology. Assessments that target factual recall fail to produce convincing evidence that efforts to reform undergraduate biology are worthy of our time, attention, and resources.
Background/Question/Methods Pedagogical approaches that engage students in the active constructio... more Background/Question/Methods Pedagogical approaches that engage students in the active construction and evaluation of conceptual models may support students’ acquisition of both deep content knowledge and systems thinking skills, both of which are critical skills in contemporary biology. As students create conceptual models of biological systems, they make choices about which system components or structures to include (e.g., DNA, decomposer), how these structures relate to one another (e.g., the relationship between decomposers and the atmosphere) and, in the process, reveal content understanding. We asked whether an iterative, model‐based pedagogy could help students gain systems thinking skills and content understanding in introductory biology. Here, we present results from two major content areas typical of introductory biology: principles of genetics and ecosystem ecology. A component of genetics instruction included student construction of conceptual models of gene expression. W...
Background/Question/Methods Learning sciences research suggests that engaging students in the cor... more Background/Question/Methods Learning sciences research suggests that engaging students in the core epistemic practices of disciplinary science can promote deeper conceptual understanding and greater fluency with disciplinary constructs compared to traditional (aka, lecture-based) instruction. However, large enrollments typical of many introductory biology classrooms can pose challenges for implementing instruction and assessments that reflect the skills and practices of contemporary biological research. Models are a pervasive construct throughout STEM disciplines that facilitate communication and analysis by distilling volumes of information into manageable units. Biologists regularly use models for constructing and testing hypotheses, evaluating evidence, warranting arguments, and identifying system unknowns. As such, models are foundational in the practice and epistemology of biological science. We developed an instructional approach that uses system models as a way to teach, lear...
Background/Question/Methods The ability to think and reason like a scientist is not innate, but d... more Background/Question/Methods The ability to think and reason like a scientist is not innate, but develops through iterative practice, reflection, and feedback. Research in the learning sciences has shown that engaging students in core practices that reflect the work of scientists (e.g., modeling, argumentation, and analysis) promotes critical thinking skills and scientific habits of mind. However, most college-level biology classrooms do not reflect the work of practicing biologists. This contrasts with a widespread view that our historical mode of passive information delivery cannot sustain learning in a field growing increasingly complex, multi-variate, and systems-based. We developed a pedagogical approach for introductory biology that uses system models as a way to teach, learn, and assess students’ understanding in introductory biology. System models are adapted from Goel’s Structure-Behavior-Function Theory in which structures (model components, represented in boxes) are linked...
Background/Question/Methods Many research universities require all of their graduates to achieve ... more Background/Question/Methods Many research universities require all of their graduates to achieve standards of scientific reasoning and quantitative literacy (SRQL) skills in the liberal arts component of the curriculum. For example, at Michigan State University graduates are expected to evaluate evidence, construct reasoned arguments, and communicate inferences and conclusions based on scientific and quantitative information. Increasingly more faculty and constituents outside the university are asking the questions: do we know if students are achieving these goals, and what is the evidence? A cross-disciplinary team of scientists and statisticians addressed these questions by designing a large-scale investigation of student mastery of quantitative and scientific skills, beginning with an assessment of 3500 freshmen before they started their university careers. We developed an instrument to measure SRQL using backwards design. We began with developing eight objectives that all studen...
Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from biology e... more Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from biology educators to reform curricula to include quantitative reasoning (QR) in instruction and assessment. Indeed, QR is one of several key competencies threaded through five core biological concept areas, as identified in the 2011 Vision and Change report. However, it remains unclear what QR skills promote biological literacy, what assessments demonstrate mastery and even, what QR skills students bring to undergraduate biology courses. We begin answering these questions through our work embedding QR into the instruction and assessment of a large-enrollment, introductory biology course (n=155). We focused our intervention on basic quantitative skills routinely applied by practicing biologists. Specifically, we assessed students’ ability to manipulate and graph data and to use their graph as evidence when articulating scientific arguments. Through a jigsaw homework assignment on evolution, each s...
Stomata are microscopic pores on the surface of leaves, each surrounded by a pair of specialized ... more Stomata are microscopic pores on the surface of leaves, each surrounded by a pair of specialized epidermal cells referred to as guard cells. The size of the stomatal pore can be regulated through variations in the guard cells' turgor pressure. Fine tuning of the stomatal ...
ABSTRACT Research in contemporary biology has become increasingly complex and organized around un... more ABSTRACT Research in contemporary biology has become increasingly complex and organized around understanding biological processes in the context of systems. To better reflect the ways of thinking required for learning about systems, we developed and implemented a pedagogical approach using box-and-arrow models (similar to concept maps) as a foundational tool for instruction and assessment in an Introductory Biology course on genetics, evolution, and ecology. Over the course of one semester, students iteratively constructed, evaluated, and revised “Gene-to-Evolution” (GtE) models intended to promote understanding about the connections linking molecular-level processes with population-level outcomes. In practice, a successful GtE model contextualizes information provided in a case study and explains how genetic-level variation originates at the molecular level, is differentially expressed among individuals, and is acted upon by the environment to produce evolutionary change within a population. Our analyses revealed that students' ability to construct biologically accurate models increased throughout the semester. Model complexity peaked near mid-term then subsequently declined. This suggests that, with time, students were building more parsimonious models, shedding irrelevant information, and improving in their ability to apply accurate and appropriate biological language to explain relationships among concepts. Importantly, we observed the greatest relative gains in model correctness among students who entered the course with lower mean GPA. In an analysis comparing performance among achievement tritiles, lower-performing students effectively closed the achievement gap with the highest performing students by the end of the semester. Our findings support the effectiveness of model-based pedagogies for science teaching and learning, and offer a perspective on pedagogical application of modeling strategies to foster systems thinking and knowledge structuring in college-level biology.
... Although the y-axis begins at-2, a negatively sized zone of inhibition is not possible. Sourc... more ... Although the y-axis begins at-2, a negatively sized zone of inhibition is not possible. Source: Welden, C., and R. Hossler. 2003. ... We appreciate the input of our team members, Megan Donahue, Jennifer Kaplan, and Gabe Ording, in this endeavor. ...
Membrane trafficking plays a fundamental role in eukaryotic cell biology. Of the numerous known o... more Membrane trafficking plays a fundamental role in eukaryotic cell biology. Of the numerous known or predicted protein components of the plant cell trafficking system, only a relatively small subset have been characterized with respect to their biological roles in plant growth, development, and response to stresses. In this study, we investigated the subcellular localization and function of an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis
ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from ... more ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from biology educators to reform curricula to include quantitative reasoning (QR) in instruction and assessment. Indeed, QR is one of several key competencies threaded through five core biological concept areas, as identified in the 2011 Vision and Change report. However, it remains unclear what QR skills promote biological literacy, what assessments demonstrate mastery and even, what QR skills students bring to undergraduate biology courses. We begin answering these questions through our work embedding QR into the instruction and assessment of a large-enrollment, introductory biology course (n=155). We focused our intervention on basic quantitative skills routinely applied by practicing biologists. Specifically, we assessed students’ ability to manipulate and graph data and to use their graph as evidence when articulating scientific arguments. Through a jigsaw homework assignment on evolution, each student was given one of three datasets corresponding to 3 different regional populations. Students were asked to calculate a simple arithmetic mean, plot the data to illustrate the relationship between fitness and phenotype, and construct an argument regarding selection for their population. Each dataset illustrated a different relationship between fitness and phenotype (positive, negative, or no correlation). Results/Conclusions Over 95% of students correctly calculated means and represented the data through a scatter or line plot. Although all students correctly identified the variables to graph (fitness and phenotype), a few (8%) had difficulty identifying the independent and dependent variables and thus inverted their axes. Students with datasets that showed a positive or negative correlation between fitness and phenotype were more likely to articulate a complete and correct claim (53% and 67%, respectively) than students with a dataset showing no correlation (30%). Few students (25%) cited the correlation between fitness and phenotype as support for their claim, and fewer still (11%) referred to their graphs as evidence for their claim. Although mathematically competent, undergraduate biology students are challenged to interpret quantitative data and reason from graphs. These results underscore both the need to further incorporate QR instruction and assessment in the undergraduate biology curriculum and to identify baseline QR skills we expect from biologically literate graduates.
ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods Efforts to reform college-level introductory biology are gai... more ABSTRACT Background/Question/Methods Efforts to reform college-level introductory biology are gaining momentum nationally. Demand is high for professional development venues that train faculty to adopt learner-centered instructional strategies that better reflect science practice. Despite our unified enthusiasm for improving biology teaching, a recent report by Momsen, et al. (in review) suggests that overwhelmingly, students in introductory biology are being assessed primarily for their ability to recall factual information. This finding is inconsistent with the goals of the reform movement that place a premium on engaging students in cognitive processes that reflect disciplinary epistemology. We applied principles of Backward Design to guide and inform the redesign of introductory biology (BioSci) at MSU. Unlike conventional approaches that use content to guide course development, Backward Design foregrounds the roles of learning objectives and acceptable evidence over subject matter and instructional method. In this reform model, instructional decisions are driven by and responsive to data about student learning. We compared assessments from the BioSci course pre- and post-reform to test the assumption that instructors would assess students at higher cognitive levels in the context of a reform model that situates assessment as a core organizing principle. Results/Conclusions Five high-stakes assessments (i.e., exams and quizzes) were randomly selected from sections of the BioSci course before and after reform. Items were rated for level of cognitive complexity by two trained raters (ICC=0.77) using Bloom's Taxonomy for Educational Objectives. Pre-reform assessment items ranged from Bloom level 1-3 (knowledge, comprehension, application) and achieved a mean rating of 1.34 (± 0.031) with the median at 1. Bloom ratings for assessments from the reformed course were, on average, significantly higher (2.78 ± 0.141; Mann-Whitney U Test in R, p<0.001) and spanned the full range of Bloom's levels 1-6 with the median at 2.5. Among the pre-reform assessments, only 1% of items targeted the cognitive processes of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation (Bloom levels 3-6). This value increased to 48% for post-reform assessments. Our results support the hypothesis that a backward-designed, assessment-driven reform model will motivate faculty to incorporate assessment strategies that are broader in their scope and that engage science process skills (e.g., application and analysis) that facilitate students' learning of biology. Assessments that target factual recall fail to produce convincing evidence that efforts to reform undergraduate biology are worthy of our time, attention, and resources.
Background/Question/Methods Pedagogical approaches that engage students in the active constructio... more Background/Question/Methods Pedagogical approaches that engage students in the active construction and evaluation of conceptual models may support students’ acquisition of both deep content knowledge and systems thinking skills, both of which are critical skills in contemporary biology. As students create conceptual models of biological systems, they make choices about which system components or structures to include (e.g., DNA, decomposer), how these structures relate to one another (e.g., the relationship between decomposers and the atmosphere) and, in the process, reveal content understanding. We asked whether an iterative, model‐based pedagogy could help students gain systems thinking skills and content understanding in introductory biology. Here, we present results from two major content areas typical of introductory biology: principles of genetics and ecosystem ecology. A component of genetics instruction included student construction of conceptual models of gene expression. W...
Background/Question/Methods Learning sciences research suggests that engaging students in the cor... more Background/Question/Methods Learning sciences research suggests that engaging students in the core epistemic practices of disciplinary science can promote deeper conceptual understanding and greater fluency with disciplinary constructs compared to traditional (aka, lecture-based) instruction. However, large enrollments typical of many introductory biology classrooms can pose challenges for implementing instruction and assessments that reflect the skills and practices of contemporary biological research. Models are a pervasive construct throughout STEM disciplines that facilitate communication and analysis by distilling volumes of information into manageable units. Biologists regularly use models for constructing and testing hypotheses, evaluating evidence, warranting arguments, and identifying system unknowns. As such, models are foundational in the practice and epistemology of biological science. We developed an instructional approach that uses system models as a way to teach, lear...
Background/Question/Methods The ability to think and reason like a scientist is not innate, but d... more Background/Question/Methods The ability to think and reason like a scientist is not innate, but develops through iterative practice, reflection, and feedback. Research in the learning sciences has shown that engaging students in core practices that reflect the work of scientists (e.g., modeling, argumentation, and analysis) promotes critical thinking skills and scientific habits of mind. However, most college-level biology classrooms do not reflect the work of practicing biologists. This contrasts with a widespread view that our historical mode of passive information delivery cannot sustain learning in a field growing increasingly complex, multi-variate, and systems-based. We developed a pedagogical approach for introductory biology that uses system models as a way to teach, learn, and assess students’ understanding in introductory biology. System models are adapted from Goel’s Structure-Behavior-Function Theory in which structures (model components, represented in boxes) are linked...
Background/Question/Methods Many research universities require all of their graduates to achieve ... more Background/Question/Methods Many research universities require all of their graduates to achieve standards of scientific reasoning and quantitative literacy (SRQL) skills in the liberal arts component of the curriculum. For example, at Michigan State University graduates are expected to evaluate evidence, construct reasoned arguments, and communicate inferences and conclusions based on scientific and quantitative information. Increasingly more faculty and constituents outside the university are asking the questions: do we know if students are achieving these goals, and what is the evidence? A cross-disciplinary team of scientists and statisticians addressed these questions by designing a large-scale investigation of student mastery of quantitative and scientific skills, beginning with an assessment of 3500 freshmen before they started their university careers. We developed an instrument to measure SRQL using backwards design. We began with developing eight objectives that all studen...
Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from biology e... more Background/Question/Methods The data deluge in science warrants a concerted effort from biology educators to reform curricula to include quantitative reasoning (QR) in instruction and assessment. Indeed, QR is one of several key competencies threaded through five core biological concept areas, as identified in the 2011 Vision and Change report. However, it remains unclear what QR skills promote biological literacy, what assessments demonstrate mastery and even, what QR skills students bring to undergraduate biology courses. We begin answering these questions through our work embedding QR into the instruction and assessment of a large-enrollment, introductory biology course (n=155). We focused our intervention on basic quantitative skills routinely applied by practicing biologists. Specifically, we assessed students’ ability to manipulate and graph data and to use their graph as evidence when articulating scientific arguments. Through a jigsaw homework assignment on evolution, each s...
Stomata are microscopic pores on the surface of leaves, each surrounded by a pair of specialized ... more Stomata are microscopic pores on the surface of leaves, each surrounded by a pair of specialized epidermal cells referred to as guard cells. The size of the stomatal pore can be regulated through variations in the guard cells' turgor pressure. Fine tuning of the stomatal ...
ABSTRACT Research in contemporary biology has become increasingly complex and organized around un... more ABSTRACT Research in contemporary biology has become increasingly complex and organized around understanding biological processes in the context of systems. To better reflect the ways of thinking required for learning about systems, we developed and implemented a pedagogical approach using box-and-arrow models (similar to concept maps) as a foundational tool for instruction and assessment in an Introductory Biology course on genetics, evolution, and ecology. Over the course of one semester, students iteratively constructed, evaluated, and revised “Gene-to-Evolution” (GtE) models intended to promote understanding about the connections linking molecular-level processes with population-level outcomes. In practice, a successful GtE model contextualizes information provided in a case study and explains how genetic-level variation originates at the molecular level, is differentially expressed among individuals, and is acted upon by the environment to produce evolutionary change within a population. Our analyses revealed that students' ability to construct biologically accurate models increased throughout the semester. Model complexity peaked near mid-term then subsequently declined. This suggests that, with time, students were building more parsimonious models, shedding irrelevant information, and improving in their ability to apply accurate and appropriate biological language to explain relationships among concepts. Importantly, we observed the greatest relative gains in model correctness among students who entered the course with lower mean GPA. In an analysis comparing performance among achievement tritiles, lower-performing students effectively closed the achievement gap with the highest performing students by the end of the semester. Our findings support the effectiveness of model-based pedagogies for science teaching and learning, and offer a perspective on pedagogical application of modeling strategies to foster systems thinking and knowledge structuring in college-level biology.
... Although the y-axis begins at-2, a negatively sized zone of inhibition is not possible. Sourc... more ... Although the y-axis begins at-2, a negatively sized zone of inhibition is not possible. Source: Welden, C., and R. Hossler. 2003. ... We appreciate the input of our team members, Megan Donahue, Jennifer Kaplan, and Gabe Ording, in this endeavor. ...
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