The Biological Experimental Design Concept Inventory (BEDCI) is a carefully designed diagnostic tool. The process of development and assessment of reliability and validity of the instrument are documented. BEDCI can be used to identify non-expert-like conceptions, inform teaching practices, and measure the effectiveness of targeted instruction.
Statistical reasoning is a life skill that is integral to an undergraduate education in biology. The authors describe the development of the Statistical Reasoning in Biology Concept Inventory (SRBCI), which was specifically designed to evaluate student ability to interpret typical data from biology experiments.
Student attitudes and views toward biology as a science were investigated in four first-year classes. Shifts were evaluated in two aspects of scientific inquiry: 1) confidence and interest and 2) understanding and acceptance. The study assesses whether varied learning experiences shift students toward more expert-like views.
A first year non-majors biology course, with an enrollment of around 440 students, has been redesigned from a course of traditional content and teaching style to one that emphasizes biological concepts in current global issues and incorporates active learning strategies. We were informed by the education literature incorporating many aspects of established curriculum redesign principles and extended its application to a biology course. Systematic measurement of student attitudes and collection of student feedback through a series of surveys as well as focus group interviews proved to be invaluable in the course redesign process. The information gathered over a two-year period enabled us to fine-tune the course content and teaching strategies effectively to better meet the interests of students in the non-majors course as was documented by the evidence gathered in this research. Un cours de biologie de première année pour étudiants qui ne se spécialisent pas dans ce domaine, dans lequel étaient inscrits 440 étudiants, a été remanié. Ce cours, dont le contenu et le style d’enseignement étaient traditionnels, est devenu un cours où les concepts de biologie ont été mis en valeur dans le contexte des questions globales d’actualité, et des stratégies d’apprentissage actif y ont été incorporées. Nous avons puisé nos ressources dans les publications consacrées à l’éducation qui incorporent les principes établis de remaniement des programmes de cours et nous avons appliqué ces principes à un cours de biologie. La mesure systématique des attitudes des étudiants, les commentaires recueillis auprès des étudiants par le biais de plusieurs sondages, ainsi que les entrevues de groupes témoins, se sont avérés inestimables au cours du processus de remaniement du cours. Les renseignements recueillis pendant une période de deux ans nous ont permi d’affiner de façon efficace le contenu du cours ainsi que les stratégies d’enseignement afin de mieux répondre aux intérêts des étudiants dans des cours qui ne s’adressent pas à des spécialistes du sujet enseigné, tel que documenté par l’évidence recueillie au cours de cette recherche.
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