We tested the hypothesis that underrepresented students in active-learning classrooms experience narrower achievement gaps than underrepresented students in traditional lecturing classrooms, averaged across all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and courses. We conducted a comprehensive search for both published and unpublished studies that compared the performance of underrepresented students to their overrepresented classmates in active-learning and traditional-lecturing treatments. This search resulted in data on student examination scores from 15 studies (9,238 total students) and data on student failure rates from 26 studies (44,606 total students). Bayesian regression analyses showed that on average, active learning reduced achievement gaps in examination scores by 33% and narrowed gaps in passing rates by 45%. The reported proportion of time that students spend on in-class activities was important, as only classes that implemented high-intensity active learning narrowed achievement gaps. Sensitivity analyses showed that the conclusions are robust to sampling bias and other issues. To explain the extensive variation in efficacy observed among studies, we propose the heads-and-hearts hypothesis, which holds that meaningful reductions in achievement gaps only occur when course designs combine deliberate practice with inclusive teaching. Our results support calls to replace traditional lecturing with evidence-based, active-learning course designs across the STEM disciplines and suggest that innovations in instructional strategies can increase equity in higher education.

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The reflected lamina of the angular has long been portrayed as a key component in understanding the evolution of the mammalian mandible and middle ear, yet the function of this structure in non-mammalian therapsids remains uncertain. We undertake a broad scale survey of two aspects of the reflected lamina that have been poorly characterized: the ridges and fossae on its lateral surface and the extent of the underlying angular cleft. These two features were visualized in a wide range of therapsids using CT data from the literature and blue light surface scanning. Most species exhibit a clade-specific pattern of surface topography, although dicynodonts are highly variable. A striking similarity in the general number and orientation of fossae and ridges is seen between the otherwise disparate therapsid clades, and we propose homologies in these surface features across Therapsida. These features may serve as useful phylogenetic characters in analyses of the relationships among the major therapsid clades. The angular cleft does not underlie all of what is often referred to as the 'reflected lamina' in the literature, and an updated definition of this term is provided. Several therapsid groups independently expanded the angular cleft to further separate the reflected lamina from the angular body. We discuss some functional consequences of our findings and note inconsistency between proposed clade-specific muscle attachment sites and the presence of homologous fossae and ridges across much of Therapsida.