Reform-minded practices are widely encouraged during pre-service science teacher education in concert with national reform documents. This contrasts to the nature of instruction within university science laboratories in which pre-service teachers enrol, which are largely confirmatory in nature. Undergraduate science laboratories are taught predominantly by graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) with minimal teacher preparation. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to investigate the instructional practices and teacher beliefs of eight GTAs at a university with very high research activity who completed a reform-minded Teacher Certificate Programme, asking: What are their beliefs about teaching? How are their practices described? Do their beliefs and practices differ from one another? Do their teaching beliefs correspond with their practices? Findings indicate that GTAs held moderately reform-minded "transitional" beliefs of teaching following the programme, yet displayed fairly traditional instruction. Cross-case findings highlight similar patterns across subscales of the RTOP that draw attention to underlying constraints of the laboratory curriculum structure. We suggest that GTA professional development is best undertaken concurrent with laboratory course revision.

Supporting instructor implementation of equitable and inclusive teaching approaches is a critical area of focus in educational development. However, there is limited empirical evidence on factors that either support or hinder instructors’ implementation of inclusive teaching. The results of this national survey study reveal several predictors of instructors’ utilization of inclusive teaching approaches and reported obstacles faced. For this sample, knowledge of inclusive teaching was a statistically significant predictor of implementation, as was being from a non-STEM discipline. Responses highlighted promising approaches, several of which can inform the efforts of educational developers. 

Through this work, we learned how to form a beneficial partnership between a clinician educator and Teaching and Learning Center to promote faculty development on a clinical reasoning teaching method for early medical students. We uncovered challenges faced by both faculty and early learners in this study. We observed that our faculty chose to utilize the method of teaching clinical reasoning in a variety of manners in the classroom. Despite obstacles and differing approaches utilized, we believe that this model can be emulated at other institutions to foster the development of clinical reasoning skills in preclerkship students.

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We developed the "Who's in Class?" form with the major goals of increasing instructors': (1) awareness of their learners' diverse attributes and identities, and (2) implementation of inclusive teaching practices.

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Background. Gaming can augment case-based learning (CBL) when students play the role of characters in the accompanying narrative and apply their knowledge. Aim. This article describes how an educational game was integrated into a CBL activity aimed to teach students the immunological basis behind how the Ebola virus evades the immune response. Method. The CBL activity and game were co-developed to align with learning objectives relative to basic immunology. The exercise was implemented during a rigorous summer enrichment program with US domestic and international high school students. Quasi-experimental and exploratory correlational research designs were employed to assess student engagement and learning gains, and relationships to various factors including game playing attributes and goal orientations. Results. Students found the CBL activity to be engaging and improve their understanding of the material. Comparison of pre-/post-test knowledge scores corroborated such findings. Increased student frequency of playing the game was associated with higher post-knowledge scores. Various student attributes were associated with increased learning and game play. Conclusions. Gaming integrated within case studies has the potential to enhance students’ engagement and learning by allowing learners to explore challenging biological processes in a digital environment.

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