Science Education Research Journal Club papers

• Possible future papers
• Links to other websites
• Library of other papers of interest

For the papers below, I've highlighted a few that I feel led to the most interesting discussions, the ones we keep referring back to. For newer people in the group, you may enjoy going back to read those particular papers. For that matter, we could always re-read them from time to time.

2011

• Thursday, April 21, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "The myth of the superhuman professor"
    R Felder, J. Engr. Ed. 82, 105-110 (1994).
  • The difficulty of being excellent at both teaching and research. (15)
• Thursday, April 14, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "How to choose a good scientific problem"
    U Alon, Mol. Cell 35, 726-728 (2009).
  • "How to build a motivated research group"
    U Alon, Mol. Cell 37, 151-152 (2010).
  • "How to give a good talk"
    U Alon, Mol. Cell 36, 165-167 (2009).
  • We'll read the first two ("problem" and "group"). (8)
• Thursday, March 31, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Mentoring Teaching Assistants"
    S Gorovitz, online article: Inside Higher Ed, January 7, 2011.
  • Suggested by Sandra. How to train TA's to teach and grade. (8)
• Thursday, March 24, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Towards Improving the Integration of Undergraduate Biology and Mathematics Education"
    C Bergevin, J. Microbiology & Biology Ed. 11, 28-33 (2010).
  • Suggested by Bob. About quantitative biology. (4)
• Thursday, March 17, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • Two short related papers:
  • "Application of Bloom's taxonomy debunks the 'MCAT myth'"
    AY Zheng, JK Lawhorn, T Lumley, S Freeman, Science 319, 414-415 (2008).
  • Turns out, the MCAT does test critical thinking. (7)
  • "Learning and scientific reasoning"
    L Bao et al., Science 323, 586-587 (2009).
  • Comparision of first-year college students in US and China. In China, they know much more physics, but the level of scientific reasoning is equivalent between the two groups. "The results suggest that the large differences in K-12 STEM education... do not cause much variation in student's scientific-reasoning abilities."
• Thursday, March 3, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Valuing and evaluating teaching in academic hiring: A multidisciplinary, cross-institutional study"
    D Meizlish & M Kaplan, J. Higher Ed. 79, 489-512 (2008).
  • Suggested by Lydia. How important is teaching in decisions about academic hiring, and how is it assessed? (11)
• Thursday, February 24, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "The positive and negative effects of science concept tests on student conceptual understanding"
    C-Y Chang, T-K Yeh and JP Barufaldi, Int. J. Sci. Ed. 32, 265-282 (2010).
  • Testing helps you learn. Suggested by Rachelle. (10)
• Thursday, February 17, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Retrieval practice produces more learning than elaborate studying with concept mapping"
    JD Karpicke & JR Blunt, Sciencexpress (2011).
  • supporting online material
  • Testing helps you learn. Suggested by Rachelle. (10)
• Thursday, February 10, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • How to prepare better tests: Guidelines for university faculty"
    BB Zimmerman, RR Sudweeks, MF Shelly, and B Wood, BYU Testing Services (1990). 16 pages + references.
  • From Brigham Young University, advice about writing exams. Suggested by Pat. (11)
• Thursday, February 3, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Biology concept inventories: Overview, status, and next steps"
    C D'Avanzo, BioScience 58, 1079-1085 (2008).
  • "Recent research in science teaching and learning"
    E Dolan, CBE-Life Sci Ed 9, 76-77 (2010).
  • Review article on concept inventories, and a brief article surveying some recent literature on concept inventories. Suggested by Bob. (8)
• Thursday, January 27, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Reducing the gender achievement gap in college science: A classroom study of values affirmation"
    A Miyake, LE Kost-Smith, ND Finkelstein, SJ Pollock, GL Cohen, TA Ito, Science 330, 1234-1237 (2010).
  • "A brief psychological intervention may be a promising way to address the gender gap in science performance and learning." Suggested by Gray.
• Thursday, January 20, 2:45 pm (2011)
  • "Promoting student-centered active learning in lectures with a personal response system
    SA Gauci, AM Dantas, DA Williams & RE Kemm, Advan. Physiol. Educ. 33, 60-71 (2009).
  • Very careful study of clicker use; suggested by Bob. (12)

• Wednesday, December 1, 2:45 pm (2010)
  • "Exploring the color of glass: Letters of recommendation for female and male medical faculty"
    F Trix & C Psenka, Discourse & Society 14, 191-220 (2003).
    
  • Suggested by Eric. Study of 300 recommendation letters, finding nontrivial differences between letters written for men and for women. (12)
• Wednesday, November 17, 2:45 pm (2010)
  • "Computing has changed biology -- Biology education must catch up"
    P Pevzner & R Shamir, Science 325, 541-542 (2009).
    "Mathematical biology education: Beyond calculus"
    R Robeva & R Laubenbacher, Science 325, 542-543 (2009).
    "Revising the AP Biology curriculum"
    WB Wood, Science 325, 1627-1628 (2009).
  • Suggested by Bob. Three short articles on biology & math. (9)
• Wednesday, November 10, 2:45 pm (2010)
  • "Teaching 'Grade 13'"
    DM Perry & KE Kennedy, Chron. Higher Ed. (Dec 13, 2009).
  • Suggested by Rick. Should we offer remedial classes for undergrads? Rick also raises a similar question for graduate students. (12)
  • ACT report mentioned in the article
  • Interesting news article about a pre-freshman-year academic boot camp
• Wednesday, November 3, 2:45 pm (2010)
  • "MathBench Biology Modules: Web-based math for all biology undergraduates"
    KC Nelson, G Marbach-Ad, K Schneider, KV Thompson, PA Shields, & WF Fagan, J. College Sci. Teaching, pages 34-39, March/April 2009.
  • In this series of interactive, web-based modules, students are introduced to the mathematical underpinnings of introductory biology in an informal but powerful way. Suggested by Pat Marsteller. (7)
• Wednesday, October 27, 2:45 pm
  • "Teaching Naked: Why removing technology from your classroom will improve student learning"
    JA Bowen, National Teaching & Learning Forum 16, 1-15 (2006).
  • Use technology outside of class to make class time more effective than just lecturing. Suggested by Bob.
• Wednesday, October 20, 2:45 pm
  • "Survey of 12 strategies to measure teaching effectiveness"
    RA Berk, Int. J. Teach. Learn. Higher Ed. 17, 48-62 (2005).
  • Suggested by David Lynn. How do we know if someone's a good teacher, besides just student ratings? Amusing and readable. (10)
• Wednesday, October 13, 2:45 pm
  • "Education ambivalence"
    editorial in Nature 465, 525-526 (2010).
  • Suggested by Karla. One page. Subtitle: "Academic scientists value teaching as much as research -- but universities apparently don't." (10)
  • "Galvanizing science departments"
    C Wieman, Science 325, 1181 (2009).
  • Suggested by Bob. One page editorial, how to get science departments to change their culture of teaching. Wieman's website also has suggestions for pedagogical change.
• Wednesday, October 6, 2:45 pm
  • "Advice for new faculty teaching undergraduate science"
    AL Smith & SL Keller, J. Chem. Ed. 83, 401-406 (2006).
  • Not research based, but contains lots of logistic tips for teaching large intro science courses. Suggested by Eric. (12)
• Wednesday, September 29, 2:45 pm
  • "The problem of revealing how students think: Concept inventories and beyond"
    JI Smith & K Tanner, CBE-Life Sciences Ed. 9, 1-5 (2010). Suggested by David Lynn and Pat Marsteller. Intro to concept inventories; what do they actually measure; what are other approaches? (12)
• Wednesday, September 22, 2:45 pm -- WE DO NOT HAVE THE USUAL ROOM
  • "Peer instruction enhanced meaningful learning: ability to solve novel problems"
    RN Cortright, HL Collins, SE DiCarlo, Adv. Physiol. Educ. 29, 107-111 (2005). Suggested by Bob. Used a version of peer instruction, shows learning gains. (9)
• Wednesday, September 15, 2:45 pm -- WE DO NOT HAVE THE USUAL ROOM; we'll meet in the Math/Science Center room E200
  • "Does professor quality matter? Evidence from random assignment of students to professors"
    SE Carrell & JE West, J. Political Economy 118, 409-432 (2010). "...our results show that student evaluations reward professors who increase achievement in the contemporaneous course being taught, not those who increase deep learning." Suggested by Bob. (14)
• Wednesday, September 8, 2010, 2:45 pm
  • "Arguing to learn in science: The role of collaborative, critical discourse"
    J Osborne, Science 328, 463-466 (2010). "Argument and debate are common in science, yet they are virtually absent from science education." Discusses ways to fix.
• Wednesday, September 1, 2:45 pm
  • "Innovations in teaching undergraduate biology and why we need them"
    WB Wood, Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 25, 93-112 (2009).
  • Nice review article. Suggested by Bob. (17)
• Friday, April 30, 2010, 1:45 pm
  • Discussion about our individual plans to improve our teaching, and perhaps assess our efforts, ultimately leading to publications... (13)
• Friday, April 23, 1:45 pm
  • "Replacing lecture with peer-led workshops improves student learning"
    RW Preszler, CBE Life Sciences Education 8, 182-192 (2009).
  • Used a hybrid of case-studies and peer-led team learning to replace one lecture each week in introductory biology. Suggested by Bob. (9)
• Friday, April 16, 1:45 pm
  • "Pedagogies of engagement in science"
    T Eberlein, J Kampmeier, V Minderhout, RS Moog, T Platt, P Varma-Nelson, & HB White, Biochemistry & Molecular Bio. Ed. 36, 262-273 (2008).
  • A comparison of PBL, POGIL, and PLTL -- what do these acronyms mean, and which might be best for you? (11)
• Friday, April 9, 2010, 1:45 pm
  • "Physics faculty and educational researchers: Divergent expectations as barriers to the diffusion of innovations" C Henderson & MH Dancy, AJP 76, 79-91 (2008). Journal.
  • Why does science education research have so little influence on how science is taught? Suggested by Eric. (13)
• Friday, April 2, 1:45 pm
  • "National differences in gender-science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement" BA Nosek et al., PNAS 106, 10593-10597 (2009).
  • Looks at 34 countries; comprehensive psychology study. Suggested by Gray. (6)
• Friday, February 26, 1:45 pm
  • "Disciplinary Research Strategies for Assessment of Learning"
    D Ebert-May, J Batzli, & H Lim, Bioscience 53, 1221-1228 (2003). Journal.
  • How to do assessment in science courses, useful to think about as Emory approaches the SACS reaccreditation.
• Friday, February 19, 1:45 pm
  • "The effects of linear and quadratic drag on falling spheres: an undergraduate laboratory"
    JP Owen & WS Ryu, Eur. J. Phys. 26, 1085-1091 (2005). Journal.
  • Designing an integrated science lab activity. The second author, Will Ryu, will be here on Friday and hopefully will be at our journal club. Suggested by Ilya. (14)
• Friday, February 12, 2010, 1:45 pm
  • "'Deconstructing' scientific research: A practical and scalable pedagogical tool to provide evidence-based science instruction"
    IE Clark, R Romero-Calderon, JM Olson, L Jaworski, D Lopatto, and U Banerjee, PLoS Biol 7:e1000264 (2009).
  • Suggested by Chris. How to get large numbers of students understanding the research process, by seeing a research seminar and then spending a few weeks discussing the background of the seminar. (6)
• Friday, February 5, 1:45 pm
  • TWO short related articles:
  • "Introducing ill-structured problems in introductory physics recitations"
    V Shekoyan & E Etkina, 2007 Phys. Ed. Res. Conference, 192-195 (2007).
  • "Ready, SET, Go!" B. Korsunsky, Phys. Teach. 42, 493-497 (2004). journal.
  • These two short articles discuss the idea of using unusually challenging problems to teach students problem-solving techniques. 1st suggested by Pat, 2nd by Eric as a related article.
• Friday, January 29, 1:45 pm

  "Learning styles: Concepts and Evidence" H Pashler, M McDaniel, D Rohrer, and R Bjork, PSPI 9, 105-119 (2008). Related Chronicle of Higher Ed article Suggested by Chris. Should instructional methods match students' learning styles? Turns out there is little evidence that this popular idea works. (18)

• Friday, January 22, 1:45 pm
  • "Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians"
    Report of the AAMC-HHMI Committee, 2009.
  • Pre-med students should learn "competencies" rather than specific set courses. Pages 24-35 of the PDF are the most relevant for our discussion. (19)

• Wednesday, December 2, 2:45 pm
  • "Depth versus breadth: How content coverage in high school science courses relates to later success in college science coursework"
    MS Schwartz, PM Sadler, G Sonnert, RH Tai, Science Education 93, 798-826 (2008). Journal webpage.
  • 26 pages + references. Covering at least one topic in depth in high school science classes will improve your science grades in college. Coverage that's a mile wide and an inch deep is not good. Suggested by Bob and Rachelle. (8)
• Wednesday, November 18, 2:45 pm
  • "Helping educational reforms to succeed in a microbiology department"
    VS Lee & M Hyman, Microbe 4, 219-223 (2009).
  • "...several internal factors are critical to the success of reform measures, including departmental vision, a need for a change, collegiality, support for the teaching mission, and access to outside resources." Suggested by Gray Crouse. (8)
• Wednesday, November 11, 2:45 pm
  • A recent (Sep - Nov 2009) debate about what to teach nonscience students: (18)
  • "Physics for the non-scientist: A middle way"
    M Sobel, The Physics Teacher 47, 346-349 (2009). Journal page.
  • "Are most people too dumb for physics?"
    N Lasry, N Finkelstein, & E Mazur, The Physics Teacher 47, 418-422 (2009). Journal page.
  • "Response to 'Are most people too dumb for physics?'"
    M Sobel, The Physics Teacher 47, 422-423 (2009). Journal page.
  • "What should we expect students to learn" (letter to the editor)
    N Finkelstein, E Mazur, & N Lasry, The Physics Teacher 47, 484 (2009). Journal page.
• Wednesday, November 4, 2:45 pm
  • "Best practices for designing and grading exams"
    M Piontek, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching / Occasional Paper #24 (2008).
  • Advice on how to construct good multiple choice questions. Suggested by Bob DeHaan. (11)
• Wednesday, October 28, 2:45 pm
  • "Does faculty research improve undergraduate teaching?"
    MJ Prince, RM Felder, R Brent, J. Eng. Ed. 96, 283-294 (2007).
  • Can research support teaching in principle and has it been shown to do so in practice? Suggested by Pat. (15)
  • "On the bottom line, good teaching tops good research"
    F Heppner, Chron. of Higher Ed., March 13, 2009.
  • Brief article forwarded by Gray. Points out economic impact of good teaching, related to retention issues.
• Wednesday, October 21, 2:45 pm

  "Stereotype threat and the intellectual test-performance of African-Americans" CM Steele & J Aronson, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 69, 797 (1995). Classic article on identity threat.

• Wednesday, October 14, 2:45 pm
  • "Reducing the racial achievement gap: A social-psychological intervention"
    GL Cohen, J Garcia, N Apfel, & A Master, Science 313, 1307 (2006).
  • Article on identity threat and an intervention that diminishes the problem. (9).
• Wednesday, October 7, 3 pm
  • No meeting today. Instead, some of us will attend this talk: In Room 102 of Emory's Center for Ethics, the Laney Graduate School will host Professor Tina Gunsalus for a discussion on Research Integrity: National Issues, Local Challenges. The discussion will examine the national policy environment leading to federal regulation of research integrity in universities, raising engaging questions about how we regulate ourselves in this critical area. Professor Gunsalus is a lively and energetic presenter hailing from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and the discussion promises to be entertaining and informative.
• Wednesday, September 30, 2:45 pm
  • Note new location!! See above!!
  • "Teaching Creativity and Inventive Problem Solving in Science"
    RL DeHaan, CBE Life Sci Educ 8, 172-181 (2009).
  • What is creativity, and how can we "promote creative thinking in scientific problem solving"? (13)
• Wednesday, September 23, 2:45 pm
  • "A statistical analysis of student questions in a cell biology laboratory"
    EL Keeling, KM Polacek, & EL Ingram, CBE Life Sci Educ 8, 131-139 (2009).
  • Studied senior bio majors. Do they ask sophisticated questions? Not often. Might be very useful to read to help us think about assessment issues for SACS. (8)
• Wednesday, September 16, 2009 -- 2:45 pm
  • "Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results"
    CH Crouch & E Mazur, Am J Phys 69, 970-977 (2001). Journal link.
  • From the folks who introduced many physics teachers to clickers. (17)
• Wednesday, September 9, 3 pm
  • "A delicate balance: Integrating active learning into a large lecture course"
    JD Walker, SH Cotner, PM Baepler, & MD Decker, CBE Life Sci Educ 7, 361-367 (2008).
  • Pros and cons of active learning; compares two sections of intro bio, one with active methods and one more traditional. Link to journal (17)
• Friday, May 8, noon at Saba
  • "A directed framework for integrating ethics into chemistry curricula and programs using real and fictional case studies"
    ER Fisher & NE Levinger, J. Chem. Ed. 85, 796-801 (2008). -- Journal page, with supplemental material
  • How to facilitate discussions of case studies; case studies for different levels of students.
  • "Reasons scientists avoid thinking about ethics"
    PR Wolpe, Cell 125, 1023 (2006).
  • NIH now requires ethics be taught to grad students in programs it funds; what should we be teaching?
• Thursday, April 23, 2:45 pm
  • "The value of animations in biology teaching: A study of long-term memory retention"
    DH O'Day, CBE-Life Sciences Ed. 6, 217-223 (2007).
  • Animations are more effective than graphics, even without captions or narration. Thus, web-based materials can work.
• Thursday, April 9, 2:45 pm
  • "Preparing students to participate in an active learning environment"
    HI Modell, Advances in Physiology Education 15, 69-77 (1996).
  • How to convince students that active learning is good. (7)
• Thursday, March 26, 2:45 pm
  • "The Poor and the Rich: A Look at Economic Stratification and Academic Performance Among Undergraduate Students in the United States"
    JA Douglass & G Thomson, Center for Studies in Higher Education, CSHE.15.08 (2008). link to website
  • Experiences of lower-income students. "Low income" and "first generation" are found not to be synonomous.
• Thursday, February 26, 2:45 pm (note time)
  • Discussion of teaching evaluations -- read through these two powerpoint presentations for additional information
    • 1st powerpoint presentation (from ISSOTL)
    • 2nd powerpoint presentation (from "TEHE")
• Thursday, February 12, 2:45 pm (note shifting to a slightly earlier time; we will discuss the first two articles)
  • NYT article -- "In 'Geek Chic' and Obama, New Hope for Lifting Women in Science"
    N Angier, New York Times (January 19, 2009) -- link to plaintext version if you don't want to register to the NYT website
  • "Problems in the pipeline: Gender, marriage, and fertility in the ivory tower"
    NH Wolfinger, MA Mason, M Goulden, J. Higher Ed. 79, 388-403 (2008).
  • This second article is by two people mentioned in the NYT article (Mason & Goulden).
  • Optional 3rd article: "Discovering directions for change in higher education through the experiences of senior women faculty"
    J Sheridan, PF Brennan, M Carnes, & J Handelsman, J. Tech. Transfer 31, 387-396 (2006).
  • This third article interviewed women faculty -- what factors have influenced their careers, what could help in the future? This article may not be as relevant for us, we will probably focus the discussion on the Wolfinger et al. article.
• Thursday, January 29, 3 pm

  "Biology in Bloom: Implementing Bloom's Taxonomy to Enhance Student Learning in Biology" Alison Crowe, Clarissa Dirks, and Mary Pat Wenderoth CBE Life Sci Educ 2008;7 368-381 Implementation of the BBT helped us to adjust our teaching to better enhance our students' current mastery of the material, design questions at higher cognitive skills levels, and assist students in studying for college-level exams and in writing study questions at higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy.

• Thursday, January 15, 3 pm
  • "Clickers in the large classroom: Current research and best-practice tips"
    JE Caldwell, CBE Life Sci Educ 6, 9-20 (2007).
  • Review article summarizing clicker research (13)

2008

• Thursday, December 18, 1 pm -- note special time
  • "The Genetics Concept Assessment: A New Concept Inventory for Gauging Student Understanding of Genetics"
    Michelle K. Smith, William B. Wood, and Jennifer K. Knight CBE Life Sci Educ 2008;7 422-430
  • A new concept inventory, I'll bring paper copies of the inventory to the discussion.
• Thursday, December 4, 2 pm

  "Comparing students' and experts' understanding of the content of a lecture" Z Hrepic, DA Zollman, NS Rebello J. Sci. Ed. Tech. 16, 213-224 (2007). Students & experts watch the same lecture and hear quite different things. (9)

• Thursday, Nov 13, 2 pm
  • "Effects of an active learning environment: Teaching innovations at a Research 1 institution"
    MT Oliver-Hoyo, D Allen, WF Hunt, J Hutson, & A Pitts, J. Chem. Ed. 81, 441-448 (2004).
  • SCALE-UP for chemistry ("Student-Centered Activites for Large Enrollment-Undergraduate Programs").
• Thursday, Oct 30, 2 pm
  • "Teaching evolution (and all of biology) more effectively: Strategies for engagement, critical reasoning, and confronting misconceptions"
    CE Nelson, Integrative & Comparative Biology, 1-13 (2008).
  • Also mentions "the false dichotomy ... between atheistic evolution versus religious creationism." (9)
• Thursday, Oct 16, 2 pm
  • "Nanocourses: A short course format as an educational tool in a biological sciences graduate curriculum"
    AM Bentley, S Artavanis-Tsakonas, & JS Stanford, CBE-Life Sci. Ed. 7, 175-183 (2008).
  • Some topics don't merit a full-semester approach. Short courses may be easier to implement.
• Thursday, Oct 2, 2 pm
  • "Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention"
    LS Blackwell, HK Trzesniewski, & CS Dweck, Child Development 78, 246-263 (2007).
  • Students who think their intelligence is fixed give up sooner; students who think intelligence can be improved will work harder and do better. Study of junior high students. (12)
• Thursday, Sept 18, 2 pm
  • "Using clickers in nonmajors- and majors-level biology courses: student opinion, learning, and long-term retention of course material"
    K Crossgrove & KL Curran, CBE-Life Sciences Education 7, 146-154 (2008).
  • Title says it all
• April 30, 3 pm
  • "An evaluation of the mathematics workshop program"
    RE Fullilove & PU Treisman, J. Negro Education 59, 463 (1990)
  • subtitle: Mathematics achievement among African American undergraduates at the University of California, Berkeley
• April 16, 3 pm
  • "University students' activities, thinking and learning during laboratory work"
    C von Aufschnaiter & S von Aufschnaiter, Eur. J. Phys. 28, S51-S60 (2007).
  • How do introductory labs help students connect concepts to their lab activities? What do they learn from labs? (8)
• April 2, 3 pm (2008)
  • "The role of metacognition in learning chemistry"
    D Rickey & AM Stacy, J. Chem. Ed. 77, 915-920 (2000).
  • Students thinking about their thinking: very important; what role should instructors play in this? (8)
• March 19, 3 pm
  • "Unintended consequences: How science professors discourage women of color"
    AC Johnson, Sci. Ed. 91, 805-821 (2007).
  • Interviews with 16 science students, who were discouraged by their intro science classes
  • PowerPoint talk by Angela Johnson -- includes information on "where are they now?" for the students she interviewed, near end of presentation
• February 27, 3 pm
  • "Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one's own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments"
    J Kruger & D Dunning, J. Personality & Social Psych. 77, 1121-1134 (1999).
  • Student peer review may fail because poor students don't recognize the traits of better students (5)
• February 13, 3 pm

  "Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences" E Seymour & NM Hewitt, pages 24-31, 88-115 (Westview Press, 1997). Interviews with undergrads, both those who switched out of science majors, and those who stayed. (11)

• January 30, 3 pm
  • "Identifying future scientists: Predicting persistence into research training"
    R McGee & JL Keller, CBE Life Sci Educ 6, 316-331 (2007).
  • Differences between pre-med and pre-PhD undergrads who are doing summer research programs. (12)

• December 12, 3 pm
  • informal discussion on grade distributions in Emory's introductory science classes. (12)
• December 5, 3 pm
  • "Exploring Scientific Literacy at Emory" -- talk by Jordan Rose (20)
• November 28, 3 pm
  • "They're not dumb, they're different", by Sheila Tobias. Pages 71-93 this week (finishing the book). (5)
• November 14, 3 pm
  • "They're not dumb, they're different", by Sheila Tobias. Pages 33-70 this week. (8)
• October 31, 3 pm
  • "They're not dumb, they're different", by Sheila Tobias. Pages 1-32 this week. (9)
• October 17, 3 pm
  • "PhET: Interactive simulations for teaching and learning physics"
    K Perkins, W Adams, M Dubson, N Finkelstein, S Reid, C Wieman, & R LeMaster, The Physics Teacher 44, 18-23 (2006).
  • "A powerful tool for teaching science"
    CE Wieman & KK Perkins, Nature Phys. 2, 290-292 (2006).
  • The first article introduces the PhET simulations, with lots of pictures. The second discusses some of the testing and validation done to develop the simulations. (5)
  • PhET website -- try the simulations yourself!
• October 3, 3 pm
  • "Prescribed active learning increases performance in introductory biology"
    S Freeman et al., BE-Life Sciences Ed. 6, 132-139 (2007).
  • Clickers help, and they tested various ways of using clickers (8)
• September 19, 3 pm
  • Force Concept Inventory
    D Hestenes, M Wells, & G Swackhamer, The Physics Teacher 30, 141 (1992)
  • The most famous concept inventory in physics (13)
    Related work:
  • "What does the FCI actually measure?"
    D Huffman & P Heller, The Physics Teacher 33, 138 (1995)
  • "Interpreting the FCI: A response"
    D Hestenes & I Halloun, The Physics Teacher 33, 502 (1995)
  • "Interpreting the FCI: A reply"
    P Heller & D Huffman, The Physics Teacher 33, 503 (1995)
• September 5, 3 pm
  • "A discussion group program enhances the conceptual reasoning skills of students enrolled in a large lecture-format introductory biology course"
    MA Peteroy-Kelly, J. Microbiology & Biology Education 8, 13-21 (2007).
  • Adding a discussion component to a lecture course is very helpful (9)
  • Note that the PDF file is the whole issue of the journal, the article to read is only pages 13-21.
• April 24, 4 pm
  • "Implication of cognitive studies for teaching physics"
    EF Redish
    American Journal of Physics 62, 796 (1994).
  • Joe Redish gave the physics dept colloquium on Monday, April 30
  • How people understand and learn, and what implications this has for how we teach. Joe suggested this article as the most relevant for his colloquium topic. (8)
• April 17, 4 pm
  • "The writing approaches of university students"
    E Lavelle and N Zuercher
    Higher Education 42, 373-391 (2001).
  • How college students write, and how they think about themselves as writers. (5)
• April 10, 4 pm
  • "When learning about the real world is better done virtually..."
    ND Finkelstein et al.
    preprint.
  • Students simulated building circuits on the computer can then build real circuits as fast, if not faster, than those who took an actual lab. (5)
  • Noah gave the physics department colloquium April 20
• April 3, 4 pm
  • "Infusing active learning into the large-enrollment biology class"
    D Allen & K Tanner
    Cell Bio. Ed. 4, 262-268 (2005)
  • Subtitled "Seven strategies, from the simple to complex" (3)
• March 27, 4 pm
  • "Success and diversity: The transition through first-year calculus in the university"
    SE Moreno & C Muller, Am. J. Ed. 108, 30 (1999).
  • Univ. of Texas at Austin implements program to help students succeed in calculus (3)
• March 20, 4 pm
  • "Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping: Part 2"
    P Heller, R Keith, S Anderson
    Am. J. Phys. 60, 627 (1992)
  • Subtitled "Designing problems and structuring groups" (5)
• March 14, 1 - 2:30 pm -- special location, MSC W201
  • "Developing tools and strategies to assess student learning"
  • This is an online seminar, the Center for Science Education has paid the fee. (10)
• February 27, 4 pm
  • "Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping: Part 1"
    P Heller, R Keith, S Anderson
    Am. J. Phys. 60, 627 (1992)
  • Subtitled "Group vs individual problem solving" (5)
• February 20, 4 pm
  • "'Clicker' Cases: Introducing case study teaching into large classrooms"
    CF Herreid
    J. College Sci. Teaching 36, 43-47 (2006).
  • Using clickers for interactive case studies. (8)
• February 13, 4 pm
  • "The interrupted case method" -- editorial about next article
    CF Herreid
    J. College Sci. Teaching 35, 4 (2005).
  • "Mom always liked you best"
    CF Herreid
    J. College Sci. Teaching 35, 10-14 (2005).
  • Example of case studies in the classroom. (6)
• February 6, 4 pm
  • "Another reason that physics students learn by rote"
    A Elby
    Phys. Educ. Res., Am. J. Phys. Suppl. 67, S52 (1999)
  • Mismatch between how students study and how they would study if they only cared about learning (not grades). (5)
• January 30, 4 pm

  "Teaching more by lecturing less" JK Knight and WB Wood Cell Biol Educ. 4, 298 (2005) Using clickers in large biology classes, and measuring how effective this is (12) PubMed link

• January 24, 3 pm -- note special day & time
  • "Barriers to the use of research-based instructional strategies..."
    C Henderson & MH Dancy
    preprint.
  • The gap between what we (instructors) would like to do in class, and what we actually do. (9)
  • Henderson was the physics colloquium speaker for Friday, January 26
• January 16, 4 pm (2007)
  • "Reverse engineering the solution of a "simple" physics problem: Why learning physics is harder than it looks"
    EF Redish, RE Scherr, J Tuminaro
    preprint.
  • Students taking an hour to solve a simple problem. (9)

Possible future papers:

• "Does active learning work? A review of the research"
  M Prince
  J. Engineering Education 223-231 (July 2004).
  • Evidence that case-based learning works. NB
• "Assessment of the effects of student response systems..."
  RW Preszler, A Dawe, CB Shuster, & M Shuster, CBE Life Sci Educ 6, 29-41 (2007).
  • Examines learning & attitudes in biology courses. NB
• "Fostering integrative problem solving in biomedical engineering: The PBL approach"
  WC Newstetter, Annals of Biomed. Eng. 34, 217-225 (2006).
  • Author is at Georgia Tech; Bob suggests inviting her for a discussion. VS says rigorous & details how-to paper.
• "Teaching effectiveness research in the past decade"
  T Seidel & RJ Shavelson, Rev. of Educational Research 77, 454-499 (2007).
  • A highly sophisticated and expert meta-analysis. NB
• "Reasoning across ontologically distinct levels: Students' understandings of molecular genetics"
  RG Duncan & BJ Reiser, J. Res. Sci. Teach. 44, 938-959 (2007).
  • Genetics! Studies 10th graders. JM
• "Are our brains wired for math?"
  J Holt, New Yorker (March 3, 2008).
  • According to Stanislas Dehaene, humans have an inbuilt number sense capable of some basic calculations and estimates. The problems start when we learn mathematics and have to perform procedures that are anything but instinctive... AV
• "Engaging student learning in science through writing tasks"
  TF Slater, Phys. Teacher 46, 123-125 (2008).
  • Variety of ideas about using short writing assignments to enhance student learning.
• "Cooperative study teams in mathematics classrooms"
  C Toumasis, Int. J. Math. Educ. Sci. Technol. 35, 669-679 (2004).
  • Details on forming study groups within a classroom setting. DK
• "Essay contest reveals misconceptions of high school students in genetic content"
  KR Mills Shaw, K Van Horne, H Zhang, & J Boughman, Genetics 178, 1157-1168 (2008).
  • "Our analysis reveals the nature of student misconceptions in genetics, the possible sources of these misconceptions, and potential ways to galvanize genetics education." JM
• "Teaching information evaluation and critical thinking skills in physics classes"
  A Popescu & J Morgan, TPT 45, 507-510 (2007). Journal.
  • Library skills for the internet age; might want to pair this article with a 2nd one with more depth.
• "Integrating Policy and Decision Making into Undergraduate Science Education"
  JB Labov and NF Huddleston, CBE Life Sci Educ 7, 347-352 (2008)
• "Encouraging Minority Undergraduates to Choose Science Careers: Career Paths Survey Results
  M Villarejo, AEL Barlow, D Kogan, BD Veazey, & JK Sweeney, CBE Life Sci Educ 7, 394-409 (2008).
  • PM says excellent
• "Self-entitled college students: Contributions of personality, parenting, and motivational factors"
  E Greenberger, J Lessard, C Chen, and SP Farruggia, J. Youth & Adolescence 37, 1193-1204 (2008). Journal.
  • Why do students think they are entitled to good grades? AV
  • Related New York Times article
• "Women's underrepresentation in science: sociocultural and biological considerations"
  SJ Ceci, WM Williams, & SM Barnett, Psych. Bull. 135, 218-261 (2009).
  • Math-proficient women disproportionately prefer non-math careers; they are more likely to be multiply-talented and thus have more career choices. Long article, might want to read some subportion of it. Suggested by Cathy. KP
• "Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty"
  National Academies Press (2009).
  • Book, costs about $44. "This book paints a timely picture of the status of female faculty at top universities, clarifies whether male and female faculty have similar opportunities to advance and succeed in academia, challenges some commonly held views, and poses several questions still in need of answers."
• "Teaching and learning in the interactive classroom"
  DU Silverthorn, Adv. Physiol. Educ. 30, 135-140 (2006).
  • Claude Bernard Distinguished Lecture: How students have changed, why interactive learning is crucial, how to get students to enjoy interactive learning, etc. Suggested by Bob. DR says personal narrative, good but not peer-reviewed, might be suitable for start of semester.
• "Technology's effect on achievement in higher education: a Stage I meta-analysis of classroom applications"
  RF Schmid, RM Bernard, E Borokhovski, R Tamim, PC Abrami, CA Wade, MA Surkes, & G Lowerison, J. Comput. High. Educ. 21, 95-109 (2009).
  • Suggested by Bob, who writes: "In case some of us want to consider heavier use of computers as a teaching tool, here is a meta-analysis that should give us pause, or at least inform such a decision. DK
• " Student rating myths versus research facts"
  LM Aleamoni, J. Personnel Evaluation in Education 1, 111-119 (1987).
  • Suggested by Eric. Need to skim to see if it's worth reading.
• "Comparison of views of the nature of science between natural science and nonscience majors"
  MC Desaulniers Miller, LM Montplaisir, EG Offerdahl, F-C Cheng, & GL Ketterling, CBE-Life Sci Ed 9, 45-54 (2010).
  • Suggested by Pat. Also looks at how instruction changes these views. AV
• Coherence, truth, and the development of scientific knowledge
  P Thagard, Philos. Sci. 74, 28-47 (2007).
  • Suggested by Bob. What is scientific knowledge? A rather philosophical paper, might be too philosophical for us.
• "The Genomics Education Partnership: Successful integration of research into laboratory classes at a diverse group of undergraduate institutions"
  CD Shaffer et al, CBE-Life Sci Ed 9, 55-69 (2010).
  • Suggested by Pat. Students do genomics, contribute data to a large ongoing project. VS says well-organized study, but article is genomics-jargon-heavy.
• "Blogging in the physics classroom: A research-based approach to shaping students' attitudes toward physics"
  G Duda & K Garrett, AJP 76, 1054-1065 (2008). journal.
  • Suggested by Eric. Add a blog, give students extra credit for writing good comments to blog entries: improves excitement about physics.
  • Related article Karla suggested.
• Short:"Why testing improves memory: Mediator effectiveness hypothesis"
  MA Pyc & KA Rawson, Science 330, 335 (2010).
  • One page, discusses how (and possibly why) testing improves memory. Perhaps pair with a longer paper, perhaps Ref. 2? Suggested by Bob. CB
• Two short related papers:
  • "Making genetics easy to understand"
    LA Stark & K Pompei, Science 327, 538-539 (2010).
  • Suggested by Bob. Two pages, discusses two websites. CB
  • "The advantage of abstract examples in learning math"
    JA Kaminski, VM Sloutsky, AF Heckler, Science 320, 454-455 (2008).
  • When it comes to teaching mathematical concepts, abstract formulas may be more effective than the familiar examples of speeding trains and tossed coins favored by algebra instructors. CB
• Two short related papers:
  • "Performance-based data in the study of STEM Ph.D. education"
    DF Feldon, MA Maher, & BA Timmerman, Science 329, 282-283 (2010).
  • Suggested by Pat. Short editorial on graduate education and how we should be more evidence-based rather than anecdotal. CB
  • "Changing the culture of science education at research universities"
    WA Anderson et al, Science 331, 152-153 (2011).
  • Suggested by Nancy Ruggeri and Pat. Editorial with concrete suggestions. CB
  • Supporting online material -- list of other resources, not something to read
• "Evidence for a Collective Intelligence Factor in the Performance of Human Groups
  A Williams Wooley et al, Science 330, 686-688 (2010).
  • Suggested by Chris. Small groups working together are smarter than the smartest individual; in fact, the maximum individual intelligence is not correlated with the group success, but other factors are.
• Bob suggested a paper by J. Skowronek, B Friesen, and H Masonjones.
  • He sent me a preprint 2/1/2010, I'd rather wait until it's published in the the International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching & Learning. Hasn't shown up yet (8/16/10).
• "Science in solution: The impact of undergraduate research on student learning"
  D Lopatto, published by Research Corporation for Science Advancement (2009).
  • Read Chapter 3 (pages 29-48), "The benefits of undergraduate research". Suggested by Pat.
• "Effects of small-group learning on undergraduates in STEM: A meta-analysis"
  L Springer, ME Stanne, and SS Donovan, Rev. of Ed. Research, 69, 21-51 (1999). 23 pages + references etc.
  • "Small group learning is clearly successful... and holds promise for improving undergraduate STEM education." Suggested by Pat.
• Two papers that go together:
  • "Confronting psychological misconceptions in the classroom: Challenges and rewards"
    Scott O. Lilienfeld, Observer 23 (2010).
  • "Teaching evolution (and all of biology) more effectively: Strategies for engagement, critical reasoning, and confronting misconceptions"
    CE Nelson, Integrative & Comparative Bio., doi:10.1093/icb/icn027 (2008). 13 pages.
  • Two articles about directly addressing student misconceptions, suggested by Scott and Bob. Must make sure Scott can attend when we discuss! Hopefully Pat too, she has done similar things with her freshman seminar.
• Other ideas
  • Student critiques of courses -- how to ask for it and how to interpret or use it when you get it.
  • Talk with folks from Georgia Tech who have adopted the "Matter and Interactions" physics textbook
  • article about teaching genetics
  • Ben Freed has done podcasts & is testing iTunes University, maybe he could tell us about this
  • Several articles from Carl Wieman's group -- includes a great clicker introduction.
  • Good issue of Science Magazine with education articles