Meeting the Needs of A Changing Landscape: Advances and Challenges in Undergraduate Biology Education

Longitudinal study of teacher acceptance of mobile virtual labs

Synthesizing the advancements in technology with classroom practices depends considerably on teachers acceptance of such internet and communication technology (ICT) tools. Adequate teacher training and upgrading of their IT skills are not prioritized in developing economies leading to poor adoption of emerging technology assisted pedagogic interventions. This paper investigated the underlying characteristics of teachers acceptance of mobile friendly virtual laboratories (M-VLs) as part of a longitudinal study conducted over 5 years covering both pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. Systematic analysis of quantitative data from 650 chemistry teachers was carried out. Viewing through the theoretical lens of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) theory, the effects of performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC), hedonic motivation (HM) and habit (HA) on the behavioral intention (BI) and use behavior (UB) were scrutinized. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that PE, SI, and HA are the considerable predictors of the BI to use M-VLs and HA is the predictor of UB. The present study found HM influencing teacher's BI and UB before COVID-19. However during COVID-19 the FC influenced usage. Moreover, we found that the technology training focused on enhancing knowledge, skill and, access leads to teachers' are critical to empowering teachers and causing wider adoption.

Using Systems and Systems Thinking to Unify Biology Education

Systems, as a core and crosscutting concept in science, can serve as a unifying paradigm for biology that helps frame how biology is taught. This article presents the biology systems-thinking (BST) framework, which describes the requisite skills for thinking about biological systems.

Supporting Scientific Practice through Model-Based Inquiry: A Students'-Eye View of Grappling with Data, Uncertainty, and Community in a Laboratory Experience

Modeling is a scientific practice that supports creative reasoning, motivates inquiry, and facilitates community sense-making. This paper explores students' perspectives on modeling in an undergraduate laboratory course, Authentic Inquiry through Modeling (AIM-Bio), in which they proposed, tested, and revised their own models. We conducted comparative case studies of eight students over a semester. Students described using models to support multiple forms of scientific reasoning and hypothesis generation. They recounted the challenges of dealing with uncertainty and integrating diverse ideas. They also described how these challenges pushed their thinking. Overall, students reported feeling a sense of scientific authenticity and agency through their modeling experience. We additionally provide an in-depth look at two students whose unique experiences in AIM-Bio emphasize the variable ways modeling can support inquiry learning. We claim that modeling emerged as a legitimate practice among students, because the AIM-Bio curriculum encouraged diversity in students' models, provided opportunities for students to grapple with uncertainty, and fostered collaboration between students. We suggest that biology educators consider how model-based inquiry can allow students to participate in science, as a way to support interest in, identification with, and ultimately persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.

Bioinspiration as a method of problem-based STEM education: A case study with a class structured around the COVID-19 crisis

Bioinspiration is a promising lens for biology instruction as it allows the instructor to focus on current issues, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. From social distancing to oxygen stress, organisms have been tackling pandemic-related problems for millions of years. What can we learn from such diverse adaptations in our own applications? This review uses a seminar course on the COVID-19 crisis to illustrate bioinspiration as an approach to teaching biology content. At the start of the class, students mind-mapped the entire problem; this range of subproblems was used to structure the biology content throughout the entire class. Students came to individual classes with a brainstormed list of biological systems that could serve as inspiration for a particular problem (e.g., absorptive leaves in response to the problem of toilet paper shortages). After exploration of relevant biology content, discussion returned to the focal problem. Students dug deeper into the literature in a group project on mask design and biological systems relevant to filtration and transparency. This class structure was an engaging way for students to learn principles from ecology, evolution, behavior, and physiology. Challenges with this course design revolved around the interdisciplinary and creative nature of the structure; for instance, the knowledge of the participants was often stretched by engineering details. While the present class was focused on the COVID-19 crisis, a course structured through a bioinspired approach can be applied to other focal problems, or subject areas, giving instructors a powerful method to deliver interdisciplinary content in an integrated and inquiry-driven way.

Taking practical learning in STEM education home: Examples from do-it-yourself experiments in plant biology

Practical teaching can give authentic learning experiences and teach valuable skills for undergraduate students in the STEM disciplines. One of the main ways of giving students such experiences, laboratory teaching, is met with many challenges such as budget cuts, increased use of virtual learning, and currently the university lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight how at-home do-it-yourself (DIY) experiments can be a good way to include physical interaction with your study organism, system, or technique to give the students a practical, authentic learning experience. We hope that by outlining the benefits of a practical, at-home, DIY experiment we can inspire more people to design these teaching activities in the current remote teaching situation and beyond. By contributing two examples in the field of plant biology we enrich the database on experiments to draw inspiration from for these teaching methods.