Define Your Goals Before You Design a CURE: A Call to Use Backward Design in Planning Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences

Developing scientific literacy with a cyclic independent study assisted CURE detecting SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a high level of scientific illiteracy and mistrust that pervades the scientific and medical communities. This finding has proven the necessity of updating current methods used to expose undergraduates to research. The research in traditional course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) is limited by undergraduate time constraints, skill level, and course structure, and consequently it does not attain the learning objectives or the high-impact, relevant studies achieved in graduate-level laboratories using a cyclic trainee/trainer model. Although undergraduate independent study (ISY) research more closely matches the structure and learning objectives of graduate-level research, they are uncommon as professors and universities typically view them as a significant time and resource burden with limited return. Cyclic independent study-assisted CUREs (CIS-CUREs) combine many positive aspects of ISY graduate-level research, and CUREs by pre-training ISY research lead to facilitate CURE proposal and project semesters in a cyclic model. The CIS-CURE approach allowed undergraduate students at Stetson University to perform and disseminate more rigorous, involved, long-term, and challenging research projects, such as the surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. In doing so, all students would have the opportunity to participate in a high-impact research project and consequently gain a more comprehensive training, reach higher levels of research dissemination, and increase their competitiveness after graduating. Together, CIS-CUREs generate graduates with higher scientific literacy and thus combat scientific mistrust in communities.

Redesigning a course based undergraduate research experience for online delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic forced educators to teach in an online environment. This was particularly challenging for those teaching courses that are intended to support bench science research. This practitioner article tells the story of how an instructor transformed their Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) using the Backwards Design Method into a synchronous online course. Research objectives in this transformed course included: conducting a literature review, identifying research questions and hypotheses based on literature, and developing practical and appropriate research methodologies to test these hypotheses. We provide details on how assignments were created to walk students through the process of research study design and conclude with recommendations for the implementation of an online CURE. Recommendations made by the instructor include scaffolding the design, building opportunities for collaboration, and allowing students to fail in order to teach the value of iteration. The Backwards Design framework naturally lends itself to a scaffolded instructional approach. By identifying the learning objectives and final assessment, the learning activities can be designed to help students overcome difficult concepts by filling in the gaps with purposeful instruction and collaborative opportunities. This present course also practiced iteration through the extensive feedback offered by the instructor and opportunities for students to revise their work as their understanding deepened. Anecdotally, based on end of course reviews, students overall had a positive experience with this course. Future work will examine the efficacy of student learning in this online environment and is forthcoming.

Classification of Features across Five CURE Networks Reveals Opportunities to Improve Course Design, Instruction, and Equity

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are tools used to introduce students to authentic participation in science. Several specific CUREs have been shown to benefit students' interest and retention in the biological sciences. Nevertheless, CUREs vary greatly in terms of their context, methodology, and degree of research authenticity, so different types of CUREs may differently influence student outcomes. This programmatic diversity poses a challenge to educators who want to better understand which course components and features are reliably present in a CURE curriculum. To address these issues, we identified, catalogued, and classified 112 potential features of CUREs across the biosciences. To develop the list, we interviewed instructors experienced with teaching individual and large networked CUREs across a diversity of the biological disciplines, including: Squirrel-Net (field-based animal behavior), SEA-PHAGES (wet lab microbiology and computational microbiology), Tiny Earth (environmental and wet lab microbiology), PARE (environmental microbiology), and the Genomics Education Partnership (eukaryotic computational biology). Twenty-five interviewees contributed expert content in terms of CURE features and classification of those items into an organized list. The resulting list's categories encompasses student experiences with the following: (i) the scientific process; (ii) technical aspects of science; (iii) the professional development associated with research; and (iv) building scientific identity. The most striking insight was that CUREs vary widely in terms of which features they contain, since different CUREs will by necessity have different approaches to science and student involvement. We also identified several features commonly thought to be crucial to CUREs yet have ambiguous definitions. This ambiguity can potentially confound efforts to make CUREs research-authentic and aligned with the central goals of science. We disambiguate these terms and represent their varied meanings throughout the classification. We also provide instructor-friendly supplementary worksheets along with considerations for instructors interested in expanding their CURE course design, instruction, and equity.

A CURE on the Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance in Escherichia coli Improves Student Conceptual Understanding

We developed labs on the evolution of antibiotic resistance to assess the costs and benefits of replacing traditional laboratory exercises in an introductory biology course for majors with a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). To assess whether participating in the CURE imposed a cost in terms of exam performance, we implemented a quasi-experiment in which four lab sections in the same term of the same course did the CURE labs, while all other students did traditional labs. To assess whether participating in the CURE impacted other aspects of student learning, we implemented a second quasi-experiment in which all students either did traditional labs over a two-quarter sequence or did CURE labs over a two-quarter sequence. Data from the first experiment showed minimal impact on CURE students' exam scores, while data from the second experiment showed that CURE students demonstrated a better understanding of the culture of scientific research and a more expert-like understanding of evolution by natural selection. We did not find disproportionate costs or benefits for CURE students from groups that are minoritized in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

CUREing biochemistry lab monotony

Undergraduate research experience is critical to success in post-graduate research settings. The recent movement away from "cookbook" style labs to course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in undergraduate laboratories has allowed universities to provide inclusive research experience while bypassing the limitations of extracurricular apprenticeships. This paper describes an upper-level biochemistry CURE designed to provide students with an introductory experience to graduate-level research by studying a suspected DNA helicase. This CURE is designed to span multiple semesters, where each student cohort builds upon the work of previous semesters. Pre- and post-course surveys were employed to assess student confidence in bench skills, perceptions of the course, and project ownership. The results show that the incorporation of lab meeting-style recitations and poster presentations led to higher project ownership, while overcoming troubleshooting was a significant challenge. Furthermore, confidence in every experimental technique increased significantly in all but one instance. Based on these results, this CURE is providing students with a realistic experience in graduate-level research.

Student-Driven Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CUREs) Projects in Identifying Vaginal Microorganism Species Communities to Promote Scientific Literacy Skills

Objectives

We aim to build a students' own engagement in original microbiological course-based undergraduate research experience (CUREs) model served two research and teaching scientific purposes including students' scientific literacy skills and instructors' role, which could further be applied as contribution to broader scientific knowledge and conduct novel research in their future research experience and careers.

Methods

We describe a student-driven CUREs model on the microorganism species in female vaginal using general bacterial culture techniques and high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to enable students to center experimental research method under the direction of instructors. A total of 8 undergraduate students and 5 instructors from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine participated in the project. The CUREs were divided in four operating scopes: project planning, implementation, summarizing and feedback phases. Instructors help students to develop learning research goals.

Results

This project helped students to gain “hard skills” experiences in scientific theoretical research process and technical practices. Students reached the conclusion that Lactobacillus species dominated the primary vaginal microbiota in reproductive-age women, 16S rRNA sequencing is a method widely applied for microbiology detection. CUREs also increased students' engagement in scientific experiments and promote 3 learning goals in “soft skills”: (1) Develop students' self-study and efficacy ability, expression capability and professional research communication skills; (2) Strengthen students' motivation and ownership in science research, overcoming failure, benefitting persistence and patience, building professional science identity, competence, and confidence in collaboration, implement spirit of rigorous and carefulness; (3) Obtain authorship, independent and logical thinking capability, summarizing ability and confidence enhancement. Instructors proposed guiding research question for the students and determine evidence in achieving pedagogical goals in CUREs.

Conclusions

Our microbiological CUREs project served two scientific purposes: research and teaching, which increase students' engagement in promoting learning gains in scientific research skills, ownership, identity development, and spirit of motivation, self-efficacy, persistence, collaboration, communication, as well as opportunities to make relevant scientific discoveries. These abilities equipped them with essential foundation for the subsequent collaborative experiments and future scientific study.

Addressing Foodborne Illness in Côte d'Ivoire: Connecting the Classroom to the Community through a Nonmajors Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

The integration of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) laboratory curricula has provided new avenues to engage students at all levels in discovery-based learning. Empirical research demonstrates that CUREs have the potential to foster students' development of scientific process and reasoning skills, attitudes, motivations, and persistence in STEM. Yet, these outcomes are largely reported for studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. It therefore remains unclear to what extent CUREs are impactful for students enrolled in alternate international university contexts. To address this concern, we conducted a quasi-experimental mixed methods study to investigate the impact of a one-semester food microbiology and public health (FMPH) CURE on nonmajors students' development of science identity, science communication and process skills, science community values, and science-society perceptions at a private institution in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Content analysis of students' end-of-semester research poster products and thematic analysis of student responses to post-semester open-ended survey items revealed positive gains with respect to student learning and student perceptions of the relevancy of their research to diverse audiences. Paired t-test analyses of pre-/post-semester closed-ended survey responses likewise indicated significant gains in students' science identity and science community values development as well as their confidence in handling and treating foods to reduce the bacterial load on those foods. Collectively, these findings suggest that the FMPH CURE was a meaningful and relevant learning experience capable of promoting students' growth as scientists and scientifically-minded citizens.

An introductory biology research-rich laboratory course shows improvements in students' research skills, confidence, and attitudes

As part of a wider reform to scaffold quantitative and research skills throughout the biology major, we introduced course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) in sections of a large-enrollment introductory biology laboratory course in a mid-level, public, minority-serving institution. This initiative was undertaken as part of the in the National Science Foundation / Council for Undergraduate Research Transformations Project. Student teams performed two or three experiments, depending on semester. They designed, implemented, analyzed, revised and iterated, wrote scientific paper-style reports, and gave oral presentations. We tested the impact of CURE on student proficiency in experimental design and statistical reasoning, and student research confidence and attitudes over two semesters. We found that students in the CURE sections met the reformed learning objectives for experimental design and statistical reasoning. CURE students also showed higher levels of experimental design proficiency, research self-efficacy, and more expert-like scientific mindsets compared to students in a matched cohort with the traditional design. While students in both groups described labs as a positive experience in end-of-semester reflections, the CURE group showed a high level of engagement with the research process. Students in CURE sections identified components of the research process that were difficult, while also reporting enjoying and valuing research. This study demonstrates improved learning, confidence, and attitudes toward research in a challenging CURE laboratory course where students had significant autonomy combined with appropriate support at a diverse public university.

Aspects of Large-Enrollment Online College Science Courses That Exacerbate and Alleviate Student Anxiety

Anxiety is the top mental health concern for undergraduates. While researchers have identified ways that in-person science courses can affect anxiety, little is known about how online science courses affect anxiety. In this study, 2111 undergraduates at a large research-intensive institution completed survey questions about their anxiety in large-enrollment online science courses. Specifically, we assessed students' anxiety in the context of online science courses and asked what aspects of online science courses increase and decrease their anxiety. Students also identified what instructors can do to lessen anxiety in online classrooms. We used open coding and logistic regression to analyze student responses. More than 50% of students reported at least moderate anxiety in the context of online college science courses. Students commonly reported that the potential for personal technology issues (69.8%) and proctored exams (68.0%) increased their anxiety, while being able to access content at a later time (79.0%) and attending class from where they want (74.2%) decreased their anxiety. The most common ways that students suggested that instructors could decrease student anxiety is to increase test-taking flexibility (25.0%) and be understanding (23.1%). This study provides insight into how instructors can create more inclusive online learning environments for students with anxiety.

The DoC IT: a Professional Development Tool to Support and Articulate Alignment of One's Course with the Five Dimensions of CUREs

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) offer a powerful approach to engage students at all academic levels in the process of scientific discovery. In comparison to prescriptive laboratory exercises, CUREs have been shown to promote students' science process skill development, positive attitudes toward scientific research, and persistence in STEM. While this is the case, descriptions of CUREs within the literature vary widely, particularly in the extent to which they explicitly address the five posited dimensions of CUREs. This can present as a challenge to both novice CURE facilitators, who may be unfamiliar with CURE terminology, as well as the CURE community as a whole, who seek to understand what facets of CUREs impact student outcomes. In response, we created the "Dimensions of CUREs Informational Template" (DoC IT), a professional development tool amenable for use with CURE designers, facilitators, and evaluators. Application of this tool is intended as a viable step in achieving a unified way to discuss CUREs in both intra- and interinstitutional contexts.

Connecting research and teaching introductory cell and molecular biology using an Arabidopsis mutant screen

A complex research project was translated into a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE), which was implemented in sections of an introductory Cell and Molecular Biology laboratory course. The research laboratory generated an engineered plant line producing a growth-inhibiting, lipid-derived plant hormone and mutagenized this line. Students in the CURE cultured the mutagenized plant population and selected and characterized suppressor mutants. They learned to observe phenotypes related to the biosynthesis and perception of the plant hormone and explored the genetic and biochemical basis of these phenotypes. As the students studied the relevant genetic, molecular and biochemical concepts during this CURE, they were able to translate this knowledge into practice and develop scientific arguments. This CURE was a successful collaboration between the teaching lab and the research lab. It benefited both parties as the students had a real-life, deep learning experience in scientific methodology, while the research lab gathered data and materials for further studies.

Agar Art: a CURE for the Microbiology Laboratory

We previously developed and assessed "The Art of Microbiology," a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) which uses agar art to spur student experimentation, where we found student outcomes related to science persistence. However, these outcomes were not correlated with specific activities and gains were not reported from more than one class. In this study, we explored which of the three major activities in this CURE-agar art, experimental design, or poster presentations-affected student engagement and outcomes associated with improved understanding of the nature of science (NOS). The Art of Microbiology was studied in three microbiology teaching laboratories: at a research university with either the CURE developer (18 students) or a CURE implementer (39 students) and at a community college with a CURE implementer (25 students). Our quasi-experimental mixed methods study used pre/post-NOS surveys and semi-structured class-wide interviews. Community college students had lower baseline NOS responses but had gains in NOS similar to research university students post-CURE. We surveyed research university students following each major activity using the Assessing Student Perspective of Engagement in Class Tool (ASPECT) survey but did not find a correlation between NOS and activity engagement. Of the three activities, we found the highest engagement with agar art, especially in the CURE developer class. Interviewed students in all classes described agar art as a fun, relevant, and low-stakes assignment. This work contributes to the evidence supporting agar art as a curricular tool, especially in ways that can add research to classrooms in and beyond the research university.

Stay-on-Task Exercises as a Tool To Maintain Focus during a CRISPR CURE

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURE) offer the chance for students to experience authentic research investigation in a classroom setting. Such hands-on experiences afford unique opportunities work on a semi-independent research project in an efficient, structured environment. We have developed a CRISPR CURE in which undergraduate and graduate students use in silico, in vitro, and in vivo techniques to edit a fungal genome. During the development of this course, we have found that the asynchronous nature of the CRISPR CURE activities can be disruptive and lead to unproductive class time. To overcome this challenge, we have developed stay-on-task exercises (SOTEs). These short low-stakes assessments provide structured activities that are performed during these asynchronous incubation periods. SOTE activities leverage potentially unproductive class time and complement the CURE learning objectives. We have found SOTEs to be one method of maintaining classroom structure during a CURE. Furthermore, SOTE complexity, length, and subject can be easily modified to match course learning objectives.

Bridging Trade-Offs between Traditional and Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences by Building Student Communication Skills, Identity, and Interest

Undergraduate research plays an important role in the development of science students. The two most common forms of undergraduate research are those in traditional settings (such as internships and research-for-credit in academic research labs) and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). Both of these settings offer many benefits to students, yet they have unique strengths and weaknesses that lead to trade-offs. Traditional undergraduate research experiences (UREs) offer the benefits of personalized mentorship and experience in a professional setting, which help build students' professional communication skills, interest, and scientific identity. However, UREs can reach only a limited number of students. On the other end of the trade-off, CUREs offer research authenticity in a many-to-one classroom research environment that reaches more students. CUREs provide real research experience in a collaborative context, but CUREs are not yet necessarily equipping students with all of the experiences needed to transition into a research lab environment outside the classroom. We propose that CURE instructors can bridge trade-offs between UREs and CUREs by deliberately including learning goals and activities in CUREs that recreate the benefits of UREs, specifically in the areas of professional communication, scientific identify, and student interest. To help instructors implement this approach, we provide experience- and evidence-based guidance for student-centered, collaborative learning opportunities.

Repetition Is Important to Students and Their Understanding during Laboratory Courses That Include Research

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide students with opportunities for the same gains that apprenticed research with faculty members offers. As their popularity increases, it is important that critical elements of CUREs be supported by thoughtful design. Student experiences in CUREs can provide important insights into why CUREs are so effective. We present evidence from students who participated in CUREs at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels, as well as from graduate teaching assistants for an introductory lab course that included a CURE. Students and teaching assistants describe repetition as a valuable element in CUREs and other laboratory experiences. We used student work and open-ended interviews to identify which of five previously described elements of CUREs students found important. Because repetition was particularly salient, we characterized how students described repetition as they experienced it in courses that contained full-length CUREs or "micro-CUREs." In prompted interviews, students described how repetition in CUREs provided cognitive (learning concepts) and practical (learning technical skills) value. Recent graduates who had participated in CUREs at each level of their biology education were particularly aware that they placed value on repetition and acknowledged it as motivational in their own learning. Many students described repetition in metacognitive terms, which also suggests that as students advance through laboratory and CURE curricula, their understanding of how repetition supports their learning becomes more sophisticated. Finally, we integrated student descriptions to suggest ways in which repetition can be designed into CUREs or other laboratory courses to support scientific learning and enhance students' sense of scientific identity.

Assessment of Mapping the Brain, a Novel Research and Neurotechnology Based Approach for the Modern Neuroscience Classroom

Neuroscience research is changing at an incredible pace due to technological innovation and recent national and global initiatives such as the BRAIN initiative. Given the wealth of data supporting the value of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for students, we developed and assessed a neurotechnology CURE, Mapping the Brain. The goal of the course is to immerse undergraduate and graduate students in research and to explore technological advances in neuroscience. In the laboratory portion of the course, students pursued a hypothesis-driven, collaborative National Institutes of Health (NIH) research project. Using chemogenetic technology (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs-DREADDs) and a recombinase-based intersectional genetic strategy, students mapped norepinephrine neurons, and their projections and explored the effects of activating these neurons in vivo. In lecture, students compared traditional and cutting-edge neuroscience methodologies, analyzed primary literature, designed hypothesis-based experiments, and discussed technological limitations of studying the brain. Over two consecutive years in the Program at North Carolina State University, we assessed student learning and perceptions of learning based on Society for Neuroscience's (SfN) core concepts and essential principles of neuroscience. Using analysis of student assignments and pre/post content and perception-based course surveys, we also assessed whether the course improved student research article analysis and neurotechnology assessment. Our analyses reveal new insights and pedagogical approaches for engaging students in research and improving their critical analysis of research articles and neurotechnologies. Our data also show that our multifaceted approach increased student confidence and promoted a data focused mentality when tackling research literature. Through the integration of authentic research and a neurotechnology focus, Mapping the Brain provides a unique model as a modern neuroscience laboratory course.

Is This Science? Students' Experiences of Failure Make a Research-Based Course Feel Authentic

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) and inquiry-based curricula both expose students to the scientific process. CUREs additionally engage students in novel and scientifically relevant research, with the intention of providing an "authentic" research experience. However, we have little understanding of which course design elements impact students' beliefs that they are experiencing "authentic" research. We designed a study to explore introductory biology students' perceptions of research authenticity in CURE and inquiry classes. Using the Laboratory Course Assessment Survey, we found that students in CURE sections perceived higher levels of authentic research elements than students in inquiry-based sections. To identify specific factors that impact perceptions of research authenticity, we administered weekly reflection questions to CURE students. Coding of reflection responses revealed that experiences of failure, iteration, using scientific practices, and the relevant discoveries in their projects enhanced students' perceived authenticity of their research experiences. Although failure and iteration can occur in both CUREs and inquiry-based curricula, our findings indicate these experiences-in conjunction with the Relevant Discovery element of a CURE-may be particularly powerful in enhancing student perceptions of research authenticity in a CURE.

A Culturally Responsive Curricular Revision to Improve Engagement and Learning in an Undergraduate Microbiology Lab Course

We seek to increase student engagement and success to subsequently lead to increased retention and degree attainment for students at our Hispanic-serving institution. We hypothesized that using a culturally responsive approach in an undergraduate microbiology lab would increase engagement and learning gains. Using a culturally responsive approach allowed students to start their learning from their own place of understanding-centering students' lived experiences. Students interviewed family members to learn about "home remedies," and then devised experiments to test whether those home remedies affected growth of bacteria commonly implicated in gastrointestinal distress (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli) or sore throat (Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae). As a final assessment, students generated project posters which they presented at a class symposium. Implementation of a culturally responsive research experience focused on the gut microbiome resulted in increased learning gains as evidenced by movement up Bloom's Revised Taxonomy Scale. Student feedback indicated increased engagement, increased confidence in communicating science and a deeper understanding and appreciation for microbiology. Taken together, the results indicate that students appreciate a more culturally responsive and student-centered approach to learning in microbiology and encourages expansion of this approach to other modules in the course. This paper includes responsive data to support this claim, as well as a sample course calendar and supplementary learning material to support the human microbiome approach to microbiology.

Call on me! Undergraduates' perceptions of voluntarily asking and answering questions in front of large-enrollment science classes

Allowing students to voluntarily ask and answer questions in front of the whole class are common teaching practices used in college science courses. However, few studies have examined college science students’ perceptions of these practices, the extent to which students choose to engage in these practices, and what discourages students from participating. In this study, we surveyed 417 undergraduates at a research-intensive institution about their experiences asking and answering questions in large-enrollment college science courses. Specifically, students answered questions about to what extent they perceive voluntarily asking and answering questions in large-enrollment science courses is helpful to them and why. They also answered questions about to what extent they engage in asking and answering questions in large-enrollment college science courses and what factors could discourage them from participating. Using binary logistic regression, we examined whether there were differences among students of different demographic groups regarding their opinions about asking and answering questions. We found that overwhelmingly students reported that other students voluntarily asking and answering instructor questions is helpful to them. Notably, compared to continuing generation students, first-generation students were more likely to perceive other students asking questions to be helpful. Despite perceiving asking and answering questions to be helpful, over half of students reported that they never ask or answer questions in large-enrollment college science courses during a semester, and women were more likely than men to report never asking questions. We identified fear of negative evaluation, or students’ sense of dread associated with being unfavorably evaluated, as a primary factor influencing their decision to answer instructor questions. This work adds to a growing body of literature on student participation in large-enrollment college science courses and begins to uncover underlying factors influencing student participation.

Gender Differences in Student Comfort Voluntarily Asking and Answering Questions in Large-Enrollment College Science Courses

Allowing students to ask and answer questions is a common practice employed by college science instructors. However, recent literature has identified that women participate in whole-class discussions less often than men. One hypothesized reason for this gender gap is that women may be less comfortable participating. However, no studies have examined students' comfort with asking and answering questions in large-enrollment science courses, identified what about these practices might make students uncomfortable, or explored whether there are gender differences with regard to student comfort. To answer these questions, we surveyed 417 undergraduates at an R1 institution about their experiences asking and answering questions in large-enrollment college science courses. Students answered questions about the extent to which they felt comfortable both asking and answering questions and selected possible factors that could make them uncomfortable participating. Using binary logistic regression, we tested whether student demographics predicted their opinions about these practices. Over half of students reported feeling uncomfortable both asking and answering questions in front of college science classes, and women were significantly less comfortable than men both asking and answering questions. Furthermore, we identified student confidence regarding their knowledge of the material and a concern that other students would judge them as some of the primary factors that could cause students to feel uncomfortable asking and answering questions in front of the whole class. This work highlights factors that instructors can target in hopes of maximizing student comfort participating in large-enrollment college science courses.

Non-Disposable Assignments for Remote Neuroscience Laboratory Teaching Using Analysis of Human Data

To accomplish discovery learning in a remote educational context, while also addressing disparities in laboratory facility/equipment access, instructors can assign Non-Disposable Assignments (NDA) whereby students design research projects, extract data from public sources, analyze data in a cloud-based environment, and share potentially original findings. Unlike typical course assignments (e.g., lab-reports, tests) that remain in the student-teacher dyad, NDAs (e.g., disseminated presentations, visualizations, manuscripts) are associated with enhanced learning and facilitate the integration of diverse student perspectives in the creation, analysis and dissemination of neuroscience. Illustrating the design of a project-based approach to teaching neuroscience laboratory courses, we provide two example NDAs using neural imaging and physiological information available from public databases. We provide a data set in a directly usable form for teaching with R, and present an overview of two user-friendly tools, RStudio and R-Markdown, for remote teaching and learning through data analysis.

Is Community Relevance Enough? Civic and Science Identity Impact of Microbiology CUREs Focused on Community Environmental Justice

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) often involve a component where the outcomes of student research are broadly relevant to outside stakeholders. We wanted to see if building courses around an environmental justice issue relevant to the local community would impact students' sense of civic engagement and appreciation of the relevance of scientific research to the community. In this quasi-experimental study, we assessed civic engagement and scientific identity gains (N = 98) using pre- and post-semester surveys and open-ended interview responses in three different CUREs taught simultaneously at three different universities. All three CURES were focused on an environmental heavy metal pollution issue predominantly affecting African-Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. While we found increases in students' sense of science efficacy and identity, our team was unable to detect meaningful changes in civic engagement levels, all of which were initially quite high. However, interviews suggested that students were motivated to do well in their research because the project was of interest to outside stakeholders. Our observations suggest that rather than directly influencing students' civic engagement, the "broadly relevant" component of our CUREs engaged their pre-existing high levels of engagement to increase their engagement with the material, possibly influencing gains in science efficacy and science identity. Our observations are consistent with broader community relevance being an important component of CURE success, but do not support our initial hypothesis that CURE participation would influence students' attitudes toward the civic importance of science.

BioSkills Guide: Development and National Validation of a Tool for Interpreting the Vision and Change Core Competencies

To excel in modern science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers, biology majors need a range of transferable skills, yet competency development is often a relatively underdeveloped facet of the undergraduate curriculum. We have elaborated the Vision and Change core competency framework into a resource called the BioSkills Guide, a set of measurable learning outcomes that can be more readily implemented by faculty. Following an iterative review process including more than 200 educators, we gathered evidence of the BioSkills Guide's content validity using a national survey of more than 400 educators. Rates of respondent support were high (74.3-99.6%) across the 77 outcomes in the final draft. Our national sample during the development and validation phases included college biology educators representing more than 250 institutions, including 73 community colleges, and a range of course levels and biology subdisciplines. Comparison of the BioSkills Guide with other science competency frameworks reveals significant overlap but some gaps and ambiguities. These differences may reflect areas where understandings of competencies are still evolving in the undergraduate biology community, warranting future research. We envision the BioSkills Guide supporting a variety of applications in undergraduate biology, including backward design of individual lessons and courses, competency assessment development, and curriculum mapping and planning.

From panic to pedagogy: Using online active learning to promote inclusive instruction in ecology and evolutionary biology courses and beyond

The rapid shift to online teaching in spring 2020 meant most of us were teaching in panic mode. As we move forward with course planning for fall and beyond, we can invest more time and energy into improving the online experience for our students. We advocate that instructors use inclusive teaching practices, specifically through active learning, in their online classes. Incorporating pedagogical practices that work to maximize active and inclusive teaching concepts will be beneficial for all students, and especially those from minoritized or underserved groups. Like many STEM fields, Ecology and Evolution shows achievement gaps and faces a leaky pipeline issue for students from groups traditionally underserved in science. Making online classes both active and inclusive will aid student learning and will also help students feel more connected to their learning, their peers, and their campus. This approach will likely help with performance, retention, and persistence of students. In this paper, we offer broadly applicable strategies and techniques that weave together active and inclusive teaching practices. We challenge instructors to commit to making small changes as a first step to more inclusive teaching in ecology and evolutionary biology courses.

Uncovering Factors Influencing Instructors' Decision Process when Considering Implementation of a Course-Based Research Experience

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are an effective way to expose large numbers of students to authentic research, yet most laboratory courses still use traditional "cookbook" methods. While barriers to using CUREs have been captured postimplementation, little is known about the decision mindset before implementation or what features of CURE design may mitigate perceived barriers. Perception of an innovation (such as a CURE) influences the likelihood of its adoption, and diffusion of innovations theory posits that the decision to adopt is largely influenced by five perceived features of an innovation: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and trialability. We conducted interviews with instructors considering using the Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance in the Environment (PARE) project to assess their perceptions of CUREs and motivations for using PARE. Instructors viewed CUREs as having relative advantages over traditional methods; however, CUREs were also viewed as complex, with instructors citing multiple barriers. Instructors were motivated to use PARE because of its potential scientific impact and compatibility with their courses' structures and resources. Instructors perceived PARE to have few barriers to implementation compared with other CUREs. Designing CUREs that address common instructor barriers and drivers could increase the rate of diffusion of CUREs.

Strategies to Foster LatinX Inclusion in Microbiology Programs

Inclusion is an active, powerful, and emotional noun that over the past years has helped me reconcile my main passions in life: microbiology, teaching, research, and mentoring. Although I am now part of an inclusive excellence family, during my graduate school I always felt alone, like an imposter microbiologist. I want to avoid other Latinas feeling the same way; consequently, I share frameworks and strategies here to foster inclusion in Microbiology departments. I have been teaching Microbiology for more than 20 years at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), and my strategies range from the personal to the institutional level. As a first-generation Latina who barely survived in a Microbiology graduate program at a Primarily White Institution (PWI), I emphasize how culture can affect student learning. I use the example of microbial mats, resilient laminated ecosystems, as inclusive communities in the microbial world.

A CURE Biochemistry Laboratory Module to Study Protein-Protein Interactions by NMR Spectroscopy

Design of undergraduate laboratory courses that provide meaningful research-based experiences enhance undergraduate curricula and prepare future graduate students for research careers. In this article, a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) laboratory module was designed for upper-division undergraduate biochemistry and chemistry students. The laboratory module enabled students to build upon recently published data in the literature to decipher atomistic insight for an essential protein-protein interaction in human biology through the use of biomolecular NMR spectroscopy. Students compared their results with published data with the goal of identifying specific regions of the protein-protein interaction responsible for triggering an allosteric conformational change. The laboratory module introduced students to basic and advance laboratory techniques, including protein purification, NMR spectroscopy, and analysis of protein structure using molecular visualization software.

Bringing immersive science to undergraduate laboratory courses using CRISPR gene knockouts in frogs and butterflies

The use of CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing offers new opportunities for biology students to perform genuine research exploring the gene-to-phenotype relationship. It is important to introduce the next generation of scientists, health practitioners and other members of society to the technical and ethical aspects of gene editing. Here, we share our experience leading hands-on undergraduate laboratory classes, where students formulate hypotheses regarding the roles of candidate genes involved in development, perform loss-of-function experiments using programmable nucleases and analyze the phenotypic effects of mosaic mutant animals. This is enabled by the use of the amphibian Xenopus laevis and the butterfly Vanessa cardui, two organisms that reliably yield hundreds of large and freshly fertilized eggs in a scalable manner. Frogs and butterflies also present opportunities to teach key biological concepts about gene regulation and development. To complement these practical aspects, we describe learning activities aimed at equipping students with a broad understanding of genome editing techniques, their application in fundamental and translational research, and the bioethical challenges they raise. Overall, our work supports the introduction of CRISPR technology into undergraduate classrooms and, when coupled with classroom undergraduate research experiences, enables hypothesis-driven research by undergraduates.

Fear of the CURE: A Beginner's Guide to Overcoming Barriers in Creating a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience

Over the past decade, growing evidence has shown that there are many benefits to undergraduate students engaging in scientific research, including increased persistence in pursuing STEM careers and successful outcomes in graduate study. With these benefits in mind, there has been a significant push toward providing research opportunities for students in STEM majors. To address this need, an increasing number of undergraduate courses have been developed to provide students with research experiences in a class setting, also known as course-based undergraduate research experiences, or CUREs. Despite the growing success of these courses, a number of barriers remain that deter faculty from developing and implementing CUREs. Here, we will review the perceived challenges of developing a CURE and provide practical strategies to overcome these challenges.

Increased Scaffolding and Inquiry in an Introductory Biology Lab Enhance Experimental Design Skills and Sense of Scientific Ability

We present a model for the process of redesigning the laboratory curriculum in Introductory Organismal Biology to increase opportunities for meaningful inquiry and increase student recognition of their scientific skill development. We created scaffolded modules and assignments to allow students to build and practice key skills in experimental design, data analysis, and scientific writing. Using the Tool for Interrelated Experimental Design, we showed significantly higher gains in experimental design scores in the redesigned course and a more consistent pattern of gains across a range of initial student scores compared with the original format. Students who completed the redesigned course rated themselves significantly higher in experimental design, data collection, and data analysis skills compared with students in the original format. Scores on the Laboratory Course Activity Survey were high for both formats and did not significantly differ. However, on written course evaluations, students in the redesigned course were more likely to report that they engaged in "real science" and their "own experiments." They also had increased recognition of their specific analytical and writing skill development. Our results demonstrate that intentional, scaffolded instruction using inquiry modules can increase experimental design skills and sense of scientific ability in an introductory biology course.

Students Who Analyze Their Own Data in a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Show Gains in Scientific Identity and Emotional Ownership of Research

While it has been established that course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) lead to student benefits, it is less clear what aspects of CUREs lead to such gains. In this study, we aimed to understand the effect of students analyzing their own data, compared with students analyzing data that had been collected by professional scientists. We compared the experiences of students in a CURE investigating whether the extinction risk status of terrestrial mammals and birds is associated with their ecological traits. Students in the CURE were randomly assigned to analyze either data that they had collected or data previously collected by professional scientists. All other aspects of the student experience were designed to be identical. We found that students who analyzed their own data showed significantly greater gains in scientific identity and emotional ownership than students who analyzed data collected by professional scientists.

The Impact of Broadly Relevant Novel Discoveries on Student Project Ownership in a Traditional Lab Course Turned CURE

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have been shown to lead to multiple student benefits, but much is unknown about how CUREs lead to specific student outcomes. In this study, we examined the extent to which students making "broadly relevant novel discoveries" impacted student project ownership by comparing the experiences of students in a CURE and a traditional lab course. The CURE and traditional lab were similar in most aspects; students were exposed to an identical curriculum taught by the same instructor. However, there was one major difference between the two types of courses: the type of data that the students produced. Students in the traditional lab characterized the immune system of wild-type mice, thereby confirming results already known to the scientific community, while students in the CURE characterized the immune system of a mutant strain of mice, which produced broadly relevant novel discoveries. Compared with traditional lab students, CURE students reported higher cognitive and emotional ownership over their projects. Students' perceptions of collaboration and making broadly relevant novel discoveries were significantly and positively related to their cognitive and emotional ownership. This work provides insight into the importance of integrating opportunities for broadly relevant novel discoveries in lab courses.

Setting Up an Undergraduate Immunology Lab: Resources and Examples

Laboratory courses in immunology require a different skill set for their development than lecture courses. They vary widely in their form based on factors like institutional budget and class size, and also in the prioritization of learning goals centered around reinforcing lecture concepts and/or building fundamental skills in the field of immunology. Lab activities can come from a variety of sources including published research protocols, commercial kits, computer-based tools or simulations, and case studies. Each has their own strengths, which will be explored here. There are also important decisions to make about how students will report their data, and what level of guidance in interpreting data is best to enhance student learning and growth. Finally, methods like use of rubrics can help ensure fair and efficient grading, especially with skills-based learning goals. Periodic assessment is important to ensure that activities contribute effectively to student learning and to guide improvements to the lab course over time.

Factors that predict life sciences student persistence in undergraduate research experiences

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have the potential to benefit undergraduates and longer UREs have been shown to lead to greater benefits for students. However, no studies have examined what causes students to stay in or consider leaving their UREs. In this study, we examined what factors cause students to stay in their UREs, what factors cause students to consider leaving their UREs, and what factors cause students to leave their UREs. We sampled from 25 research-intensive (R1) public universities across the United States and surveyed 768 life sciences undergraduates who were currently participating in or had previously participated in a URE. Students answered closed-ended and open-ended questions about factors that they perceived influenced their persistence in UREs. We used logistic regression to explore to what extent student demographics predicted what factors influenced students to stay in or consider leaving their UREs. We applied open-coding methods to probe the student-reported reasons why students chose to stay in and leave their UREs. Fifty percent of survey respondents considered leaving their URE, and 53.1% of those students actually left their URE. Students who reported having a positive lab environment and students who indicated enjoying their everyday research tasks were more likely to not consider leaving their UREs. In contrast, students who reported a negative lab environment or that they were not gaining important knowledge or skills were more likely to leave their UREs. Further, we identified that gender, race/ethnicity, college generation status, and GPA predicted which factors influenced students' decisions to persist in their UREs. This research provides important insight into how research mentors can create UREs that undergraduates are willing and able to participate in for as long as possible.

Training program for Research Educators of sequential course-based undergraduate research experiences

Science education studies have shown that a sequence of course-based research experiences has many positive effects for undergraduates. To maximize those benefits, we created a training program for the instructors (aka Research Educators). The program guides them in how to move students early in their college years through the process of science such that students then can successfully apply their learning to conduct real research projects. The key to instructors’ training is creating a supportive community of practice in which everyone participates, including by taking leading roles.

Diagnosing differences in what Introductory Biology students in a fully online and an in-person biology degree program know and do regarding medical school admission

Increasingly, institutions of higher education are adopting fully online degree programs to provide students with cost-effective, accessible postsecondary education. A concern these degrees raise is: Will students be prepared for the next step of their career paths after completing their Bachelor's degree online? Biology undergraduates often begin their degrees wanting to become medical doctors, but no studies have explored whether students in a fully online biology degree program are being prepared to be admitted to medical school. In this study, we surveyed Introductory Biology students at one institution who were pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in Biological Sciences, either in an online or an in-person program. The most prevalent career goal for both in-person students (65.2%) and online students (39.7%) was a medical doctor. Online students were more confident in their intentions to become doctors than their in-person peers. However, online students knew fewer criteria that medical schools consider when admitting students than in-person students [in-person: mean = 3.7 (SD 1.6); online: mean =2.7 (SD 1.7)] and were less likely to plan to become involved in premedical activities, such as undergraduate research. Finally, compared with in-person students, fewer online students were able to name at least one science student (in-person: 76.7%; online: 9.7%), academic advisor (in-person: 21.3%; online: 6.5%), and faculty member (in-person: 33.7%; online: 6.5%) with whom they could talk about pursuing a career in medicine. This work highlights knowledge gaps between students enrolled in a fully online biology degree and an in-person biology degree that are important for developers of online biology degree programs to understand and rectify to better prepare online biology students for admission to medical school.

Recommendations for Effective Integration of Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research (E/RCR) Education into Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A Meeting Report

Advancement of the scientific enterprise relies on individuals conducting research in an ethical and responsible manner. Educating emergent scholars in the principles of ethics/responsible conduct of research (E/RCR) is therefore critical to ensuring such advancement. The recent impetus to include authentic research opportunities as part of the undergraduate curriculum, via course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), has been shown to increase cognitive and noncognitive student outcomes. Because of these important benefits, CUREs are becoming more common and often constitute the first research experience for many students. However, despite the importance of E/RCR in the research process, we know of few efforts to incorporate E/RCR education into CUREs. The Ethics Network for Course-based Opportunities in Undergraduate Research (ENCOUR) was created to address this concern and promote the integration of E/RCR within CUREs in the biological sciences and related disciplines. During the inaugural ENCOUR meeting, a four-pronged approach was used to develop guidelines for the effective integration of E/RCR in CUREs. This approach included: 1) defining appropriate student learning objectives; 2) identifying relevant curriculum; 3) identifying relevant assessments; and 4) defining key aspects of professional development for CURE facilitators. Meeting outcomes, including the aforementioned E/RCR guidelines, are described herein.

CRISPR-Cas Technology In and Out of the Classroom

Student-centered practices, including student-focused research opportunities, enhance biology education and comprehension. One way to support student interest is through research opportunities in faculty laboratories. However, alternatives to traditional research apprenticeships are important for the inclusion of more undergraduate students in CRISPR-Cas–based research. Student interest in CRISPR-Cas technologies serves as a timely focal point for deepening undergraduate student engagement in biology courses. In this article, we describe some of the ongoing efforts to bring CRISPR-Cas technology out of the classroom and into the teaching laboratory.

Integrating CRISPR-Cas9 Technology into Undergraduate Courses: Perspectives from a National Science Foundation (NSF) Workshop for Undergraduate Faculty, June 2018

As CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas9 technology becomes more mainstream in life science research, it becomes critical for undergraduate instructors to devise engaging ways to bring the technology into their classrooms. To help meet this challenge, the National Science Foundation sponsored a workshop for undergraduate instructors in June 2018 at The Ohio State University in conjunction with the annual Association of Biology Laboratory Educators meeting based on a workflow developed by the workshop's facilitators. Over the course of two and a half days, participants worked through a modular workflow for the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in a course-based (undergraduate) research experience (CURE) setting while discussing the barriers each of their institutions had to implementing such work, and how such barriers could be overcome. The result of the workshop was a team with newfound energy and confidence to implement CRISPR-Cas9 technology in their courses and the development of a community of undergraduate educators dedicated to supporting each other in the implementation of the workflow either in a CURE or modular format. In this article, we review the activities and discussions from the workshop that helped each participant devise their own tailored approaches of how best to bring this exciting new technology into their classes.

Computer-Based and Bench-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Produce Similar Attitudinal Outcomes

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have the potential to improve undergraduate biology education by involving large numbers of students in research. CUREs can take a variety of forms with different affordances and constraints, complicating the evaluation of design features that might contribute to successful outcomes. In this study, we compared students' responses to three different research experiences offered within the same course. One of the research experiences involved purely computational work, whereas the other two offerings were bench-based research experiences. We found that students who participated in computer-based research reported at least as much interest in their research projects, a higher sense of achievement, and a higher level of satisfaction with the course compared with students who did bench-based research projects. In open-ended comments, similar proportions of students in each research area expressed some sense of project ownership as contributing positively to their course experiences. Their comments also supported the finding that experiencing a sense of achievement was a predictor of course satisfaction. We conclude that both computer-based and bench-based CUREs can have positive impacts on students' attitudes. Development of more computer-based CUREs might allow larger numbers of students to benefit from participating in a research experience.

Development of a Tool to Assess Interrelated Experimental Design in Introductory Biology

Designing experiments and applying the process of science are core competencies for many introductory courses and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). However, experimental design is a complex process that challenges many introductory students. We describe the development of a tool to assess interrelated experimental design (TIED) in an introductory biology lab course. We describe the interrater reliability of the tool, its effectiveness in detecting variability and growth in experimental-design skills, and its adaptability for use in various contexts. The final tool contained five components, each with multiple criteria in the form of a checklist such that a high-quality response-in which students align the different components of their experimental design-satisfies all criteria. The tool showed excellent interrater reliability and captured the full range of introductory-student skill levels, with few students hitting the assessment ceiling or floor. The scoring tool detected growth in student skills from the beginning to the end of the semester, with significant differences between pre- and post-assessment scores for the Total Score and for the Data Collection and Observations component scores. This authentic assessment task and scoring tool provide meaningful feedback to instructors about the strengths, gaps, and growth in introductory students' experimental-design skills and can be scored reliably by multiple instructors. The TIED can also be adapted to a number of experimental-design prompts and learning objectives, and therefore can be useful for a variety of introductory courses and CUREs.

The Lecture Machine: A Cultural Evolutionary Model of Pedagogy in Higher Education

The benefits of student-centered active-learning approaches are well established, but this evidence has not directly translated into instructors adopting these evidence-based methods in higher education. To date, promoting and sustaining pedagogical change through different initiatives has proven difficult, but research on pedagogical change is advancing. To this end, we examine pedagogical behaviors through a cultural evolutionary model that stresses the global nature of the issue, the generational time that change requires, and complications introduced by academic career trajectories. We first provide an introduction to cultural evolutionary theory before describing our model, which focuses on how cultural transmission processes and selection events at different career phases shape not only who teaches in higher education, but also how they choose to teach. We leverage our model to make suggestions for expediting change in higher education. This includes reforming pedagogy in departments that produce PhD students with the greatest chance of obtaining tenure-track positions.

To be funny or not to be funny: Gender differences in student perceptions of instructor humor in college science courses

For over 50 years instructor humor has been recognized as a way to positively impact student cognitive and affective learning. However, no study has explored humor exclusively in the context of college science courses, which have the reputation of being difficult and boring. The majority of studies that explore humor have assumed that students perceive instructor humor to be funny, yet students likely perceive some instructor humor as unfunny or offensive. Further, evidence suggests that women perceive certain subjects to be more offensive than men, yet we do not know what impact this may have on the experience of women in the classroom. To address these gaps in the literature, we surveyed students across 25 different college science courses about their perceptions of instructor humor in college science classes, which yielded 1637 student responses. Open-coding methods were used to analyze student responses to a question about why students appreciate humor. Multinomial regression was used to identify whether there are gender differences in the extent to which funny, unfunny, and offensive humor influenced student attention to course content, instructor relatability, and student sense of belonging. Logistic regression was used to examine gender differences in what subjects students find funny and offensive when joked about by college science instructors. Nearly 99% of students reported that they appreciate instructor humor and reported that it positively changes the classroom atmosphere, improves student experiences during class, and enhances the student-instructor relationship. We found that funny humor tends to increase student attention to course content, instructor relatability, and student sense of belonging. Conversely, offensive humor tends to decrease instructor relatability and student sense of belonging. Lastly, we identified subjects that males were more likely to find funny and females were more likely to find offensive if a college science instructor were to joke about them.

Communicating Discovery-Based Research Results to the News: A Real-World Lesson in Science Communication for Undergraduate Students

Communicating science effectively to the general public is a necessary skill that takes practice. Generally, undergraduate science majors are taught to communicate to other scientists but are not given formal training on how to communicate with a nonscientist. An opportunity to appear on a news segment can be used as a real-world lesson on science communication for your students. This article will describe how to contact a producer to get your class on a news segment, ideas for types of research that may be of interest to the media, and how to practice communicating the results effectively.

Developing Course-Based Research Experiences in Discipline-Based Education Research: Lessons Learned and Recommendations

In this perspective, we highlight the opportunity for the biology education research community to develop course-based research experiences (CREs) or course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in discipline-based education research. Building on our prior experience developing and teaching four biology education research CREs, we present opportunities, potential pitfalls, and recommendations for discipline-based education researchers interested in integrating their research and teaching in the context of a CRE.

To be funny or not to be funny: Gender differences in student perceptions of instructor humor in college science courses

For over 50 years instructor humor has been recognized as a way to positively impact student cognitive and affective learning. However, no study has explored humor exclusively in the context of college science courses, which have the reputation of being difficult and boring. The majority of studies that explore humor have assumed that students perceive instructor humor to be funny, yet students likely perceive some instructor humor as unfunny or offensive. Further, evidence suggests that women perceive certain subjects to be more offensive than men, yet we do not know what impact this may have on the experience of women in the classroom. To address these gaps in the literature, we surveyed students across 25 different college science courses about their perceptions of instructor humor in college science classes, which yielded 1637 student responses. Open-coding methods were used to analyze student responses to a question about why students appreciate humor. Multinomial regression was used to identify whether there are gender differences in the extent to which funny, unfunny, and offensive humor influenced student attention to course content, instructor relatability, and student sense of belonging. Logistic regression was used to examine gender differences in what subjects students find funny and offensive when joked about by college science instructors. Nearly 99% of students reported that they appreciate instructor humor and reported that it positively changes the classroom atmosphere, improves student experiences during class, and enhances the student-instructor relationship. We found that funny humor tends to increase student attention to course content, instructor relatability, and student sense of belonging. Conversely, offensive humor tends to decrease instructor relatability and student sense of belonging. Lastly, we identified subjects that males were more likely to find funny and females were more likely to find offensive if a college science instructor were to joke about them.

Discovery and Broad Relevance May Be Insignificant Components of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for Non-Biology Majors

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are a type of laboratory learning environment associated with a science course, in which undergraduates participate in novel research. According to Auchincloss et al. (CBE Life Sci Educ 2104; 13:29-40), CUREs are distinct from other laboratory learning environments because they possess five core design components, and while national calls to improve STEM education have led to an increase in CURE programs nationally, less work has specifically focused on which core components are critical to achieving desired student outcomes. Here we use a backward elimination experimental design to test the importance of two CURE components for a population of non-biology majors: the experience of discovery and the production of data broadly relevant to the scientific or local community. We found nonsignificant impacts of either laboratory component on students' academic performance, science self-efficacy, sense of project ownership, and perceived value of the laboratory experience. Our results challenge the assumption that all core components of CUREs are essential to achieve positive student outcomes when applied at scale.

Building Better Bridges into STEM: A Synthesis of 25 Years of Literature on STEM Summer Bridge Programs

Summer bridge programs are designed to help transition students into the college learning environment. Increasingly, bridge programs are being developed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines because of the rigorous content and lower student persistence in college STEM compared with other disciplines. However, to our knowledge, a comprehensive review of STEM summer bridge programs does not exist. To provide a resource for bridge program developers, we conducted a systematic review of the literature on STEM summer bridge programs. We identified 46 published reports on 30 unique STEM bridge programs that have been published over the past 25 years. In this review, we report the goals of each bridge program and whether the program was successful in meeting these goals. We identify 14 distinct bridge program goals that can be organized into three categories: academic success goals, psychosocial goals, and department-level goals. Building on the findings of published bridge reports, we present a set of recommendations for STEM bridge programs in hopes of developing better bridges into college.