Effects of a research-infused botanical curriculum on undergraduates' content knowledge, STEM competencies, and attitudes toward plant sciences

Student experiences with a molecular biotechnology course containing an interactive 3D immersive simulation and its impact on motivational beliefs

The development and use of virtual laboratories to augment traditional in-person skills training continues to grow. Virtual labs have been implemented in a number of diverse educational settings, which have many purported benefits including their adaptability, accessibility, and repeatability. However, few studies have evaluated the impact of virtual laboratories outside of academic achievement and skills competencies, especially in biotechnology. In this study, an interdisciplinary team of content experts, video game researchers, instructional designers, and assessment experts developed a 3D immersive simulation designed to teach novice scientists the technical skills necessary to perform sterile mammalian cell culture technique. Unique to the simulation development process is the recreation of an immersive experience through the capture of details in the real-world lab where participants have the freedom of choice in their actions, while receiving immediate feedback on their technical skills as well as procedural execution. However, unlike an in-person laboratory course, students are able to iterate and practice their skills outside of class time and learn from their mistakes. Over the course of two semesters, we used a mixed-methods study design to evaluate student attitudes towards the simulation and their science motivational beliefs. Students' self-efficacy and science identity were assessed after engaging with the simulation prior to the physical laboratory. Our results show that students' science identity remained unchanged while their science self-efficacy increased. Furthermore, students had positive perceptions of the benefits of the virtual simulation. These data suggest that the virtual cell culture simulation can be a useful pedagogical training tool to support students' motivational beliefs that is both accessible and easy to implement.

Scaffolding STEM Literacy Assignments To Build Greater Competence in Microbiology Courses

Different approaches can be used to impart science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) literacy among undergraduates and thus can be modified to support various scientific concepts and course objectives. In comparable microbiology-related courses, scaffolded assignments to improve STEM literacy through data, information, and communication analysis skills were developed using the ASM Curriculum Guidelines and the Microbiology Course Inventory (MCI) to structure the course and assignments. Examples of such assignments included a meta-analysis using literature and bioinformatics, as well as a public data presentation and an epidemiological model based on current events. To evaluate the effectiveness of such approaches, assignment components were aligned to determine whether the activities reinforced the MCI concepts. Comparison of pre- and postcourse data indicated relative strengths (and weaknesses) addressed by scaffolded STEM literacy pedagogy. These efforts also contribute to a department-wide initiative to enhance career readiness and implementation of course assessments. Future goals are to broaden the integration of assignment components to other microbiology-related courses and have longitudinal assessment.

Initial Development and Validation of the Plant Awareness Disparity Index

Plant awareness disparity (PAD, formerly plant blindness) is the idea that students tend not to notice or appreciate the plants in their environment. This phenomenon often leads to naïve points of view, such as plants are not important or do not do anything for humans. There are four components of PAD: attitude (not liking plants), attention (not noticing plants), knowledge (not understanding the importance of plants), and relative interest (finding animals more interesting than plants). Many interventions have been suggested to prevent PAD, but without an instrument shown to demonstrate valid inferences to measure PAD, it is difficult to tell whether these interventions are successful or not. We have developed and validated the Plant Awareness Disparity Index (PAD-I) to measure PAD and its four components in undergraduate biology students. The study population was 74.32% female and 69.08% white, indicating that the need for further analysis is necessary if this instrument is to be used in a more diverse student population. We collected validity evidence based upon text content, response processes, and internal structure. Our findings demonstrate that our instrument generates reliable inferences regarding PAD with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.884 and a six-factor structure that aligns conceptually with the four components of PAD.

An at-home laboratory in plant biology designed to engage students in the process of science

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a transition to remote delivery of courses that lack immersive hands-on research experiences for undergraduate science students, resulting in a scientific research skills gap. In this report, we present an option for an inclusive and authentic, hands-on research experience that all students can perform off-campus. Biology students in a semester-long (13 weeks) sophomore plant physiology course participated in an at-home laboratory designed to study the impacts of nitrogen addition on growth rates and root nodulation by wild nitrogen-fixing Rhizobia in Pisum sativum (Pea) plants. This undergraduate research experience, piloted in the fall semester of 2020 in a class with 90 students, was created to help participants learn and practice scientific research skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, the learning outcomes associated with this at-home research experience were: (1) generate a testable hypothesis, (2) design an experiment to test the hypothesis, (3) explain the importance of biological replication, (4) perform meaningful statistical analyses using R, and (5) compose a research paper to effectively communicate findings to a general biology audience. Students were provided with an at-home laboratory kit containing the required materials and reagents, which were chosen to be accessible and affordable in case students were unable to access our laboratory kit. Students were guided through all aspects of research, including hypothesis generation, data collection, and data analysis, with video tutorials and live virtual sessions. This at-home laboratory provided students an opportunity to practice hands-on research with the flexibility to collect and analyze their own data in a remote setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. This, or similar laboratories, could also be used as part of distance learning biology courses.

Current Approaches for Integrating Responsible and Ethical Conduct of Research (RECR) Education into Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences: A National Assessment

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), which often engage students as early as freshman year, have become increasingly common in biology curricula. While many studies have highlighted the benefits of CUREs, little attention has been paid to responsible and ethical conduct of research (RECR) education in such contexts. Given this observation, we adopted a mixed methods approach to explore the extent to which RECR education is being implemented and assessed in biological sciences CUREs nationwide. Survey and semistructured interview data show a general awareness of the importance of incorporating RECR education into CUREs, with all respondents addressing at least one RECR topic in their courses. However, integration of RECR education within the CURE environment primarily focuses on the application of RECR during research practice, often takes the form of corrective measures, and appears to be rarely assessed. Participants reported lack of time and materials as the main barriers to purposeful inclusion of RECR education within their courses. These results underscore a need for the CURE community to develop resources and effective models to integrate RECR education into biology CUREs.

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.

AUTHENTIC RESEARCH IN THE CLASSROOM INCREASES APPRECIATION FOR PLANTS IN UNDERGRADUATE BIOLOGY STUDENTS

Engaging students in authentic research increases student knowledge, develops STEM skills, such as data analysis and scientific communication, and builds community. Creating authentic research opportunities in plant biology might be particularly crucial in addressing plant awareness disparity (formerly known as plant blindness), producing graduates with botanical literacy, and preparing students for plant-focused careers. Our consortium created four CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences) focused on dual themes of plant biology and global change, designed to be utilized by early and late-career undergraduates across a variety of educational settings. We implemented these CURES for four semesters, in a total of 15 courses, at four institutions. Pre- and post-course assessments used the Affective Elements of Science Learning Questionnaire and parts of a "plant blindness" instrument to quantify changes in scientific self-efficacy, science values, scientific identity, and plant awareness or knowledge. Qualitative assessment also queried self-efficacy, science values, and scientific identity. Data revealed significant and positive shifts in awareness of and interest in plants across institutions. Quantitative gains in self-efficacy and scientific identity, however, were only found at two of four institutions tested. This project demonstrates that implementing plant CUREs can produce affective and cognitive gains across institutional types and course levels. Focusing on real-world research questions that capture students' imaginations and connect to their sense of place could create plant awareness while anchoring students in scientific identities. While simple interventions can alleviate plant awareness disparity, implementing multiple CUREs per course, or focusing more on final CURE products, could promote larger and more consistent affective gains across institutions.

Integrating research into a molecular cloning course to address the evolving biotechnology landscape

The rapid development of molecular biotechnology presents a curricular challenge for educators trying to provide students with relevant coursework. A comprehensive biology education should also include opportunities for students to develop intellectual and technical skills through authentic research experiences. Integrating relevant and interesting research projects into their classes, however, can be a challenging task for instructors. To address these varied demands, we redesigned our existing molecular cloning course to incorporate an independent research project assessing calcium signaling. In the revised course, students use traditional and recombination-based cloning strategies to generate bacterial and mammalian expression vectors encoding CaMPARI, a novel fluorescent calcium indicator. Bacterially-expressed CaMPARI is used in protein quantification and purification assays. Students must also design their own research project evaluating the effect of chemotherapeutic agents on calcium signaling in a mammalian system. Revised and novel labs were designed to be modular, facilitating their integration into the course over 2 years. End-of-semester student evaluations were compared between years revealing a significant difference in students' perception of the course's difficulty between years. This change in attitude highlights potential pedagogical considerations that must be examined when introducing new material and activities into existing courses. Since calcium signaling is important for cellular process across diverse species, instructors may be able to develop research projects within their respective areas of interest. Integration of authentic research experiences into the curriculum is challenging; however, the framework described here provides a versatile structure that can be adapted to merge diverse instructor interests with evolving educational needs.

The Impact of a Semester-Long, Cell Culture and Fluorescence Microscopy CURE on Learning and Attitudes in an Underrepresented STEM Student Population

Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) is an access institution with a diverse student body, located in metro Atlanta. To strengthen research skills, teach employer-valued cell biology laboratory techniques, and increase student engagement, a semester-long, inquiry-based CURE was developed and implemented in Cell Biology with Laboratory (BIOL3400K), a sophomore-level course, which serves as a "gateway" to all upper-level biology courses. This CURE centers on the investigation of a student-chosen experimental factor on the viability of cultured, mammalian cells. Through participation in this CURE, students gain experience in cell culture, fluorescence microscopy, and viability assays, and strengthen important research skills, such as literature searches, graphing, and data analyses. The impact of this CURE on student learning gains and attitudes was assessed using pre-/post-content exams and the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS). Our data show that all students made significant content gains. Female students made larger learning gains than male students. Additionally, minority students performed better than majority students in some content areas. Student attitudes did not change, or in some cases were slightly more negative after the CURE. Overall, this CURE had a positive impact on students by engaging them in an inquiry-based laboratory experience.

Reaching a Large Urban Undergraduate Population through Microbial Ecology Course-Based Research Experiences

Traditional postsecondary education is making progress on embracing the diversity of student backgrounds and experiences while preparing them for the demands of STEM careers. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are effective tools to concurrently achieve many student and faculty goals: facilitating training of students, building career competencies, generating publishable research results and enabling research experiences where students apply their knowledge and interest. Georgia State University is not unique with a high student demand for research experiences and mentors that is greater than traditional research faculty labs can accommodate. Georgia State University is, however, unique in that it is a demographically diverse campus which serves minority and non-traditional students (i.e., second career and veterans) and is also rapidly growing. Therefore, to enhance the microbiology curriculum and facilitate authentic research experiences for the growing number of biology majors, a cluster of course-based research experiences in microbial ecology was developed. A former research lab space was converted to a collaborative teaching lab to serve the growth in course offerings, as well as to accommodate multiple microbial ecology research projects occurring in the same space. The courses offered appeal to students, build on the strengths of faculty experiences, and facilitate collaboration amongst students and with the greater Atlanta community. To ensure that our CUREs are accessible to the diverse students in our department, we addressed a variety of logistical and curricular challenges. Solutions to such challenges align with the goals of the university to offer research and signature experiences to ensure students are included and trained in STEM skills.

The Organismal Form and Function Lab-Course: A New CURE for a Lack of Authentic Research Experiences in Organismal Biology

There are many benefits to engaging students in authentic research experiences instead of traditional style lectures and "cookbook" labs. Many Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have been developed that provide research experiences to a more inclusive and diverse student body, allow more students to obtain research experiences, and expose students to the scientific process. Most CUREs in the biological sciences focus on cellular and molecular biology, with few being developed in ecology, evolution, and organismal biology. Here, I present a one-semester CURE focused on organismal form and function. The goal of the course was to have students develop their own research questions and hypotheses in relation to invertebrate form and movement, using high-speed cinematography to collect their data. In this paper, I describe the motivation for the course, provide the details of teaching the course, including rubrics for several assignments, the outcomes of the course, caveats, and ways a similar course can be implemented at other institutions. The course was structured to use a scaffolding approach during the first half of the semester to provide the content of form-function relationships and allow students to acquire the laboratory skills to quantify animal movement. The second half of the course focused on student-driven inquiry, with class time dedicated to conducting research. As there is a push to engage more students in research, I hope this course will inspire others to implement similar classes at other universities, providing a network of collaboration on integrative organismal student-driven research.

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.

The Genome Solver Project: Faculty Training and Student Performance Gains in Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics brings together biology, mathematics, statistics, and computer science to analyze biological sequence information. Anyone with a computer, access to the Internet, and basic training in this field can contribute to genomics research. Yet many biology faculty feel they lack training in the use of bioinformatics tools and therefore include little bioinformatics content in their courses. To overcome this challenge, the Genome Solver Project was created to empower undergraduate faculty by offering training and resources for creating hands-on bioinformatics course materials. In this study, we show the results of one survey completed directly after the workshop and a further follow-up survey to gain insight into the impact the workshop had on faculty willingness to include bioinformatics content in their courses and what challenges they still faced. We also measured student performance at five different institutions using a 20-question multiple-choice quiz delivered before and after bioinformatics instruction. Data collected from 640 students at these five schools demonstrated student performance increased, suggesting that bioinformatics training workshops can be an effective means of encouraging faculty to engage in bioinformatics instruction and positively influence student learning.

Design and Assessment of Online, Interactive Tutorials That Teach Science Process Skills

Explicit emphasis on teaching science process skills leads to both gains in the skills themselves and, strikingly, deeper understanding of content. Here, we created and tested a series of online, interactive tutorials with the goal of helping undergraduate students develop science process skills. We designed the tutorials in accordance with evidence-based multimedia design principles and student feedback from usability testing. We then tested the efficacy of the tutorials in an introductory undergraduate biology class. On the basis of a multivariate ordinary least-squares regression model, students who received the tutorials are predicted to score 0.82 points higher on a 15-point science process skill assessment than their peers who received traditional textbook instruction on the same topic. This moderate but significant impact indicates that well-designed online tutorials can be more effective than traditional ways of teaching science process skills to undergraduate students. We also found trends that suggest the tutorials are especially effective for nonnative English-speaking students. However, due to a limited sample size, we were unable to confirm that these trends occurred due to more than just variation in the student group sampled.

How to Assess Your CURE: A Practical Guide for Instructors of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences

Integrating research experiences into undergraduate life sciences curricula in the form of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can meet national calls for education reform by giving students the chance to "do science." In this article, we provide a step-by-step practical guide to help instructors assess their CUREs using best practices in assessment. We recommend that instructors first identify their anticipated CURE learning outcomes, then work to identify an assessment instrument that aligns to those learning outcomes and critically evaluate the results from their course assessment. To aid instructors in becoming aware of what instruments have been developed, we have also synthesized a table of "off-the-shelf" assessment instruments that instructors could use to assess their own CUREs. However, we acknowledge that each CURE is unique and instructors may expect specific learning outcomes that cannot be assessed using existing assessment instruments, so we recommend that instructors consider developing their own assessments that are tightly aligned to the context of their CURE.

Killing two birds with one stone: Model plant systems as a tool to teach the fundamental concepts of gene expression while analyzing biological data

Plants are ideal systems to teach core biology concepts due to their unique physiological and developmental features. Advances in DNA sequencing technology and genomics have allowed scientists to generate genome sequences and transcriptomics data for numerous model plant species. This information is publicly available and presents a valuable tool to introduce undergraduate students to the fundamental concepts of gene expression in the context of modern quantitative biology and bioinformatics. Modern biology classrooms must provide authentic research experiences to allow developing core competencies such as scientific inquiry, critical interpretation of experimental results, and quantitative analyses of large dataset using computational approaches. Recent educational research has shown that undergraduate students struggle when connecting gene expression concepts to classic genetics, phenotypic analyses, and overall flow of biological information in living organisms, suggesting that novel approaches are necessary to enhance learning of gene expression and regulation. This review describes different strategies and resources available to instructors willing to incorporate authentic research experiences, genomic tools, and bioinformatics analyses when teaching transcriptional regulation and gene expression in undergraduate courses. A variety of laboratory exercises and pedagogy materials developed to teach gene expression using plants are discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant Gene Regulatory Mechanisms and Networks, edited by Dr. Erich Grotewold and Dr. Nathan Springer.

Digital collaborative learning: identifying what students value

Digital technologies are changing the learning landscape and connecting classrooms to learning environments beyond the school walls.  Online collaborations among students, teachers, and scientists are new opportunities for authentic science experiences.  Here we present findings generated on PlantingScience ( www.plantingscience.org), an online community where scientists from more than 14 scientific societies have mentored over 14,000 secondary school students as they design and think through their own team investigations on plant biology.  The core intervention is online discourse between student teams and scientist mentors to enhance classroom-based plant investigations.  We asked: (1) what attitudes about engaging in authentic science do students reveal, and (2) how do student attitudes relate to design principles of the program? Lexical analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed that students most highly value working with plants and scientists.  By examining student responses to this cognitive apprenticeship model, we provide new perspectives on the importance of the personal relationships students form with scientists and plants when working as members of a research community. These perspectives have implications for plant science instruction and e-mentoring programs.