Synthesizing Research Narratives to Reveal the Big Picture: a CREATE(S) Intervention Modified for Journal Club Improves Undergraduate Science Literacy

Communicating science effectively is an essential part of the development of science literacy. Research has shown that introducing primary scientific literature through journal clubs can improve student learning outcomes, including increased scientific knowledge. However, without scaffolding, students can miss more complex aspects of science literacy, including how to analyze and present scientific data. In this study, we apply a modified CREATE(S) process (Concept map the introduction, Read methods and results, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze data, Think of the next Experiment, and Synthesis map) to improve students' science literacy skills, specifically their understanding of the process of science and their ability to use narrative synthesis to communicate science. We tested this hypothesis using a retrospective quasi-experimental study design in upper-division undergraduate courses. We compared learning outcomes for CREATES intervention students to those for students who took the same courses before CREATES was introduced. Rubric-guided, direct evidence assessments were used to measure student gains in learning outcomes. Analyses revealed that CREATES intervention students versus the comparison group demonstrated improved ability to interpret and communicate primary literature, especially in the methods, hypotheses, and narrative synthesis learning outcome categories. Through a mixed-methods analysis of a reflection assignment completed by the CREATES intervention group, students reported the synthesis map as the most frequently used step in the process and highly valuable to their learning. Taken together, the study demonstrates how this modified CREATES process can foster scientific literacy development and how it could be applied in science, technology, engineering, and math journal clubs.

A Unique and Scalable Model for Increasing Research Engagement, STEM Persistence, and Entry into Doctoral Programs

Low persistence in science majors and limited participation in high-impact research experiences contribute to the nationwide underrepresentation of minorities in the science workforce, particularly jobs requiring a graduate degree. The Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences (PEERS) is an academic support program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) that supports first- and second-year science majors from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds to maximize student success and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) persistence. Here, we evaluate the success of PEERS through data from the UCLA registrar, student surveys, and longitudinal tracking of student outcomes. Results show that PEERS students have significantly higher participation rates in undergraduate research, despite PEERS having no formal research component. Importantly, PEERS students were seven times as likely to enroll in PhD programs, and twice as likely to enroll in MD programs compared with propensity-matched controls. Combined results show that increased success of PEERS students in their first 2 years as science majors resulted in improved outcomes later in their undergraduate studies and had tangible impacts on subsequent educational trajectories that will increase participation of underrepresented groups in high-skill STEM careers.

Error-Discovery Learning Boosts Student Engagement and Performance, while Reducing Student Attrition in a Bioinformatics Course

We sought to test a hypothesis that systemic blind spots in active learning are a barrier both for instructors-who cannot see what every student is actually thinking on each concept in each class-and for students-who often cannot tell precisely whether their thinking is right or wrong, let alone exactly how to fix it. We tested a strategy for eliminating these blind spots by having students answer open-ended, conceptual problems using a Web-based platform, and measured the effects on student attrition, engagement, and performance. In 4 years of testing both in class and using an online platform, this approach revealed (and provided specific resolution lessons for) more than 200 distinct conceptual errors, dramatically increased average student engagement, and reduced student attrition by approximately fourfold compared with the original lecture course format (down from 48.3% to 11.4%), especially for women undergraduates (down from 73.1% to 7.4%). Median exam scores increased from 53% to 72-80%, and the bottom half of students boosted their scores to the range in which the top half had scored before the pedagogical switch. By contrast, in our control year with the same active-learning content (but without this "zero blind spots" approach), these gains were not observed.

Increasing persistence in undergraduate science majors: a model for institutional support of underrepresented students

The 6-yr degree-completion rate of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at U.S. colleges and universities is less than 40%. Persistence among women and underrepresented minorities (URMs), including African-American, Latino/a, Native American, and Pacific Islander students, is even more troubling, as these students leave STEM majors at significantly higher rates than their non-URM peers. This study utilizes a matched comparison group design to examine the academic achievement and persistence of students enrolled in the Program for Excellence in Education and Research in the Sciences (PEERS), an academic support program at the University of California, Los Angeles, for first- and second-year science majors from underrepresented backgrounds. Results indicate that PEERS students, on average, earned higher grades in most "gatekeeper" chemistry and math courses, had a higher cumulative grade point average, completed more science courses, and persisted in a science major at significantly higher rates than the comparison group. With its holistic approach focused on academics, counseling, creating a supportive community, and exposure to research, the PEERS program serves as an excellent model for universities interested in and committed to improving persistence of underrepresented science majors and closing the achievement gap.