2024 NABT Biology Education Research Symposium

Friday, November 15, 2024, in Anaheim, Callifornia

Presentations for the 16th Annual NABT Biology Education Research Symposium were accepted through a double-blind peer-review process that was open to biology educators and researchers at all levels. The NABT Four-Year University & College Section Research Committee Co-Chairs were Ben England, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, and William Heyborne, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT.

We extend a special thank you to our reviewers for their time and detailed feedback.

2024 Presentations

Bridging the Gap: Sex and Reproduction Education in the College Biology Classroom

Katherine Bates and Kimberly Dickman, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO

ABSTRACT: In the United States, sexual assault rates and sexually transmitted infections remain higher in college students compared to other sectors of the population. The 2021 Youth Behavioral Risk Survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found at least eight percent of high school students have experienced forced sex they did not want, with prevalence greatly increasing as people enter college.

Comprehensive sex education can reduce rates of sexual activity and STIs. Many comprehensive sex education courses also focus on healthy relationships, consent, and recognizing sexual assault and can serve as a primary prevention tool for sex and dating. While sex education is often limited in public high school, colleges and universities present a unique opportunity to reach a wide audience with disparate sex education backgrounds. Sex educators can serve society better by teaching comprehensive sex education to increase protective factors for young adults.

Here, we present an analysis of the literature concerning the topics and mechanisms young adults want in comprehensive sex education. Additionally, we will discuss a college-level biology course we designed to follow best practices in comprehensive sex education and its effectiveness and reception among college students.

Exploring Outcomes from Participating in an Outdoor Science Activity

Carolyn Jess and Kristy Daniel, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX

ABSTRACT: Today’s youth often lack opportunities to participate in science practices outdoors. The purpose of this study was to capture fifth-grade student responses to an outdoor science activity booklet about pollination to discover what outcomes the students received from the activity. The booklet contained four post-activity questions to find what each student found most enjoyable, important, helpful, and what aspects made the participants feel most like a scientist. Student responses were organized into categories and emergent themes to reveal that students most enjoyed taking part in outdoor science practices. Participants reported that science practices were the most influential elements of the outdoor science activities. Science practices were also most responsible for students to feel like scientists and led many students to enjoy the activities. Science content was most important and helpful and the hands-on data collection and analysis aspects of the activities were impactful. Finally, being outside fostered enjoyment of the science activities. Short outdoor activities can promote children's scientific interest and identity development. Using what we learned through deductively coding student responses, we can implement tools children found beneficial into future science activities to ensure participants experience enjoyment, learning, and feeling like a scientist.

Investigating Student Attitudinal Outcomes of a First-Year, Two-Semester Biology Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)

Emma Throneburg, Natalie Christian, Connor Morozumi, Mikus Abolins-Abols, Jeffery Masters, and Rachel Pigg, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

ABSTRACT: Participation in research experiences can improve undergraduate student attitudinal outcomes and retention, yet many barriers exist that prevent broad student participation in traditional research experiences. Implementing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) can reduce these barriers. Furthermore, CUREs incorporated into introductory courses reach students early in their academic career. In this study, we implemented a two-semester CURE within an introductory biology laboratory sequence. Using attitudinal surveys, we monitored students’ scientific self-efficacy, science identity, and science community values. Additionally, we investigated how student attitudes might vary across demographic groups.

We found that student attitudinal gains occurred primarily after the first semester of the CURE, with scientific self-efficacy and science identity both increasing substantially. These gains were sustained after the second semester, which is noteworthy given the difficult new concepts covered (i.e., data analysis and scientific writing). Science community values remained high at all time points, suggesting that students' science values formed before college. Throughout CURE participation, scientific self-efficacy, science identity, and science community values varied only slightly or not at all between the demographic groups we investigated. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a two-semester introductory biology CURE to improve and sustain student attitudes in science.

Discourse and Argumentation Promotes Learning During Collaborative Group Exams

S. Katherine Cooper, Jillian Arzoumanian, Michelle Osovitz, and Jeffrey Grim, University of Tampa, Tampa, FL; Suann Yang, SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY

ABSTRACT: Collaborative Group Exams (CGEs) represent a specific implementation of student-centered learning aimed at transforming high-stakes assessments into collaborative learning experiences. Our current study focuses on student feedback to elucidate if sociocultural engagement underpins the performance gains seen with CGEs. We hypothesize that discourse and argumentation amongst peers are the causal mechanisms. Data from 834 students across 31 sections of biology courses at general education, introductory, and upper-level biology courses at a PUI were analyzed using a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative findings indicate that 74.6% of students reported CGEs consistently enhanced their learning experience. Qualitative analysis identified three primary themes in student responses: 1) discipline-specific content acquisition, 2) learning through peer discussion, and 3) development of soft skills. The findings show that discourse and argumentation during CGEs play a pivotal role in their effectiveness by promoting deliberative and disputative argumentation, therefore aligning with sociocultural learning theories. Thus, CGEs can be used to incorporate discourse and argumentation in STEM curricula, which in turn promotes deeper understanding and knowledge retention.

Defining Acceptance of Evolution: A Delphi Study

Taya Misheva and Jason Wiles, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY and M. Elizabeth Barnes, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN and Sara Brownell, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 

ABSTRACT: Evolution is firmly recognized as a core concept of biology, yet studies have found that biology students often do not accept evolution. As such, much of evolution education research aims to identify the causes of evolution rejection and to develop instructional strategies for increasing acceptance. This research relies upon surveys intended to measure evolution acceptance. Survey validity is an essential component of research quality, and a thorough definition of the construct of interest is critical for survey development and validity assessment. Thus, the purpose of this study was to develop a detailed, consensus-based definition of what constitutes “full acceptance of evolution” within the context of undergraduate biology education. We employed the Delphi method, in which a panel of experts was iteratively surveyed to establish a definition of evolution acceptance. As expert panelists reached a consensus definition, we found that (a) all agreed that evolution acceptance can be compatible with religious belief, and (b) “full acceptance” requires knowledge of certain aspects of evolution, including the shared ancestry of all life and existence of extensive supporting evidence for evolution. This definition provides a foundation for establishing a survey that more accurately assesses students’ awareness of and assent with key aspects of evolution.