Paper: Hodges et al. 2020. “Effect of Exam Wrappers on Student Achievement in Multiple, Large STEM Courses.”

The gist: Exam wrappers (reflections on the exam) promote student metacognition and their completion positively correlates with course grades.

Key results:

• Exam wrappers are an effective way to promote reflection and lead students to view exams as a method of solidifying understanding and learning of a topic, and not just as an assessment for a grade.    
• Use of exam wrappers significantly correlated with course grades.
• Cumulative GPA improved when given multiple exam wrapper opportunities; exam wrapper use extends beyond the courses in which exam wrappers are offered.
• Self-reported behaviors as measured by Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) pre/post scores – a means to measure exam wrapper effects on student knowledge and regulation of their cognition – did not correlate with the use of exam wrappers or proactive behaviors.
• Ethnicity did not contribute to an understanding of students’ metacognitive behavior or academic outcomes.
• Female students were more likely to use exam wrappers but their use of exam wrappers was not significantly correlated with a course grade or cumulative GPA.
• There was a significant positive relation between exam wrapper use and cumulative GPA for males.

Practical applications:

1. Want to tailor a wrapper to your course? Check out these examples of homework and exam wrappers.
2. Curious about actual student responses? Listen to Dr. Cristen Dutcher’s talk and excerpts from students describing increases in confidence, motivation and self-efficacy.

Paper: Goudsouzian and Hsu 2023. “Reading Primary Scientific Literature: Approaches for Teaching Students in the Undergraduate STEM Classroom.“

The gist: The authors present a framework for teaching with primary literature, considering approaches by target level, time required, assessment population, etc.

Key results:

The 5-part framework for reading primary scientific literature includes:

1. determining learning goals of reading primary literature (e.g., promote conceptual knowledge?, increase interest in research?)
2. choosing a paper that supports learning goals (i.e., consider length, complexity)
3. designing instruments to measure intended goals (i.e., if goal is to gain content knowledge, assessment is paper-specific)
4. identifying appropriate pedagogical method (especially: check existing library resources, scaffold learning – read portions of paper, read in groups)
5. assessing, reflection and iteration (especially: share lessons learned with your teaching community)

Practical applications:

1. Encourage students to read like expert readers by giving explicit instructions on what to focus on, taking notes as they read and creating their own diagrams/models/outlines of key results and conclusions.
2. UW Libraries hosts an Undergraduate Researcher Tutorial – the first section is Read Strategically. Could this, or a workshop hosted by a subject librarian be useful in your course?

Paper: Fuentes, Zalaya and Madsen 2020. “Rethinking the Course Syllabus: Considerations for Promoting Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion”

The gist: 7 considerations for thoughtful and intentional incorporation of equity, diversity and inclusion into a course syllabus.

Key results:

• Include or verbalize your commitment to intersectionality, “I would like to acknowledge that we are all individuals with multiple sociocultural identities that intersect and shape our worldview through the lens of privilege and oppression. My commitment to you as your instructor is to minimize systemic forces of oppression within the classroom such as ableism, classism, racism, sexism, transphobia, and heterosexism in efforts to create a safe learning environment for all of us. I ask that you also join me in this commitment to foster respect for one another, enhance solidarity, and build community.”
• Be explicit about highlighting the work of historically excluded scholars in the discipline, “The following text/articles for the course have been chosen in efforts to highlight the important work of historically underrepresented and marginalized scholars in the field”
• In addition to listing office hours, a) provide an explanation of their purpose “my office hours are an opportunity for you to connect with me, a chance to ask clarifying questions about content, explore what you many want to do after you graduate, and find support” b) assign students to attend an office hour in weeks 1-2.

Practical applications:

1. Is your instructor/faculty lead open to additional/new/different readings? Create low-stakes assessments for students to find relevant discipline-specific literature from scholars that resonate with them and their own intersectionality.
2. Continue the practice of reflection in your teaching practice. Incorporate a “getting to know you” week 1 survey, adopt journaling and mid-quarter evaluations. Register for C ENV 555, or the UW Teaching and Learning Symposium to gather with, and learn from, peers and colleagues.

Paper: Yen, Karayev and Wang 2020. “Analysis of Grading Times of Short Answer Questions.”

The gist:  An analysis of 242,775 graded short answer questions graded using GradeScope¹, an AI-assisted grading tool, reveals the importance of sorting assessments (exams, labs, assignments) and grading similar responses, for maximum efficiency.

¹Instructors have access to GradeScope via their UW NetID, most useful to grading large enrollment (50+) courses due to set-up time.

Key results:

• Sorting student responses by similarity has the potential to drastically reduce grading time by up to 50% per response.
• Limiting rubric items decreases grading time – a question with 4 rubric items takes almost twice as long as one with 2 rubric items.
• The majority of instructors and TAs/graders begin with an incomplete rubric and change the rubric at some point based on student responses (59%)
• A minority of student responses (1.4%) solicit changes to the rubric – this takes additional time

Practical applications: 

To increase grading efficiency, consider:

• For all: simplify rubrics by including less categories
• For a problem set: grade the same question group for all students before grading the next question group
• For written responses: set word limits based on professional standards (e.g., research article 2,500 words; blog 2,000 words; AP news article 400 words) or have students submit sections of longer pieces (with their own short rubrics) throughout the quarter

Paper: Sarju and Jones 2022. “Improving the Equity of Undergraduate Practical Laboratory Chemistry: Incorporating Inclusive Teaching and Accessibility Awareness into Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistant Training”

The gist:  An introductory chemistry lab Teaching Assistant (TA) inclusive teaching training program of 22 participants over 2 workshops reveals the importance of incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion principles to signal they are valued and expected by the academic unit.

Key results:

• Workshops aimed at TAs should:
  • solicit for and be responsive to actual TA needs (not perceived needs)
  • include up-to-date data on disparities and systemic exclusion in higher education
• Instructors should:
  • aim for long-term continuous reflection and growth of TAs through ongoing briefing sessions/teaching team meetings
  • request that TAs share experiences and perspectives on effective and ineffective inclusive practices in higher education, as recent graduates

Practical applications: 

1. The authors describe the benefit of a reflective teaching practice. You can implement reflection at any time in the quarter. Here are some ideas from the UW Center for Teaching and Learning.
2. The authors comment that TAs are particularly interested in data on recruitment, retention and persistent inequities in STEM, in higher education. Does that describe you? If so, see the College tab of the National Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators data portal. How might you change your teaching practices in light of these data?
3. The authors emphasize the importance of ongoing reflection and refinement in teaching. Do you have regular check-ins with your faculty lead/instructor? If not, ask for these, in a mode (Zoom, email, in-person) that you both agree on.

Paper: Viskupic et al. 2020. “Comparing desired workforce skills and reported teaching practices to model students’ experiences in undergraduate geoscience programs”

The gist: In order to understand the extent to which geoscience programs succeed at preparing undergraduate students for the geoscience workforce, the authors used survey results from 1,037 geoscience instructors across all geoscience disciplines to identify the most common workforce skills practiced in the classroom.

Key results:

• The most common workforce skills practiced in classrooms are “distinguishing observations from interpretations” and “working as part of a team.”
• The least frequently reported skills in classrooms are “systems thinking” and “societal relevance,” two skills most commonly reported in climate courses.
• Some skills are practiced frequently in a minority of courses (e.g., mapping skills, calculus).
• Hydrology courses practice the most skills at the highest frequency.
• Students have multiple opportunities to practice the most desired workforce skills (data skills, geoscience skills, communication skills).

Practical applications: 

Interested in connecting classroom learning to careers?

1. Using discipline-specific job board, review a recent technician-level job posting’s minimum and preferred qualifications. Does your course address at least the minimum skills? For example, for a “Biological Sciences Research Technician 1” position:

1. 1. Minimum skills: assisting field-based biological research, handling aquatic species, Excel, data collection, data entry, interpersonal skills, commitment to DEI
   2. Preferred skills: conducting biological research, working in strenuous field environments, electrofishing, operating 4-wheel drive vehicles, commitment to DEI
2. Data skills are commonly highlighted in the classroom and minimum job skills (see above!) Do your students collect and analyze their own data to answer a science question? If not, could they? If yes, could they have more opportunities to do so?

Paper: Musgrove et al. 2021. “To Cope or Not to Cope? Characterizing Biology Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Coping with Teaching and Research Anxieties”

The gist: Biology GTAs frequently used 2 adaptive coping strategies to manage both teaching and research anxieties and an array of less common coping strategies preferentially, for either teaching or research (not both).

Key results:

• To manage both research and teaching anxieties, GTA’s most frequently used coping strategies of “problem solving” (i.e., making a plan) and “information seeking” (e.g., through mentors, literature)
• To deal with teaching anxieties, GTAs spoke more about “cognitive restructuring” (i.e., framing a negative stressor in a positive way) .
• When managing research anxieties, GTAs spoke more about “support seeking,” “self-reliance,” “accommodation,” and “distraction.”

Practical applications:

Teaching evaluations are a common source of anxiety for GTAs. To reduce evaluation anxiety, GTAs can implement formative feedback practices. Students engage in ongoing feedback and self-assessment, enabling instructors to make timely adjustments and foster a sense of continuous improvement. Exit slips are one example of low-stakes/preparation formative feedback. They provide feedback to the instructor as the student exit the class.  Here are some exit-slip examples:

1. “Post it, prove it” – students respond to a prompt by posting their unique solution/example – e.g., “How can you assess if an article is peer-reviewed?”
2. “Stoplight” – students place a dot on the “don’t get it = red” “are getting it = yellow” or “got it = green” bulb.
3. “Sum it up” – ask students to write a 1-sentence summary of that day’s content.
4. “Tip Jar” – students write down a tip about the concept/lesson for a student next year.

Paper: Molin et al. 2021. “Do feedback strategies improve students’ learning gain? Results of a randomized experiment using polling technology in physics classrooms.”

The gist: An evaluation of whether polling followed by teacher feedback, or polling followed by peer discussion and teacher feedback, leads to an improvement in student learning relative to the no feedback.

Key results: 

• Teacher feedback, regardless of peer discussion, positively affects learning gains
• Peer discussion + teacher feedback results in the largest learning gains
  • Peer discussion encourages students to explain their own reasoning and listen to what peers have to say
  • Teacher feedback provides context to fully understand the solution or explanation

Practical applications:

1. Revisit learning goals for the specific session/lab. Which are most important? Prioritize the questions that target these goals as the more time consuming polling + peer discussion + teacher feedback questions.
2. You can also give asynchronous feedback with online Canvas quizzes.  When creating a question in a Canvas quiz, you can add comments that students will see once they have submitted the quiz and have access to the answers.  You can find instructions for how to do so HERE.

Paper: Gonsar et al. 2021. “Graduate- and undergraduate-student perceptions of and preferences for teaching practices in STEM classrooms.”

The gist: Survey results from 1,113 undergraduates and 161 graduate students describe student desire for courses to include more time for active learning and to provide a mix of active learning and traditional lectures.

Key results:

Graduate students

• spend slightly, though significantly less time devoted to active learning in their courses
• wanted significantly less time lecturing

Undergraduate students

• reported significantly fewer opportunities to verbally answer questions in class
• have a greater desire for 1:1 interaction with instructors
• wanted significantly less time assuming the responsibility for learning on their own

Practical applications:

1. Provide active learning activities with a clear goal or roles – see this example – for group members to avoid the criticism, “we have no idea what we are doing and the instructors have given no examples so we sit…”
2. Create an incentive (pre-class-quiz-for-points, arrive with notes-in-hand) for students to read materials ahead of class to avoid the criticism, “mostly effective for learning the paper if the students actually read it but there was no system in place for assuring accountability, leading to some group sessions suffering”

Paper: Pfeifer et al. 2023. “What I Wish My Instructor Knew: How Active Learning Influences the Classroom Experiences and Self-Advocacy of STEM Majors with ADHD and Specific Learning Disabilities.”

The gist: Semi-structured interviews of 25 STEM majors with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and specific learning disorders provide 6 key suggestions (below) for improving student outcomes.

Key suggestions:

• Consider student differences in your teaching (i.e., not every student meets learning goals on the same timeline).
• Know that how instruction is implemented directly affects participant success in a course (i.e., some are especially affected by delivery; active learning is preferred).
• Explain your expert thinking to the entire class (i.e., explain a common pitfall if most students get a poll answer wrong).
• Provide interactive notes to support learning (i.e., students layer their own notes into this outline).
• Videos are preferred over extensive reading from the textbook.
• Provide a road map for accommodations (i.e., beyond “contact DRS”; reach out to discuss implementation).

Practical applications:

1. Acknowledge differences in the ways students perceive, approach and interact as learners
2. Change up course materials so that content is not all the same format: video, short reading, demo-no-sound, podcast, cut/rearrange/glue tactile activity
3. Provide clear structure for group work; ask students to discuss and choose roles

Paper: Oliveira et al. 2021. “Developing undergraduate student oral science communication through video reflection.”

The gist: This study examined how video-based self-reflection affects the development of oral science communication skills in undergraduate biology students and how their self-perceptions changed through the act of watching a video of themselves.

Key results:

Approximately 40% of students changed their self-perceptions after watching a video of themselves

• There were slightly more instances of positive self-assessment following video review
• The most self-critical students developed perceptions that were less negative
• Mentions of body language, eye contact, and voice had the highest increases in video self-assessments
• Very poor from-memory self-assessments shifted positively after video review; very positive from-memory self-assessments shifted negatively

Practical application:

Further promote student oral communication skills via the following challenges:

• “No words slides” – digital presentations with no words, notes or captions/legends
• Audio-only assignments e.g., a mini-podcast, radio short
• Chalk talks – students draw and describe a published figure – no notes, just chalk/marker (and questions from the audience)

Paper: Shinbrot et al. 2022. “The Impact of Field Courses on Undergraduate Knowledge, Affect, Behavior, and Skills: A Scoping Review.”

The gist: A scoping review to investigate the factors influencing undergraduate participation in, and outcomes from, field courses. Of the 61 studies, there was consistent reporting on course design outcomes but little reporting on demographics, nor rigorous evaluation of outcomes.

Key results:

• Geosciences were the most frequently represented discipline (n=31) followed by biological sciences (n=23).
• Top reported barriers included cost (n=11) and physical factors (n=10), and to a lesser extent emotional factors.
• Top reported outcomes from field courses included knowledge (n=30), confidence (n=13), attitude toward course (n=12), career readiness (n=9) and collaboration (n=9).

Practical application:

Involved in a field course? Try this:

1. Provide students with the learning outcomes of each field trip.
2. Prepare students for the trip, to decrease barriers.
   1. Provide a packing list for what the students should bring and what the field trip leads will bring.
   2. Provide an overview schedule, including sleeping and vehicle arrangements.
   3. Take anonymous questions ahead of your departure (e.g., how do I pee in the woods? what if I get sick on the trip?), provide the FAQ on a discussion board or during discussion section.
3. Assess knowledge and skills with a pre-trip quiz and a post-trip quiz; assess group/collaboration/”soft” skills with a post-trip, paired self-assessment/group assessment.

Paper: Cipra and Müller-Hilke 2019. “Testing anxiety in undergraduate medical students and its correlation with different learning approaches.”

The gist: Paired salivary cortisol and qualitative surveys of 98, first-term, undergraduate medical students show surface learning (i.e., rote learning for the purpose of passing assessments) is significantly correlated with anxiety and those employing strategic learning (i.e., genuine enjoyment in learning with a balance of time available) had the least anxiety and most academic success.

Key results:

• Anxiety significantly increased from the beginning of the term to exam 1
• Female-identifying students showed higher levels of exam-related anxiety
• The deep learning approach (i.e., seek to understand, regardless of external goals/timelines) prevailed.

Practical application:

Promote strategic learning (i.e., learning for knowing, on a timeline) in your course by:

1. Having groups dig-in to a difficult concept, synthesize and present their synopses in flow-charts or diagrams to the rest of the discussion section.
2. Asking students to write a “1-minute thesis” on a notecard (ungraded) of a key concept, presentation, or video. Use these as a temperature check for learning.
3. Co-creating a study guide that compiles what the students believe to be important/key concepts, along with the Instructor/TA priorities.

Encourage students with anxiety to practice relaxation breathing (1 minute or less) at the start of an exam and during the exam if they are unable to focus and answer a question. Research shows that deep breathing exercises can lower anxiety and boost exam scores.

Paper: Lacosse et al 2020. “A social-belonging intervention improves STEM outcomes for students who speak English as a second language.”

The gist: Data from 12,000 students at 19 universities reveal that reading the personal histories and identity struggles of senior students (the social-belonging intervention) resulted in increased sense of belonging, STEM credits earned and STEM GPA in the first term for incoming students.

Key results:

• Students who received the pre-matriculation social-belonging intervention felt like they belonged more over time.
• Social belonging interventions may improve the STEM persistence and performance of other marginalized groups (e.g., first gen, low income, racial/ethnic minorities).

Practical application:

Promote social belonging in your course by:

1. Including a “how to succeed in this course” section of your syllabus compiled from previous student feedback and include direct quotes from past students when possible.
2. Sharing your own identity and/or challenges you’ve faced in your field to normalize feelings of belonging uncertainty. Consider sharing the TA-generated fail forward boardbefore high-stakes assessments.
3. Providing students specific resources to find community and support at UW, including the Ethnic Cultural Center, Instructional Center, CLUE Tutoring, etc.

Paper: Wong et al 2022. “’Biology is easy, physics is hard’: Student perceptions of the ideal and the typical student across STEM higher education”

The gist:  This study uses interviews of 89 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) students to identify the prevalent narratives and “ideal” or desirable attributes that are associated with students majoring in biology, engineering, mathematics or physics.

Key results:

• The study reports a gendered and social ranking of STEM disciplines with perceptions of disciplines as being more/less difficult, which is coded as more/less masculine, with the typically masculine regarded as more prestigious than those coded as feminine.
• The ideal student in engineering, mathematics and physics portrays traits that are coded stereotypically as masculine, such as analytical, competent and hardworking.
• Biology is regarded as the less challenging STEM subject with the ideal characteristics being curiosity and collaboration.
• This hierarchical thinking can have an impact on the identity formation of students and their sense of belonging in these disciplines.

Practical application:

Engage in some “ideal student” myth busting by:

1. Purposefully featuring research/papers/case studies that do not describe the typical structural identity categories in the discipline.
2. Reminding students that analytical skills are not “intuitive” – they are learned by practice on a scale and timeline that is individual-specific.
3. Recognizing that social characteristics like  “collaborative” are not lesser skills, in fact they’re ranked highly by STEM employers.

Paper: Reynders et al. 2020. “Rubrics to assess critical thinking and information processing in undergraduate STEM courses.”

The gist:  The use of grading rubrics in STEM courses allowed instructors to assess the information processing and critical thinking skills of students and better align assessments with intended learning outcomes.

Key results:

• Rubrics opened outcome-driven conversations and discussions between instructors and TAs 
• Rubrics forced students to reflect on how to improve their scores in specific outcome categories (e.g., “synthesizing”)
• High agreement scores indicate multiple raters identify the same areas for improvement in student work
• Rubrics helped instructors modify their teaching to meet course learning objectives (e.g., centering outcomes in their lessons; returning to previous outcomes if most students performed poorly)

Practical application:

Like the authors provide rubrics…

1. when the assignment is distributed, so students can pre-assess their work
2. which have clearly defined levels (e.g., scale 0-5; levels 1, 3 and 5 are defined)
3. when possible, quantify/operationalize the outcome (e.g., “provides evidence by citing at least 5 peer-reviewed references” or “explains what is happening at each part of this multi-step reaction”)

Adding and grading with rubrics in Canvas is easy. Learn how here.

Paper: Wan et al. 2023. “Responding to incorrect ideas: science graduate teaching assistants’ operationalization of error framing and undergraduate students’ perception.”

The gist: In a mixed-reality classroom simulator, Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) were tasked to rehearse cold calling (i.e., calling on non-volunteering students) paired with error framing (i.e., to frame errors as natural and beneficial to learning); error framing statements were then discussed with 13 undergraduate students to gain their perspective.

Key results:

• Student interviews revealed that framing can increase or decrease student comfort and participation
• Students appreciated specific error framing strategies, especially when GTAs acknowledged:
  • Statements as sensible/natural: “I see where you’re coming from” “I can see why you would think that, let’s fix this together”
  • Effort: “You worked through this and came really close”
  • A misconception as common: “That’s a common thought, but incorrect”
  • Incorrect answers as a learning opportunity: “This is something to explain to everyone later”
  • Conversation is key: “I’ve appreciated this back-and-forth”

Practical application:

The authors also dive into framing and tone. Try their suggestions by:

1. Focusing on the process instead of the correct answer or the error
2. Limiting use of terms like “kind-of” “sort-of” – students prefer when GTAs are up-front
3. Decreasing use of negative words like “misconception” – students interpret this as a global statement of their competence
4. Addressing students informally, as you would a colleague, to avoid the feeling “I’m just a student what do I know?”

Paper: Deslauriers et al. 2019. “Measuring actual learning versus feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom.”

The gist: Comparing passive lectures with active learning for the same course, students in an active classroom learn more, but perceive that they learn less, in part as a result of increased cognitive effort during active learning. Instructors who use active learning are encouraged to address this misperception and remind students to embrace the struggle – that is when learning occurs!

Key results:

• Students perform significantly better on tests in active learning classrooms, regardless of topic or instructor.
• On the feeling of learning survey, students feel they learn more in passive learning classrooms, regardless of topic or instructor.
• The cognitive effort involved in struggling through difficult/complex problems makes the students frustrated and aware of their lack of understanding in a way passive lectures do not.

Practical application:

As the authors suggest:

1. At the start of the course, give a brief description of active learning and evidence for its effectiveness.
2. Monitor groups for individuals with poor attitudes or low engagement – seek to flip this negativity by sharing with students that neuroscientists have found that mistakes are helpful for brain growth and connectivity, and if we are not struggling, we are not learning.
3. Assess students early and often so they can gauge their actual learning, not rely on their feeling of learning.
4. Solicit feedback from students such as “one-minute papers” or “exit slips” and explicitly respond to their concerns within the quarter.
5. Include automatic feedback as answer comments on Canvas Quizzes to either give students hints for solving difficult problems and/or encouragement.

Paper: Kayaduman 2020. “Student interactions in a flipped classroom-based undergraduate engineering statistics course”

The gist: The flipped classroom method (i.e., outside class content delivery, in-class discussion/workshopping) facilitated the students’ learning process, increased their interest in the course, and was associated with positive interactions with peers, instructors, and course content.

Key results:

Students responded that:

• the most useful activities were the video on the topic of the week, in-class implementation and the assignment on the topic of the week
• video lectures were more helpful than face-to-face lectures (e.g., ability to fast-forward, rewind)
• online content was highly accessible (e.g., phone, computer, in-transit)
• in-class groups should be forced to switch-up so students “experience different people, different perspectives”

Practical application:

Flipping a course takes time. Start by:

1. Flipping a single day/week or flipping the lab/quiz section
2. Instituting pre-lab or pre-class quizzes on preparatory material (e.g., readings/papers, lab methods)
3. Recycling (and shortening) videos created during COVID online learning; or link to existing content (Live From the Field is one such repository)

Paper: Cooper et al. 2021. “Reconsidering the Share of a Think–Pair–Share: Emerging Limitations, Alternatives, and Opportunities for Research”

The gist: A reconsideration of the benefits of necessity, impact, and assumptions behind the share of the think–pair–share strategy due to unnoticed inequities (a minority share, from majority sectors), random call panic, and the current culture of science seminars (tenured full-professor dominance).

Key results:

Ideas that emerge during a share may not reflect true diversity of student ideas. Consider alternatives like optional consent to share, local (i.e., small group) share, go-around (i.e., students add answers/insights in series).

Random call may cause student anxiety and result in inequities in who shares ideas. Consider modifications to reduce anxiety and make students feel more comfortable contributing to the class discussion.

• Include real-time or asynchronous synthesis of student ideas to capture the richness of student experiences and ideas.

• Real-time synthesis of ideas include polling, instructor listening in and assigning competence (i.e., highlighting contributions of specific students) to capture true diversity
• Asynchronous synthesis of student ideas like having groups or individuals write on index cards or do electronic posts, allows instructor access to all ideas and time to review and synthesize responses.

Learning goals may be met by “think” and “pair”. Eliminating the share allows for other in-class activities and may reduce student anxiety. 

Practical application:

1. Try one of the above!
2. As the authors suggest, think about share in the context of discipline-based seminars, and advocate for structures that move away from traditional post-seminar share sessions dominated by only a few voices.

Paper: Newton et al 2019. “Two-Stage (Collaborative) Testing in Science Teaching: Does It Improve Grades on Short-Answer Questions and Retention of Material?”

The gist: Two-stage testing, an assessment strategy in which students first take a test individually and then immediately afterward in a group, improves performance on multiple choice and short-answer questions, and improves short-term retention, but not long-term retention of learning goals.

Key results:

• Students’ overall midterm grades increased, on average, 17 percentage points for collaborative exams, regardless of question type (i.e., multiple choice or short-answer)
• Short-term, there was significant, individual decay of knowledge for multiple choice questions and no such decay for collaborative exams
• Long-term, there was no significant change in knowledge via either testing method (i.e., individual or collaborative) or either question type (i.e., multiple choice or short-answer)

Practical application:

Other collaborative testing references suggest:

1. Weighting exam score grades at 80% individual/20% collaborative
2. Implementing collaborative polling, i.e., for difficult polls, ask students to “find someone who answered differently” and re-poll
3. Randomly determining/alternating collaborative testing groups to avoid less-prepared students consistently relying on others

Paper:  Sun and Xie, 2020. “How do students prepare in the pre-class setting of a flipped undergraduate math course? A latent profile analysis of learning behavior and the impact of achievement goals.”

The gist: Performance and survey data collected from 104 undergraduate students enrolled in a calculus I course reveal 3 types of pre-class learning behavior profiles, with significantly different performance trajectories.

Key results:

• The 3 learning profiles are: 1) lecture-focused and low time-spent on course website 2) lecture-quiz-balanced and average time-spent on course website 3) quiz-focused and high time-spent on course website
• Students matching the 3^rd profile “quiz-focused and high time-spent on course website” showed a decline in participation, and a dramatic decline after the middle of the semester
• Online participation and motivation dropped across all profiles over the semester
• Performance-approach oriented students (i.e., the goal is to outperform others) are more likely to be profile 1 or 2 (lecture focused or lecture-quiz balanced), performance-avoidance oriented students (i.e., the goal is to not underperform others) are more likely to be profile 3 (quiz-focused).

Practical application:

Like the authors, use prior or current course performance data to:

1. Orient students to essential tasks. e.g., in the syllabus, include “students who are successful in this course do the following: A, B, C”
2. Reframe student approach to learning.  Reorient students to a performance approach, e.g., each week have the students state their learning goal to a small group, in a growth-oriented (positive) way, “I want to be able to explain the difference between X and Y” not “I do not want to be the person who knows the least about X and Y”
3. Survey students on their habits early. Use these data to identify the “academically at-risk group” focused primarily on assessments and not on learning.

Paper: Abbot et al. 2019. “Listening to Undergraduate Peer Tutors: Roles, Relationships, and Challenges

The gist: Survey data collected from 49 peer tutors revealed that communication, clearly defined roles and expectations, and support from the professor in their role as a liaison (both in academics and psycho/social capacity) led to them feeling successful.

Key results:

• 65% reported that the opportunity to work with a particular professor was the most important reason they applied to be a peer tutor
• 83% reported that the most rewarding aspect was working with other students
• Professor call-outs resulted in peer TAs being seen as a reliable resource
• Peer tutors that met frequently with instructors all felt the role met their expectations; those that did not, had mixed feelings
• Including peer tutors in weekly meetings with the professor allowed tutors to provide input on the lesson plans and tutors were more effective in the classroom
• Peer tutors assist in breaking down barriers between students and the professor and make the professor appear more approachable

Practical application:

Like the authors, promote peer-to-peer learning by:

1. Instituting peer reviews in-person, or in Canvas. Model reviews like a grant review process by providing a rubric to reviewers with mandatory comment sections. Model responses to reviews like a journal submission process by asking reviewees to examine feedback and provide the reason(s) they did or did not incorporate reviewer feedback.
2. Asking small group presenters to strive to highlight and attribute one novel idea/thought/method from one member of their group during their group’s summary to the larger group. Audience reacts with finger snaps.
3. Implementing a pinwheel discussion in which ~4 groups assume expert status on separate sub-topics/papers/stakeholder groups, then a member from each group gets to rotate into the center group to be that expert.

Paper: Arsoy. 2020. “Evaluation of Performance of Undergraduate Students in Determining Basic Parameters of Seismic Hazard.”

The gist: In an applied seismology course, enrolled students used publicly available data to successfully conduct probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) – a method used by advanced engineering professionals that is not usually taught or practiced at the undergraduate level.

Key results:

• 79% of enrolled students successfully identified and characterized potential seismic sources near their locations of residency after only 3 hours of lecture on the steps of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA).
• The PSHA performed by undergraduate students compared reasonably well to the analyses published by advanced professionals
• Students can quickly be trained to conduct probabilistic seismic hazard analysis and these analyses should be open to all practicing engineers following certification after examination.

Practical application:

Like the author, get students exploring complex, applied problems by:

1. Working with component equations/functions, one-by-one. The Gutenberg-Richter model is a Poisson model – test students’ understanding using a simplified app, like this.
2. Digging into a complex dataset for information on a specific location/time. Check out Visualizing Hurricane Data with R Shiny (no coding skills necessary!)
3. Combing through publicly-available archives to select best available data for their model. Data.gov is a treasure-trove, as is USGS EarthExplorer for images/imagery data.

You’re aware of advanced methods that undergraduates rarely have exposure to. Bring in your expertise by:

1. Introducing students to your own research and a publicly available dataset you use/used.
2. Adapting and exploring computer code freely available in a publication’s supplementary material.  Game-ify by asking students to match portions of code to descriptions in the methods section.

Paper: Palestro and Jameson. 2021. “Math self-efficacy, not emotional self-efficacy, mediates the math anxiety-performance relationship in undergraduate students”

The gist: Math exams received from 115 undergraduates, when paired with mathematics self-efficacy, emotional self-efficacy and math anxiety self-assessments, suggest that the relationship between math anxiety and math performance decreases as math self-efficacy increases, but not as emotional self-efficacy increases.

Key results:

• A student’s belief in their ability to be successful at math influences the degree to which their anxiety interferes with their performance.
• Women, on average, have more negative attitudes about math, but they experience the same benefits of high math self-efficacy on math performance as men.
• Interventions aimed at increasing emotional regulation alone to improve math performance are insufficient.

Practical application:

Increase the most influential source of math self-efficacy, “mastery experiences” (i.e., successful, repeated performances) by:

1. Providing many iterations of “the same” problem/equation
2. Beginning new, multi-step problems with foundational questions covered earlier in the term
3. Getting students comfortable solving math problems solo, with a group, in front of a TA, in front of a professor, etc.
4. Offering lots of self-quizzes – extra, daily practice problems for students (and the instructor) to check understanding and mastery.

Paper:  Duffy et al. 2019. “Preaching to the choir or composing new verses? Toward a writerly climate literacy in introductory undergraduate biology.”

The gist: Survey results from 383 undergraduate students across 2 semesters of an introductory biology course reveal climate change curriculum increases students describing immediate impacts, personal harm, and worry about climate change.

Key results:

• Students entered the course accepting that climate change is occurring and humans are the cause
• Worry/concern about climate change increased, likely because students’ belief that humans could address climate change impacts remained low and unchanged

Practical application:

To combat worry/concern, as the authors suggest, consider using:

• Concept-mapping or in-class writing to gauge where students are at; extend and broaden climate literacy and address misconceptions. The Climate Council (Australia) has some good climate myth buster inspiration as well as the Skeptical Science blog.
• “Bright spot” framing to ask students what solutions are working locally and how can we replicate, expand or intensify these bright spots. Ask students to review and insert themselves into the UW Climate Action Plan.
• Questions that emphasize potential gains from tackling climate change or alternative futures that do not end in catastrophe. Project Drawdown is a hub of such stories.
• Activities or service opportunities as actual or potential preludes to action beyond the classroom. The Community Engagement & Leadership Education Center is an excellent source of service opportunities for students.

Paper: Ong et al. 2018. “Research literature on women of color in undergraduate engineering education: A systematic thematic synthesis”

The gist: Literature analysis of 65 papers published between 1999-2015 was used to study what influences the experience and persistence of women of color in undergraduate engineering education programs.  Four main themes were identified: 1) interest, motivation, self-efficacy, 2) social pain, 3) navigation, and 4) support entities.

Key results:

• Theme 1: Interest, motivation and self-efficacy
  • Motivation comes from pre-college interest, academic preparation in STEM, excitement about succeeding as a racial/gender outlier
• Theme 2: Social pain
  • Being the only one, esp. no one else reaching out, exclusion from important study groups and networks
  • Being ignored or made invisible, esp. specific feedback re: excellent ideas, questions, or comments
  • Others attributing their achievement due to affirmative action or physical appearance
• Theme 3: Navigation
  • Women of color modified behaviors, reactions, speech or looks to persist in the culture “as-is” and avoid stereotypes
• Theme 4: Support entities
  • Families, religious institutions, peers within and outside discipline, staff/faculty connections, career centers, societies, internship/research clearinghouses all serve as supports.

Practical application:

As the authors suggest, try these things to promote minorities in STEM:

• Provide students a list of internships and student organizations. So many options in our College!
• Encourage students to seek supportive relationships, esp. mentor-mentee, 1:1 w/ grads, faculty. See the College research opportunities page.
• Host students informally. Consider offering an “ask-me-anything” coffee/tea break for your students.

Paper: Soysal et al. 2022. “Analysis of Anxiety, Motivations, and Confidence of STEM students during the COVID-19 Pandemic.”

The gist:  A weekly survey of 53 undergraduate students taking introductory calculus reveals that regardless of gender or class rank, motivation and confidence drop significantly toward the end of the semester and anxiety increases.

Key results:

• Females and those in their first two years of university (freshmen, sophomores) exhibited higher levels of motivation (Fig 2).
• Male upper classmen (juniors, seniors) showed higher levels of confidence (Fig 4).
• Low motivation decreases over the semester for males, but increases for females (Fig 5).
• Freshmen and sophomores report much higher math anxiety than juniors and seniors (Fig 6).

Practical application:

As the authors suggest, increase the following mechanisms:

• Promote study centers. UW’s Math Study Center Links to an external site. is open every day of the week and the Statistics Tutor and Study Center is open M-Th. Full list of all study centers is here.
• Offer multiple office hours/week. Push students to attend office hours. Consider providing FAQs from office hours to the entire course.
• Reduce the uptick in anxiety before exams by:
  • Providing previous exams and rubrics so students become more comfortable with expectations
  • Offering a “bring your questions” pre-exam group session
  • Reminding students, “If you have prepared for this exam, there is more than enough time to answer the exam’s questions in 50 minutes.”

Paper: Gold et al. 2018. “Spatial skills in undergraduate students—Influence of gender, motivation, academic training, and childhood play.”

The gist: An assessment of spatial reasoning skills among 345 undergraduate students reveals significant differences by gender, fully mediated by adjusting for a variety of academic and non-academic experiences, the most important being whether students frequently played with construction-based toys (e.g. Legos) as children.

Key results:

• Male and females displayed significant differences in spatial skills, with males outperforming females in mental rotation
• Students who played sports, video games, music, or played with construction-based toys demonstrated increased spatial skills  – after controlling for gender and standardized test scores (e.g. SAT)
• STEM majors scored 5% higher than non-STEM majors for spatial reasoning; undeclared majors showed significantly lower spatial scores
• For each additional STEM course taken, students’ spatial skills improved by 0.6%
• Students who indicated that they played action video games showed significantly higher spatial skills

Practical application:

• Incorporate construction-based activities into courses. Use modeling clay, molecular models and engineering hands-on activities that bolster spatial reasoning.
• Investigate video gaming as a tool for learning. Use a game developed by the College’s EarthGames team or suggest to your students to take ATMS 495, EarthGames Studio.
• Improve spatial reasoning through practice. Ask students to interpret remote sensing imagery or cross-sectional plots from different view angles, or locate wildlife using telemetry data.
• Encourage students to play by making activities fun. Check out these customizable NBA visualizations or create your own weekly class puzzle based on student-submitted photos (macro, top-view, etc.)

Paper:  Starr et al. 2020. “Engaging in science practices in classrooms predicts increases in undergraduates’ STEM motivation, identity, and achievement: A short-term longitudinal study.”

The gist: Authors test a path model (Figure 1) to evaluate impact over time to students’ STEM motivation, STEM identify, STEM career aspirations and course grades (n=1,079 at an R1 Hispanic-serving institution).

Key results:

• Recognition as a scientist has significant, positive impact on STEM identity and classroom climate
• Classroom climate has significant, positive impact on STEM motivation, STEM identity, STEM career aspirations and course grades
• STEM identify and classroom climate have significant, positive effects on STEM motivation
• STEM motivation, STEM identity and classroom climate have significant, positive effects on STEM career aspirations
• STEM motivation and classroom climate have significant effect on course grades

Practical application:

• When students recognize one another as scientists, they can forge a positive classroom climate. To facilitate this recognition, structure labs and/or assignments in a way that students collect data individually, then share and merge data with other students to solve complex problems. Include reflective prompts that lead to a discussion about the benefits of many scientists studying the same question from many angles.
• Supportive classroom climates may strengthen URM students’ sense of belonging. Instructors and TAs can set a tone of inclusivity by relaying their commitment to every student’s learning and further that commitment by showcasing how a wide variety of scientists have made significant contributions to that discipline.
• Identity as a scientist is built over time. Incorporate meaningful science practice into course structure and assignments throughout the quarter by asking students to identify relevant data, plan data collection, generate research questions, relate their results to the work of others, practice peer review on published articles, practice presentation on published articles.
• Professional development for instructors and TAs contributes to classroom climate. Take advantage of workshops and seminars offered by the UW Center for Teaching and Learning and the College of the Environment Teaching Support Team

Paper: D Styers. 2018. “Using big data to engage undergraduate students in authentic science”

The gist: Analysis of large, publicly-available datasets allow students to grasp social and ecological processes, at varying scales, that drive landscape-level changes.

Key results:

• Students noted the most useful aspects of the course were becoming familiar with an image interpretation program (ENVI) and remote sensing applications
• Top suggestions to make the course better included adding more datasets and increasing time for the project

Practical application:

Use big data in your course or lab, here are some top sources cited in the paper:

• USGS Earth Explorer (EE) – satellite images and aerial photograph database
• Natural Resources Conservation Science (NRCS) Geospatial Data Gateway (GDG) – vector and raster data
• Climate Data online (CDO) – weather and climate data
• Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER) – publicly-funded research data repository
• National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) – standardized data from 81 U.S. field sites
• Data Observation Network for Earth (DataONE) – earth and environmental data repository
• Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) – course-collected ecological data clearinghouse

Paper: Gelinas et al. 2021. “Investigating Instructor Talk among Graduate Teaching Assistants in Undergraduate Biology Laboratory Classrooms”

The gist: TAs with prior teaching experience and pedagogical training used more “instructor talk” (= non-content, non-logistics speech), specifically positive talk, that shaped the classroom learning environment and promoted equity and inclusion, than TAs without such experience or training.

Key results:

• The average rate of “instructor talk” used by TAs (in labs) was significantly higher than by faculty (in lecture)
• TAs had a much higher average rate of positive talk in the category “Establishing Class Culture” (e.g., sub-category Building Community “Get to know your classmates. There should be 10 people that get you, have the same classes as you, can support you. This is a science community. The more I can do to foster that, the better you are going to do in this class.”)
• TAs had a much higher average rate of negative talk in the category “Dismantling the Instructor/Student Relationship” (e.g., sub-category Ignoring Student Challenges “If you ever need to miss a class because you’re sick, or because of an emergency, email me first. If you don’t, I’m just going to assume that you ditched.”)

Practical application:

This paper is PACKED with example phrases that you may have used (and should continue to use) and ones you may have used (and should discontinue!). Take a minute to read through the tables.

Increase phrases like:

• Respect for students: “I’ve had students that commute and work two jobs, and I really understand that. If there are times you can’t make it, all I ask is that you communicate with me.”
• Secrets to success: “Read the lab manual before class. Please, please ask question if you’re confused about anything. Come to my office hours.”
• Boosting self-efficacy: “You are all 1000 percent capable of getting an A in this class. I’m going to be that motivator for you and say ‘you know you can do this’”
• Indicating it’s OK to be wrong: “Can I have one pair share? Remember, if you think you got it wrong, that’s ok. We’re all here to learn and figure it out together”
• Using student work to drive teaching choices: “I’m going to grab the blue cards, with what you are unclear about. If there are consistent questions, that’s an indicator to go over that for the whole group.”
• Being explicit about the nature of science: “If I’m ever wrong, feel free to ask or present a question. That’ the point of science – for us to be able to ask questions and challenge things respectfully.”
• Fostering wonder: “You guys have a lot of growth on your petri dishes. Some awesome stuff. Some creepy stuff. Lots of colorful things. I’m really excited for the semester”

Paper: Miller, Fowler, Johns, Johnson, Ramsey and Snapp. 2021. “Increasing Active Learning in Large, Tightly Coordinated Calculus Courses.”

The gist: Curriculum innovations with coordinated implementation improved the calculus course series at a large, public university.

Key results:

Innovations included:

• Developing a new “stretch calculus” course for students who place midway between precalculus and calculus I and allowing students to continue or drop back to precalculus after the first exam
• Extending availability of content from online lessons (for hybrid sections) to in-person sections
• Aligning every problem to one of the course learning objectives and assessing practice problem fit to the course as a whole by substantially revising quiz section handouts and homework
• Beginning calculus 2 with practice of precalculus and calculus 1 skills

Practical application:

Consider ways to improve quantitative content in your course by:

• Making remote content created during COVID (e.g., videos, demos, additional problem sets) available as extra review material
• Revisiting and revising quiz section, homework and exam problems to assure they fit under a specific course learning objective
• Starting the quarter with review materials, self-quizzes and skills checks

Paper: Lesley Batty and Katie Reilly. 2022. “Understanding barriers to participation within undergraduate STEM laboratories: towards development of an inclusive curriculum.”

The gist: Disability, gender and experience can influence a sense of belonging and confidence in undergraduate laboratory courses.

Key results:

• Students with disabilities were significantly less likely to report a sense of belonging in STEM labs.
• Females consistently reported lower belonging and confidence scores than males.
• Students with previous laboratory classes reported a higher sense of belonging and confidence.
• Health and safety training can improve confidence and sense of belonging.
• Students also reported concerns about laboratory assessments, use of equipment and working with other students.

Practical application:

Reduce concerns about lab work in your course by:

• Briefing students on laboratory safety and demonstrating proper techniques.
• Posting your commitment to equity and inclusion on the first day of lab; verbally emphasizing that every student brings different laboratory experience and expertise to the course.
• Providing a combination of group and individual work to decrease interpersonal dynamics.
• Giving a practice lab assessment and details about how students will be assessed.

Paper: Ruby Olivares-Donoso & Carlos González. 2019. “Undergraduate Research or Research-Based Courses: Which Is Most Beneficial for Science Students?”

The gist: Literature review of 20 studies show that both undergraduate research and research-based courses have positive effects on students.

Key results:

Students who participated in research-based courses:

• Showed deeper understanding of science, how knowledge is constructed, how scientists think, and potential uses of knowledge and skills learned.
• Had higher levels of achievement in all attitudes and behaviors evaluated regarding becoming a scientist (independence, tolerance, ethics, readiness).
• Reflected similar positive effects on the development of personal relationships with professionals in their area of study.
• Relayed positive effects for all career subcategories (interest in science, career options, and academic pathways) while undergraduate research participants only relayed positive effects for career options.
• Felt less prepared for graduate school and real-world work than undergraduate research participants.

Practical application:

Boost research-based work and metrics in your course by:

• Contributing to a citizen science dataset (e.g., CoCoRaHS – precipitation data).
• Reviewing data in a crowd-sourcing project (e.g., Steller Watch – Steller sea lion population counts in the Aleutian Islands).
• Contributing to a long-term local dataset and analyzing longer time series (e.g., Did You Feel It? – earthquake reporting).
• Hosting guest speakers that can elaborate on understanding science, how scientists think and how to become a scientist.
• Talking about/hosting a discussion on pathways to graduate school and the career options you are exploring.

Paper: V S Rangel, L Vaval and A Bowers. 2020. “Investigating underrepresented and first-generation college students’ science and math motivational beliefs: A nationally representative study using latent profile analysis.”

The gist: Results of a longitudinal study of math and science beliefs across 22,000 high school students from 940 public and private schools. Students were classified into 4 groups based on their negative (low) or positive (high) perceptions about both math and science.

Key results:

• Females were more likely to have very negative perceptions of both math and science than very positive perceptions of both.
• African Americans and Asians were more likely to have very positive perceptions of both math and science than very negative perceptions of math and science.
• Math achievement had the most significant effect on positive perceptions, across all groups, but especially for very positive perceptions of both math and science.
• Students with very negative perceptions of both math and science had the lowest STEM GPAs and took the fewest STEM courses; the reverse is also true.
• After controlling for race/ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, and high school math achievement, first-generation college status was not significantly associated perceptions about math and science.

Practical application:

Here are some ways to counteract the negative perceptions of math and science:

• Math achievement is a powerful driver of positive STEM perceptions. Guide students to math resources on campus, including the math study center, your own office hours, etc.
• Reduce the link between grades and perception of math and science by reminding students that your primary focus is their learning not their grades/grading/points/scores. Consider creating assignments that encourage students to reflect on the knowledge or skills gained throughout the quarter.
• Shift to “asset oriented” approaches that highlight familial or cultural wealth (e.g., traditionally, women harvested and preserved foods using STEM knowledge, skills and tools).
• Ethnically underrepresented students have complex/mixed perceptions of math and science. Ask students for feedback verbally, or via daily or weekly written reflections about their perceptions and the effectiveness of course activities. Consider having students develop a portfolio over the quarter for a tangible reference of their skills at the beginning, and end, of the course.

Paper: Giles, Jackson and Stephen. 2020. “Barriers to fieldwork in undergraduate geoscience degrees.”

The gist: Reducing barriers to field work in the geosciences is crucial to representation in the discipline.

Key results:

Many barriers exist for students to participate in field trips:

• Inadequate field gear may lead to discomfort or lack of participation in field activities (e.g., hiking boots, raingear, multi-day backpack).
• Confusion/anxiety on how to manage personal hygiene in remote locations (e.g., use of toilet bags) may be unaddressed by instructors.
• Residential/weekend trips can conflict with work or caregiving responsibilities.
• Long hours can present real and perceived barriers to people with physical and mental health issues.
• Religious observances/restrictions may impact activity and participation (e.g., fasting, prayer breaks, co-ed housing).
• Cross-country travel may not be available to non-citizens, or marginalized groups (e.g., gender nonconforming persons in conservative countries).

Practical application:

Try reducing field work barriers yourself! Here are some ideas:

• Advertise shared gear libraries. The School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and Marine Biology have one (raingear, boots, clipboards, etc).
• Advertise funding for field gear. The School of Environmental and Forest Sciences’ Field Experience Support Fund provides up to $300/award. The College provides field-based research funds through the Immersive Learning Fund.
• Introduce students to many skills. Next-gen geoscientists should gain experience across many skills, not just field skills.
• Provide a mix of trip types: off-campus trips (day-long or overnight), self-guided trips.
• Provide alternate trip offerings. Check out these virtual field trips or these case studies for persons with disabilities.

Paper: Giese, Wende, Bulut and Anderl. 2020. “Introduction of Data Literacy in the Undergraduate Engineering Curriculum”

The gist: Instructors provided technical, legal and ethical perspectives via scenarios tailored to undergraduates to create a three-pillar data literacy framework (statistics, programming, transparency and awareness) with the third, new-to-engineering-curricula pillar to include technical, legal and ethical perspectives.

Key results:

• “Data literacy” is a rising complexity of skills, from “readers” to “communicators” to “makers” to “scientists”
• From surveys, undergraduates were confident in accessing their data (e.g., from apps, social media), but lacked an understanding of how their own data was collected and used (e.g., location data from their phone shared with apps).
• Examples of scenarios included copyrighted course content, laptop encryption, your photo and location upload vs. group photo and location upload

Practical application:

Try it yourself! Here are some ideas to get students thinking about technical, legal, and ethical considerations in data collection, manipulation and publication:

• Read a scientific article. Ask students to find the technical, legal and ethical safeguards put in place (i.e., by the author, by the journal) to assure transparency, anonymity, and attribution. Do the safeguards cover everything? What safeguards, if any, are missing?
• Check out open data. Ask students to find and download a dataset (e.g., from data.gov Links to an external site.). What ethical safeguards are already in place?
• Use their own data. Have students download, analyze, and write a short article on their own data (e.g., web searches, Fitbit data, phone calls, Husky account transactions). Have the student describe any technical, legal and ethical safeguards they put in place prior to “publishing” their short article to the instructor.

Paper: Trout, Murphy and Vukicevich. 2019. “Combining Active Learning Techniques and Service Learning in a Section of Physics I with Calculus Course”

The gist: 35 introductory physics undergraduates practiced and coached each other to complete 16 physics demonstrations and then hosted a “Day of Science” for 25 middle schoolers.

Key results:

• 100% of the undergraduates indicated that service learning increased their proficiency in demonstrating fundamental physics concepts.
• 85% of the undergraduates felt very strongly that the service-learning opportunity should be made available for future classes.
• The middle schoolers ranked having lunch with the undergraduates as their second most memorable activity (behind the manufacture of a laser design apparatus to create Lissajous-like figures).

Practical application:

Try it yourself! Here are some ideas:

• Get students teaching each other. Implement a pinwheel discussion with 4 papers on a similar topic, or break a laboratory exercise into 2 parts – with the first part done by one student and taught to their lab partner, then the roles switch.
• Encourage service. Have students check out the UW list of community-engaged course offerings.
• Promote outreach and engagement. Advertise campus and departmental events (e.g., MLK Week Events, SAFS Open House), clubs (e.g., Rockin’ Out), and experiential learning opportunities (e.g., Riverways Education Partnerships) that sponsor outreach activities to local schools and incentivize students to participate with extra credit.

Paper: White K, Vincent-Layton K, and B Villarreal. 2021. “Equitable and Inclusive Practices Designed to Reduce Equity Gaps in Undergraduate Chemistry Courses”

The gist: Minimizing equity gaps fosters a diverse talent pool. Equity gaps are reduced when instructors focus on students’ assets, connect with students as individuals, and affirm student potential as scientists.

Key results:

Six, core equitable and inclusive practices are discussed:

• Active learning and group work
• Fostering a sense of belonging
• Validating students’ identities
• Cultivating student-student and student-instructor relationships
• Being intrusive (e.g., by reaching out to students who are beginning to struggle)
• Allowing students to make mistakes

Practical application:

Try it yourself! Here are some examples from the paper:

• “Teach your peers group quiz”: During the first half of the allotted time, students take the quiz individually. For the remaining time, students walk around and find other students who have answered a question differently – they discuss their answers and thinking, to arrive at the correct answer.
• Share a “Study Skills for [your course here]” document with your students the first day. The example provided for intro organic chemistry: 1) Commit the time, 2) Dig deep, 3) Prepare before lecture, 4) Summarize, 5) Work in groups.
• Give credit/no credit homework assignments where students who make a good effort are rewarded credit and the ability to explore concepts without the fear they must get everything correct.

Paper: Peacock J, Mewis R, and D Rooney. 2018. “The use of campus-based field teaching to provide an authentic experience to all students”

The gist: Weekly, 2-hour, campus-based field trips reduced logistics difficulties and prepared undergraduates for future field work in novel locations.

Key results:

• Campus-based trips reduced costs and logistics and lowered barriers to student participation (e.g., co-ed overnight trips, jobs, school/lab schedules)
• Lecture material can be woven into field trips, decreasing lecture time and increasing skill-building time.
• Day trips provide similar social benefits to trips farther afield
• Visiting a known location allows students to focus on learning new skills.

Practical application:

Try it yourself! Here are a few on-campus field trip ideas:

• Behavior study? Choose among common campus fauna: Canada geese, gray squirrels, bees, humans, ants, crows, etc.
• Remote sensing? Have students log physical data around campus via inexpensive iButtons.
• Biological labs? Perform low-cost water quality tests from a variety of water sources.
• Use UW resources: UW Farm, experiments at the Center for Urban Horticultureor UW Biology Greenhouse, restoration projects at the Union Bay Natural Area or Fritz Hedges Waterway Park.

Paper: Nederbragt, Harris, Hill and Wilson¹. 2020. “Ten quick tips for teaching with participatory live coding.”

¹Note—this paper focuses on participatory live coding, but the tips herein are applicable to teaching new skills more generally (equations, multi-step analyses, or any new program/application)

The gist: Participatory live coding has undergraduate students “code along” with the instructor which a) slows instructors down so students can engage and b) introduces mistakes to help students problem solve. This kind of teaching embodies the “I do, we do, you do” approach to knowledge transfer.

Key results:

• The ten tips: 1) Go slowly, 2) Mirror your learner’s environment 3) Be seen and heard, 4) Use screen(s) wisely, 5) Avoid distractions, 6) Use illustrations, 7) Stick to the lesson material, 8) Embrace your mistakes, 9) Get real-time feedback and provide immediate help, 10) Turn learners into co-instructors.
• Say out loud what you are doing, while you do it, for everything you type and every mouse click
• Don’t let anything disrupt the flow: your own desktop notifications, “cool tricks” to show, complicated or ”what-if” questions from students
• Turn your mistakes into teachable moments, and consider crowdsourcing them (e.g., “how should I interpret this error message?”)

Practical application:

Try it yourself! Help students with coding or any other new skill¹ by:

• Handing out 2 different-colored sticky notes so learners can flag whether they are done with an exercise or need help.
  • This gives you a sense of how students are doing on the task, if there is a widespread need for help, and allows students to keep working while still notifying you that they need some assistance.
• Empowering more experienced students to help someone with an “I need help!” sticky note
• Collecting the “what if?” questions students raise via physical notecards, or virtually on a Google Jamboard. Review and answer these at a later time.

Paper: Eadie G, Huppenkothen D, Springfold A & T McCormick. 2019. “Introducing Bayesian Analysis With m&m’s®: An Active-Learning Exercise for Undergraduates.”¹

The gist: Step-by-step lesson and associated R code for undergraduates that applies Bayesian analysis to candy-covered chocolate m&m’s,

Key results:

• Two objectives of this lesson:

1) infer the probability of drawing blue m&m’s® given a likelihood, prior and their data

2) predict the factory from which the m&m’s® were produced, based on the posterior distribution for the entire class’ data.

• A class of 10 or more students seems to provide enough data to accurately predict the percentage of blue m&m’s® and the factory from which the candy originated.

Practical application: 

Try it yourself – here are 3 simple ways to get students thinking about data using candy:

• Talk about the types of data students will generate (e.g., numerical? categorical? continuous?) and their hierarchy (skittles®: chewy).
• Explore sampling bias using assorted candies (i.e., differing shapes, sizes) and two sampling methods or implements (e.g., tweezer, mini-strainer)
• Create a simple regression between candy bag quantity and weight; interpret the slope and intercept

Read more: Huppenkothen D and G Eadie. 2021. “Teaching the Foundations of Machine Learning with Candy.”

¹With COVID-19 restrictions, have students count their candy on a paper plate and refrain from eating until after class.

Paper: Kirby CA, Libarkin JC and S Thomas. 2021. “Geoscientists’ drawings of natural selection”

The gist: Asking students do draw concepts or select the correct illustration can be a useful assessment for measuring the depth of understanding of scientific process and content knowledge.

Key results:

• Mental models are required for comprehension of scientific theories. The drawing process facilitates selection, organization and integration of information into a mental model, assists in the recall of learned content knowledge, and allows learners the opportunity to discover their own misconceptions.
• Respondents scored higher on multiple-choice questions than on the drawings. Multiple-choice scores are a reflection of test-taking ability and not a deep understanding of process.
• Regression analysis indicated that higher multiple-choice scores were a strong predictor of higher drawing scores and women scored higher on their drawings than men.

Practical application:

Try it yourself!  Help students develop a mental model by:

• Incorporating images with no descriptive text into teaching activities.
• Presenting correct and incorrect drawings of a process and asking students to select the correct representation and explain why it is correct.
• Assigning drawing prompts (e.g. “Draw a series of pictures that explain the process of natural selection.”) and ask student to use labels to explain their graphic.

Paper: Henry et al 2019. “FAIL Is Not a Four-Letter Word: A Theoretical Framework for Exploring Undergraduate Students’ Approaches to Academic Challenge and Responses to Failure in STEM Learning Environments”

The gist: STEM undergraduates with a growth mindset who use adaptive coping strategies will tend to demonstrate a greater ability to navigate scientific obstacles, seek out subsequent challenges, show perseverance and a positive disposition in the face of setbacks.

Key results (in this case, elements of the proffered model, Figure 5, attached):

• STEM students with a fixed mindset who hold a “performance orientation” (as opposed to a “mastery orientation”) are expected to exhibit challenge-avoiding behaviors (e.g., seeking easy as opposed to challenging tasks, making excuses, etc.)
• When STEM students see ability as fixed, stable, and uncontrollable, it often leads them to adopt a helpless response pattern in which they view future failures as inevitable.
• The STEM undergraduates who use maladaptive coping to deal with challenges (i.e. those who have a fixed mindset) are more likely to lose interest in pursuing STEM education, to suffer burnout, and to leave STEM.

Practical application:

Try it yourself; here are 3 easy ways to implement:

• Encourage a growth mindset and discourage self-handicapping. Present data on prior courses showing that participation and practice leads to success and non-participation is selling yourself short of these benefits. Let students know you expect to see them in class, in office hours, and in study sessions.
• Help students develop a mastery approach. Through surveys or entry/exit slips, have students brainstorm what they wish to know/understand/become more confident in, for the course as a whole or a specific lesson.
• Guide students toward adaptive coping:
  • Problem solving: plan and enact a solution
  • Support seeking: make use of peers for emotional support
  • Cognitive reframing: e.g., “our lab results were a total bust, but I still made an awesome graph”

Paper: Palmer et al. 2021. “Health and education concerns about returning to campus and online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic among US undergraduate STEM majors”

The gist: Online learning is perceived by students (n=64) as substandard, specifically lacking hands-on experiential learning and face-to-face interactions with faculty.

Key results:

• Inadequate access to technology or high-speed internet was not problematic for most undergraduate students during remote learning (5% – from this racially and financially diverse group).
• The most common concern with remote learning was the difficulty staying focused on school work (58%)
• For the return to in-person learning, students worry about peer non-compliance with COVID safety rules (e.g., masking) and passing the virus to vulnerable family members (28%)
• Decreased ability to socialize with friends was raised for both return-to-campus (11%) and remote learning (19%)

Practical application: Early in the term, remind students about the challenges of remote learning and validate their concerns with the switch back to in-person learning

Try it yourself; here are 3 easy ways to implement:

• Validate varying levels of COVID-19 concern in the “gray zone”. Say e.g., “On this field trip, when we are in vans we will wear masks. When we are outside, masks are optional and both options – wearing or not – are ok.”
• Suggest that students “up their mask game” or double-mask. Double masking is better than a single mask (cotton only < surgical only < (cotton + cotton) < (surgical + cotton) < (surgical + surgical) < N95)

• Review study techniques. Remind students that targeted, uninterrupted study is more productive than longer periods of interrupted study. Ask students to brainstorm the place(s) they have available to make uninterrupted work happen. Remind students that they should expect to spend three hours/week per course credit hour (for a 5-credit course, students should plan on spending 15 hours in class, on assignments, reading, studying, etc.)

Paper: Harris et al. 2021. “Can Test Anxiety Interventions Alleviate a Gender Gap in an Undergraduate STEM Course?”

The gist: Stress and anxiety interventions in an intro-bio course (n=1140 students) had no impact on self-declared anxiety, but did significantly increase student exam performance.

Key results:

• Women (self-identified) declared more anxiety, but both genders may actually experience anxiety at similar levels
• Students who declared higher test anxiety had lower exam scores
• There was no gender gap in exam points, but there was in non-exam points
• Interventions helped all students earn more exam points

Practical application: Interventions and/or alteration of high-stakes assessments can improve achievement gaps

Try it yourself, here are 3 easy ways to implement:

• Pilot an expressive writing intervention in your course, pre-exam.  Develop insights about your course and context-specific ideas for how to close achievement gaps. The prompt in this study was:

“Please take the next 3 minutes to write as openly as possible about your thoughts and feelings regarding the test you are about to take. In your writing, go deep and explore your emotions and thoughts as you are getting ready to take your test. You might relate your current thoughts to the way you have felt during other similar situations at school or in other situations in your life. Please try to be as open as possible.”

• Reduce anxiety by de-emphasizing high-stakes assessments.
  • Adopt a flexible grading strategy (e.g., 4 exams, drop lowest score)
  • Adjust the weight of high-stakes and low-stakes assessments in the course grade

• Anxiety may be related to belonging. Use eye contact, call students by name, encourage participation. These strategies are known to reduce anxiety and increase performance.

Paper: Johnson et al. 2020. “Effect of a Place-Based Learning Community on Belonging, Persistence, and Equity Gaps for First-Year STEM Students”

The gist: Participants in a place-based learning¹ community cohort (n=297, across 3 cohorts) had a stronger sense of belonging, improved academic performance, and increased freshmen persistence

¹Place-based learning (as defined by the paper) connects students to the local environment.  It provides cultural and/or geographic context to lessons and may also include outdoor education methodologies.

Key results:

• Of the 10 factors assessing sense of belonging, the biggest gains were seen in “peer connections” and “living: social aspects”
• Students in the learning community completed significantly more credits than those in the reference group
• STEM major persistence (underrepresented students vs. non-underrepresented peers) shrank from −9.1% to less than 1 % in the learning community

Practical application: Place-based learning communities can occur over various scales – class standing (e.g. freshmen), lab partners, group projects/presentations, clubs.

Try it yourself, here are 3 easy ways to implement place-based learning and foster community:

• Relationships are important. At the beginning of your course, reinforce how individuality increases the collective strength of science. Be explicit about the benefits of group work.
• Place is important. Within a learning objective, allow students to focus on a place of relevance to them (e.g., the Duwamish river;  air quality of urban vs. rural areas in Washington State). Think local – connections to local places can increase the perceived relevance for learners.
• Interrelationships between people and place are important. Alongside western science examples, include indigenous knowledge, traditional ecological knowledge, multi-generational family knowledge, or citizen science examples of knowledge acquired through a deep connection to place.

Paper: Czocher et al. 2020. “Building mathematics self-efficacy of STEM undergraduates through mathematical modelling”

The gist: Persistence in STEM is strongly dependent on self-efficacy ( = an individual’s perceived capacity to achieve) in mathematics. Pre- and post- surveys from 90 undergraduate students who competed in mathematical modelling competitions, as an intervention, showed significant gains in self-efficacy.

Key results:

• Pre-tests show self-identified females, on average, rank their math self-efficacy lower than self-identified males
• Participants who self-reported they had not previously taken upper-level coursework, or had lower GPAs, reported lower self-efficacy
• Self-efficacy gains were largest for those who had not taken advanced coursework previously

Practical application: Develop self-efficacy by similarly asking students to work in teams, on real-world, challenging problems.

Try it yourself, here are 3 easy ways to implement it:

• Create a weekly, real-world challenge question/problem, with no clear/obvious answer. Offer as an extra-credit, C/NC opportunity, to be completed in pairs – new pairs each time.
• Solve a large/complex problem all quarter long. Break it into core competencies (e.g., step 1: identify variables) and offer low-stakes, weekly quizzes.
• Ask students to be reviewers. Specifically, to critically comment on the analysis, interpretation, and validation of models in published papers – what was included, what was not, how might the results change with new/conflicting data or relationships?

Paper: Canning et al. 2019. “STEM faculty who believe ability is fixed have larger racial achievement gaps and inspire less student motivation in their classes”

The gist:  A longitudinal university-wide sample of 150 STEM professors and more than 15,000 students reveals that the racial achievement gaps in courses taught by more fixed mindset faculty were twice as large as the achievement gaps in courses taught by more growth mindset faculty.

Key results:

• Faculty most proximal to the student (i.e., the instructor of their course) matter more for students’ performance than do discipline-level faculty beliefs
• STEM college professors shape the motivation and achievement of students in their classes, particularly for URM students
• Fixed mindset beliefs are not concentrated within certain STEM disciplines – they are spread across them
• Fixed mindset beliefs are uncorrelated with faculty identities (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, age) and experiences (e.g., tenure, teaching experience) – these beliefs are problematic regardless of the faculty member’s background

Practical application: Be explicit about your commitment to every student’s learning – in your syllabus and verbally, throughout the quarter.

Try it yourself, here are 5 easy ways to implement it:

• Provide many, low-stakes opportunities to earn points. Explain why: this allows for the opportunity (and expectation!) to “fail forward” and to learn by doing, and re-doing.
• Imbed flexibility in exams/assignments (e.g., “drop n in x”). Explain why: the material is challenging in different ways, for different people.
• Encourage students after an exam (e.g., “If you are disappointed in your exam grade, please remember that your instructor(s) and TA(s) are here to help you succeed— come ask questions during office hours or seek us out for strategizing how you can perform better on the next exam!”).
• See it to be it. Include stories of science discovery from a variety of backgrounds/genders/cultures/nationalities. Looking for inspiration? Check out the lists of 1,000 Black Scientists and 100 Hispanic/Latinx Scientists.
• Students aren’t perfect and neither are scientists. They fail a lot! Looking for inspiration? Feature stories from FieldWork FAIL, How to deal with failure, or #sciencefail.

Paper: Rainey et al. 2019. “A descriptive study of race and gender differences in how instructional style and perceived professor care influence decisions to major in STEM.”

The gist: Interviews with over 200 college seniors focusing on perceptions of professor care, and correlation between professor care, instruction style, and sense of belonging.

Key results:

• Women of color, whether majors (“stay-ers”) or “leavers”, perceive less professor care than students from any other gender/race cohort
• Students in the physical sciences are less likely to report feeling their STEM professors cared about them than those in biological sciences
• Students encountering active learning approaches in the classroom feel cared about by their professors

Practical application: Check in with your students on a regular basis and include short active learning activities in every class session.

Try it yourself, here are 4 easy ways to implement it:

• Start each class session with a Poll Everywhere icebreaker question to take the temperature of the room
• Use Poll Everywhere questions throughout the class session to check in with your students, get them talking, and help them find common ground
• Use Poll Everywhere competitions during class to engage students
• End each class session with a Poll Everywhere question asking students to upvote the topics they are struggling with, or want to know more about

Paper: van de Sande and Reiser. 2021. “Using Push Technology for Maintaining Proficiency and Promoting a Growth

Mindset in a STEM Course.”

The gist: An app which sends students a daily math problem (via cell phone or email) improves summer preparation for a fall calculus course.

Key results:

• When students get the problem correct, about half elect to do another problem
• The majority of the students who get the problem wrong opt to view a hint and retry
• Participation is promising, especially since students would not otherwise be reviewing content daily

Practical application:

Use this approach to help your students access prior knowledge or revisit an important or missed concept from a previous week.

Try it yourself by creating a daily, 1-question Canvas Quiz worth minimal (or no) points and choose the options:

• Allow 2 attempts
• Add wrong answer comments (these are the “hints”)
• Let students see their quiz responses (Incorrect Questions Will Be Marked in Student Feedback)

• • Only once after each attempt

• Let students see the correct answers

• • Only after their last attempt