Active learning has been recommended as a more effective way to teach when compared to traditional lecturing, yet active learning can be implemented in many different ways. One common approach in active learning is to ask students to share out their thoughts either with other students or in front of the whole class. These social interactions can be fruitful for hearing different perspectives and building classroom community, but they also can present challenges because they create a larger number of opportunities for a student to feel judged based on their answers. This worry of being judged, or fear of negative evaluation, has been shown to be a problem in active learning, particularly for students with anxiety . Implementation of Active Learning In two interview studies, one with students from a research institution and a second with community college students , students reported that how active learning is implemented matters. Answering a question that is timed based on accuracy...

It is well established that retaining PEERs in science is integral to addressing socioeconomic inequalities in the United States, ensuring that we include the best and brightest minds in the workforce, and minimizing the influence of bias in scientific research (Intemann, 2009). The term PEERs stands for “people excluded because of their ethnicity or race” and in the U.S. includes people who identify as Black or African American, Latinx or Hispanic, and people indigenous to the spaces comprising the United States and its territories (Asai, 2020). There are many efforts that we can make at the undergraduate level to positively influence PEER retention in science, including creating more inclusive undergraduate research experiences. In this post, we present four recommendations to help mentors create more inclusive research experiences for PEERs. We have developed these recommendations based on three studies that we have conducted, which identified negative aspects of undergraduate res...

Given the challenges we are facing this semester in light of the pandemic, rethinking our exams is essential for the success of our students. Stress, anxiety, and navigating a new modality creates a perfect storm that may derail many of our students and their ability to do well in our courses. This is the time to rethink the design of our assessments to ensure our students are engaged and learning the skills and knowledge we want them to learn. Recently, Josh Caulkins and Sarah Prosory examined several options for adjustments to your exams, some of which may take a small amount of time to implement but may have a big impact overall. Unpack Multiple Choice Question Exams We began with a poll: "What ways do you currently evaluate student learning in your course(s)?" Multiple choice was the leader with 89% of participants using them within their courses. A discussion followed describing the benefits and drawbacks of multiple choice questions (MCQ).  Concerns and Challenges Hig...

In these challenging times, students are experiencing additional stressors exacerbating their anxiety and depression. As instructors who want students to succeed, how can we support our students with anxiety and depression in order to foster belonging and maximize learning? In this week's Resilient Teaching webinar, we talked with SOLS assistant professor Katey Cooper, Ph.D , who shared her research examining what worsens and alleviates anxiety and depression in biology undergraduates. Dr. Cooper discussed two overarching research questions during the presentation that relate to creating inclusive biology learning environments: How does depression and anxiety impact students' affective learning experiences in biology learning environments? What strategies can be implemented to improve the cognitive and affective experiences of students with anxiety and depression in biology learning environments? We began by discussing the percentages of undergraduates who have anxiety and depr...

Depression is a mental health concern for many students and is prevalent among undergraduates at a concerning rate. It has also been shown that underserved and underrepresented individuals in science are disproportionately impacted by depression  ( Turner and Noh, 1988 ,  Eisenberg et al., 2007 ; Jenkins et al., 2013 ; American College Health Association, 2018 ).  If we want to create a more inclusive community in science, we should consider how students’ depressive symptoms interact with their research experiences. However, there is a lack of understanding of the relationship between undergraduate research and students’ depression. A recent study published by the Biology Education Research Lab at ASU begins to explore how depression impacts undergraduate research experiences, as well as how these research experiences affect students’ depression.                      Depressive symptoms affect undergradua...

Faculty and students come together in a course with assumptions and judgments that have been formed from our own experiences, as well as how we were taught in the past and how we learned. Often we forget to reflect upon the idea that no one has the same experience as we do, so we assume others are understanding or able to do the same things as we can. Especially in this remote time, we need to pause, ask questions, and seek out feedback in order to make improvements: “Does this work for you?” and “How can I make this work better for everyone?” Through reflection and implementation of changes to your course, you can begin to make your course accessible and inclusive for all. This post summarizes a virtual lunch and learn we hosted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2020. The webinar included two presentations: one from Dr. Sara Brownell , associate professor in the School of Life Sciences , and the other presentation was from Julie Allen , Instructional Designer with ASU Libraries . Future we...

Today's blog is written by Virginia Downing, Academic Success Manager and member of Sara Brownell's Biology Education Research Lab, Arizona State University When it comes to increasing student learning in college classes, active learning practices have been strongly recommended as a way to build students’ content knowledge. One common instructional practice in active learning classrooms is having students use clickers – handheld response devices – to answer instructor posed questions. Clickers allow all students in the class to be able to answer a question and the instructors can see how the class as a whole answered the question. By having students actively engage with the subject matter by answering questions, studies have shown that on average students learn more and fail less in these active learning courses compared to traditional lecture courses. However, what has yet to be explored in detail is how active learning practices like clickers may increase feelings of an...