Integrating Concepts in Biology Textbook Increases Learning: Assessment Triangulation Using Concept Inventory, Card Sorting, and MCAT Instruments, Followed by Longitudinal Tracking

Data-rich textbook figures promote core competencies: Comparison of two textbooks

Many molecular biology and biochemistry instructors have altered their classroom behavior in favor of evidence-based, active learning instructional strategies. Overwhelming evidence confirms that lecture-only classrooms are detrimental to student learning outcomes, but we know less about the impact textbooks have on students outside the classroom. Two influential projects, the AP Biology redesign and Vision and Change, called for extensive restructuring of course content and hoped that textbooks would be restructured accordingly. This study evaluated all figures and tables from two introductory biology textbooks to quantify how well they implement recommendations from Vision and Change and AP Biology redesign. We documented significant differences among figures and tables when looking for experimental data, questions for students to answer, and quantitative interpretation. Using think-aloud interviews, we interrogated whether students engage differently with figures from the two textbooks. When figures provided take-home messages, students relied on written text rather than analyzing the graphical information for their understanding. Students frequently employed words from summaries within the figures to construct "inflated explanations" that mimicked comprehension.

CURE in a Box: an Online CURE for Introductory Biology Majors That Incorporates Vision and Change

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) help fulfill the recommendation of Vision and Change for biology curricula to focus on key concepts and skills to better prepare students for careers in the sciences. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many schools to move instruction online, highlighting the dearth of resources available for offering a CURE for introductory biology outside of the traditional laboratory-based setting. Here, we present a revision of our first-semester General Biology laboratory for a synchronous online setting where students perform a research-based wet lab component at home using an affordable preassembled kit while still meeting the CURE learning objectives. This template can be utilized by other colleges and universities that are looking to offer a safe, reliable, and affordable CURE in their introductory biology courses whether in a virtual or face-to-face environment.

A One-Year Introductory Biology Majors' Lab Sequence Incorporating Vision & Change

The introduction of Vision and Change by AAAS and the recommendation that biology departments amend their curricula to focus on key concepts and skills necessary for graduates have led to a re-envisioning of introductory curricula across the nation. Many of the "standard" biology text books have realigned their focus with Vision and Change, while new texts have emerged that completely revise how we teach introductory biology majors. One such textbook is Integrating Concepts in Biology (ICB), by Campbell, Heyer, and Paradise. Many departments, including ours, have adopted this text as a novel way to teach biology majors, focusing on active learning, the scientific method, and specifically, understanding data. However, with all of these revisions to biology textbooks, there have been no revisions or insights into corresponding labs for a typical 1-year introductory course sequence. Here, we provide a description of our 1-year lab sequence, emphasizing the scientific method and novel research, with a focus on the five "Big Ideas" presented in ICB. By removing the "cookbook" labs typical of most introductory laboratory courses, we found that this system better emphasized the focus of Vision and Change and, concomitantly, student appeared to enjoy the lab sequence and see the relevance to class material better, compared to previous years. We believe that this lab organization is a simple design that is not resource-intensive and can be utilized at schools of any size or budget.

Exploring Postsecondary Biology Educators' Planning for Teaching to Advance Meaningful Education Improvement Initiatives

This paper attends to challenges for postsecondary science education improvement initiatives, notably understanding and responding to the realities guiding educators' teaching practices. We explored 16 postsecondary biology educators' instructional planning, providing novel insights into why educators select certain strategies over others, including lecturing. Our findings point to an array of factors that educators consider, factors that we believe push against the lecture versus active-learning dichotomy that we hear in some improvement rhetoric. We recommend professional development experiences (including peer evaluations of teaching) wherein educators and other proponents for teaching improvements explicitly explore rationales for teaching, including educators' considerations of the nature of the discipline (content and concepts and skills and processes) and students' needs. Educators with less experience with content were more likely to seek out additional instructional resources during planning, including other educators. Given this, teaching improvement proponents may want to offer professional development activities that sync with periodic and planned teaching assignments that take educators out of their disciplinary knowledge comfort zone. Disciplinary colleagues might serve as exemplars of planning and implementing teaching strategies that both convey foundational content and processes and engage students via evidence-based practices.