The Biochemical Literacy Framework: Inviting pedagogical innovation in higher education

Staff goals, challenges, and use of student inquiry in undergraduate bioscience teaching laboratories

Teaching laboratory practical sessions are major components of undergraduate bioscience curricula, but research into staff perceptions and intentions across institutions in this context is lacking. This study describes a mixed-methods study using questionnaires and follow-up interviews to explore staff perceptions of their goals for UK bioscience teaching labs, the extent to which they incorporate student inquiry and challenges encountered with these sessions. The findings show that staff aim for strong lecture connections, applying taught theory to actively develop students' technical and data handling skills. They value teaching labs as opportunities for authentic contact through hands-on learning with scientific equipment and human connection with staff and other students. Student inquiry (e.g. experimental design decisions) was present in individual elements of teaching labs but not deeply embedded. Staff participants saw teaching labs as first steps to scientific inquiry, often intending to adopt more inquiry activities, but were concerned about time investment and student readiness, especially for early-year students. Staff who used more inquiry showed stronger goal focus on scientific reasoning, research experience and collaboration. Staff enjoy teaching labs and consider them meaningful learning experiences. Time and budget limitations were more constraining than sense of agency, but overriding challenges were student lab anxieties, and finding ways to increase their confidence and preparation for these sessions. These findings collate staff perceptions of teaching labs across UK institutions and could facilitate reflection, discussion and further research on the goals and impact of these prevalent but resource-intensive sessions on training the next generation.

A field guide for implementing a flipped classroom

The way flipped classrooms are perceived and even practiced by teachers is sometimes approximate. For instance, while the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed many universities to adopt distance learning, flipped classrooms have often been mentioned as a solution in that context. This inducement maintains a confusion between flipped classrooms and distance learning that might be detrimental for students and teachers. Moreover, embarking on a new pedagogical practice such as flipped classroom could be intimidating and time-consuming for the newcomer teacher. For these reasons, this article aims to share some tips for implementing a flipped classroom, with examples from biology and biochemistry. Based on our experiences but also on the current scientific literature, we structured these advise around three phases: preparation, implementation, and follow-up. In the preparation phase, we advise planning early to invert time in class and outside the classroom, but also to say it explicitly, as well as to identify (or optionally create) resources for students to learn in autonomy. In the implementation phase, we suggest to (i) be explicit in the acquisition of knowledge and foster students' autonomy; (ii) explore active learning in class; (iii) develop cooperation and sharing skills; and (iv) differentiate teaching practices to adapt to student needs. Lastly, in the follow-up phase, we propose to (i) evaluate both student learning and the pedagogical setting; (ii) take care of the logistics and the teacher's posture; (iii) document the flipped classroom, and (iv) share the teaching experience.