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We developed a rubric for measuring students' ability to reason and write scientifically. The Rub... more We developed a rubric for measuring students' ability to reason and write scientifically. The Rubric for Science Writing (Rubric) was tested in a variety of undergraduate biology laboratory courses (total n = 142 laboratory reports) using science graduate students (teaching assistants) as raters. Generalisability analysis indicates that the Rubric provides a reliable measure of students' abilities (g = 0.85) in these conditions. Comparison of student performance in various biology classes indicated that some scientific skills are more challenging for students to develop than others and identified a number of previously unappreciated gaps in the curriculum. Our findings suggest that use of the Rubric provides three major benefits in higher education: (1) to increase substance and consistency of grading within a course, particularly those staffed by multiple instructors or graduate teaching assistants; (2) to assess student achievement of scientific reasoning and writing skills; and (3) when used in multiple courses, to highlight gaps in alignment among course assignments and provide a common metric for assessing to what extent the curriculum is achieving programmatic goals. Lastly, biology graduate students reported that use of the Rubric facilitated their teaching and recommended that training on the Rubric be provided to all teaching assistants.

Abstract: Beyond mere knowledge transmission, writing for publication is integral to scientific i... more Abstract: Beyond mere knowledge transmission, writing for publication is integral to scientific inquiry. The pedagogical practice of faculty-student coauthorship is commonly used to facilitate graduate students' entry into published disciplinary dialogue. However, little is known of the learning outcomes associated with this practice.

Abstract The following article provides highlights of a larger body of work on the impact of peer... more Abstract The following article provides highlights of a larger body of work on the impact of peer review on undergraduate biology students' scientific reasoning, scientific writing and attitudes. Results suggest that undergraduates, even freshman can be effective peer reviewers and that peer review improves scientific writing, content knowledge, and scientific reasoning skills. Students report peer review to be a beneficial experience both within the course and in terms of helping them to develop as aspiring scientists.

The development of research skills and scientific reasoning underpins the mission of graduate edu... more The development of research skills and scientific reasoning underpins the mission of graduate education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, yet our understanding of this process is mainly drawn from self-report and faculty survey data. In this study, we empirically investigate the pattern of research skill development using STEM graduate students' written research proposals. Analyses of proposal performance data suggest a potential developmental trajectory of research skills, in which the ability to effectively situate work in context using primary literature, and to generate testable hypotheses, emerge early in students' careers, while other skills, such as data analysis and forming conclusions from data, appear to develop later. We discuss these findings in relation to threshold concepts theory, a framework which posits that intellectual growth occurs in transformative leaps rather than a gradual progression, especially as it applies to graduate student research skill development.

… & Evaluation in …, Jan 1, 2010

C o u n c i l o n U n d e r g r a d u a t e R e s e a r c h • w w w . c u r . o r g uarterly For ... more C o u n c i l o n U n d e r g r a d u a t e R e s e a r c h • w w w . c u r . o r g uarterly For the most part, however, all this research-while providing a wealth of information about why doing research Focus CUR

International …, Jan 1, 2010

Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergradua... more Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergraduate students (e.g., Parameswaran & Devi, 2006;. Plagiarism amongst graduate students is relatively unstudied, however, and the existing data are largely based on self-reports. This study investigated the rates and potential causes of plagiarism amongst graduate students in master's and doctoral programmes in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science or mathematics education by examining actual research proposals written by graduate students. Results indicate that plagiarism is a prevalent issue at each of the three university sites sampled and across all of the investigated disciplines. Fine grained analyses suggest that this plagiarism may be largely unintentional and due to a lack of disciplinary enculturation. Specifically, participants that plagiarised had approximately one less semester of research experience than graduate students who did not plagiarise. Furthermore, participants who lacked primary literature in their research proposals were significantly more likely to plagiarise and often used inappropriate citation styles. Follow-up correspondence with participants indicates that participants plagiarised, in part, because they lacked an awareness of the role of primary literature in the research process. This suggests that explicit training in the role and use of primary literature may provide an opportunity for programmes or mentors to accelerate the development of graduate students' research skills. This study also revealed that plagiarism was more common amongst English as a Second Language (ESL) participants. Potential causes of plagiarism and solutions to address plagiarism among the ESL population will be discussed.

Journal of Research …, Jan 1, 2010

Poor instruction has been cited as a primary cause of attrition from STEM majors and a major obst... more Poor instruction has been cited as a primary cause of attrition from STEM majors and a major obstacle to learning for those who stay . Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview]. Using a double-blind design, this study tests the hypothesis that the lack of explicit instructions in scientific inquiry skills is a major factor in both low STEM retention and academic underperformance. This project delivered supplemental instruction to students in a laboratory-based undergraduate biology course (n ¼ 314) that was derived either from cognitive task analyses (CTAs) conducted with expert biologists (treatment) or was authored and delivered by an award-winning biology instructor (control). Students receiving traditional instruction were almost six times more likely to withdraw from the course than students in the treatment condition (8.1% vs. 1.4% of initial enrollment). Of the students who completed the course, those who received the CTA-based instruction demonstrated significantly higher levels of performance in the discussion section of their written laboratory reports. Significantly higher performances were seen specifically in the areas of analyzing data to formulate valid conclusions, considering alternative explanations, consideration for the limitations of the experimental design and implications of the research. ß

Integrative and …, Jan 1, 2008

Synopsis University faculty often express frustration with the accuracy of students' understandin... more Synopsis University faculty often express frustration with the accuracy of students' understanding of science in general and of evolution in particular. A rich research literature suggests that inquiry-based pedagogies are more effective in producing meaningful learning than are traditional, didactic approaches. A pragmatic investigation into the efficacy of inquiry-based curricular reforms compared to traditional laboratory activities was undertaken in the introductory biology course for majors at a large state university in the southeastern United States. The topics of the course focused on biodiversity, evolution, and plant and animal anatomy and physiology. Students' learning in the inquiry versus traditional units was compared using both a test of pre-post content knowledge as well as open-ended written responses in which students described events in which there was meaningful learning and conceptual changes. The pre-post tests were replicated over five semesters of the same course (n ¼ 1493 students). Students' misconceptions as well as examples of meaningful learning were gathered for two semesters in the same course (n ¼ 518 students). Results consistently revealed that descriptive, concrete topics such as anatomy can be taught effectively using traditional didactic methods; average effect sizes (a measure of the difference between pretest scores and posttest scores) range from 1.8 to 2.1. The inquiry units also increased knowledge of content on the topics of evolution and biodiversity by a significant degree (average effect sizes range from 1.0 to 1.1), despite the fact that students spent less than half the instructional time on these units compared to the didactic units. In addition, a literature review indicated that highly abstract or mathematical concepts such as evolution or geologic time require greater formal reasoning ability and that students often show lesser gains in these areas compared to more concrete topics. It was therefore especially notable that the frequency of meaningful learning events was significantly higher in the units on evolution compared to the traditional units ( 2 P50.5 to 0.001). A catalog of students' misconceptions (some of which were quite unexpected) was also generated and found useful for future teaching. Therefore, we feel that when time and resources for curricular reform are limited, those efforts should prioritize abstract and foundational topics such as evolution. Didactic teaching appears sufficient for more concrete topics such as anatomy.

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Journal of Great Lakes Research, Jan 1, 1998

Two closely related Dreissenid mussel species, Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis, both ... more Two closely related Dreissenid mussel species, Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis, both recent invaders of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, have potential as biological monitors of metal contamination. To better understand their usefulness as biomonitors, we measured total cadmium, copper, and zinc concentrations in soft tissues of both species at a site at the outflow of Lake Ontario. We examined total mean metal concentrations in soft tissues for both seasonal and interannual variability. Both mussel species exhibited elevated copper and cadmium concentrations compared to relatively uncontaminated waters. D. bugensis (quagga) mussels bioaccumulated higher levels of cadmium than D. polymorpha (zebra) mussels, while zebra mussels had higher concentrations of zinc and copper. Zebra mussels showed greater interannual variability in metal concentrations than quagga mussels. Total metal concentrations in both species were influenced by season, particularly stage in the reproductive cycle. The two species differed in their seasonal bioaccumulation patterns for both cadmium and zinc, but were similar in their seasonal variability of copper. We did not find a consistent pattern between shell length and total metal concentration for either species. Patterns of bioaccumulation for these species must be better known if they are to be used in biological monitoring programs to assess trends of contamination in the Great Lakes basin.

Helmuth, B.S.T., Timmerman, B.E.H. and Sebens, K.P. (1997). The interplay of host morphology and... more Helmuth, B.S.T., Timmerman, B.E.H. and Sebens, K.P. (1997). The interplay of host morphology and symbiont microhabitat in coral aggregations. Marine Biology 130: 1-10

We developed a rubric for measuring students' ability to reason and write scientifically. The Rub... more We developed a rubric for measuring students' ability to reason and write scientifically. The Rubric for Science Writing (Rubric) was tested in a variety of undergraduate biology laboratory courses (total n = 142 laboratory reports) using science graduate students (teaching assistants) as raters. Generalisability analysis indicates that the Rubric provides a reliable measure of students' abilities (g = 0.85) in these conditions. Comparison of student performance in various biology classes indicated that some scientific skills are more challenging for students to develop than others and identified a number of previously unappreciated gaps in the curriculum. Our findings suggest that use of the Rubric provides three major benefits in higher education: (1) to increase substance and consistency of grading within a course, particularly those staffed by multiple instructors or graduate teaching assistants; (2) to assess student achievement of scientific reasoning and writing skills; and (3) when used in multiple courses, to highlight gaps in alignment among course assignments and provide a common metric for assessing to what extent the curriculum is achieving programmatic goals. Lastly, biology graduate students reported that use of the Rubric facilitated their teaching and recommended that training on the Rubric be provided to all teaching assistants.

Abstract: Beyond mere knowledge transmission, writing for publication is integral to scientific i... more Abstract: Beyond mere knowledge transmission, writing for publication is integral to scientific inquiry. The pedagogical practice of faculty-student coauthorship is commonly used to facilitate graduate students' entry into published disciplinary dialogue. However, little is known of the learning outcomes associated with this practice.

Abstract The following article provides highlights of a larger body of work on the impact of peer... more Abstract The following article provides highlights of a larger body of work on the impact of peer review on undergraduate biology students' scientific reasoning, scientific writing and attitudes. Results suggest that undergraduates, even freshman can be effective peer reviewers and that peer review improves scientific writing, content knowledge, and scientific reasoning skills. Students report peer review to be a beneficial experience both within the course and in terms of helping them to develop as aspiring scientists.

The development of research skills and scientific reasoning underpins the mission of graduate edu... more The development of research skills and scientific reasoning underpins the mission of graduate education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, yet our understanding of this process is mainly drawn from self-report and faculty survey data. In this study, we empirically investigate the pattern of research skill development using STEM graduate students' written research proposals. Analyses of proposal performance data suggest a potential developmental trajectory of research skills, in which the ability to effectively situate work in context using primary literature, and to generate testable hypotheses, emerge early in students' careers, while other skills, such as data analysis and forming conclusions from data, appear to develop later. We discuss these findings in relation to threshold concepts theory, a framework which posits that intellectual growth occurs in transformative leaps rather than a gradual progression, especially as it applies to graduate student research skill development.

… & Evaluation in …, Jan 1, 2010

C o u n c i l o n U n d e r g r a d u a t e R e s e a r c h • w w w . c u r . o r g uarterly For ... more C o u n c i l o n U n d e r g r a d u a t e R e s e a r c h • w w w . c u r . o r g uarterly For the most part, however, all this research-while providing a wealth of information about why doing research Focus CUR

International …, Jan 1, 2010

Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergradua... more Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergraduate students (e.g., Parameswaran & Devi, 2006;. Plagiarism amongst graduate students is relatively unstudied, however, and the existing data are largely based on self-reports. This study investigated the rates and potential causes of plagiarism amongst graduate students in master's and doctoral programmes in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science or mathematics education by examining actual research proposals written by graduate students. Results indicate that plagiarism is a prevalent issue at each of the three university sites sampled and across all of the investigated disciplines. Fine grained analyses suggest that this plagiarism may be largely unintentional and due to a lack of disciplinary enculturation. Specifically, participants that plagiarised had approximately one less semester of research experience than graduate students who did not plagiarise. Furthermore, participants who lacked primary literature in their research proposals were significantly more likely to plagiarise and often used inappropriate citation styles. Follow-up correspondence with participants indicates that participants plagiarised, in part, because they lacked an awareness of the role of primary literature in the research process. This suggests that explicit training in the role and use of primary literature may provide an opportunity for programmes or mentors to accelerate the development of graduate students' research skills. This study also revealed that plagiarism was more common amongst English as a Second Language (ESL) participants. Potential causes of plagiarism and solutions to address plagiarism among the ESL population will be discussed.

Journal of Research …, Jan 1, 2010

Poor instruction has been cited as a primary cause of attrition from STEM majors and a major obst... more Poor instruction has been cited as a primary cause of attrition from STEM majors and a major obstacle to learning for those who stay . Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview]. Using a double-blind design, this study tests the hypothesis that the lack of explicit instructions in scientific inquiry skills is a major factor in both low STEM retention and academic underperformance. This project delivered supplemental instruction to students in a laboratory-based undergraduate biology course (n ¼ 314) that was derived either from cognitive task analyses (CTAs) conducted with expert biologists (treatment) or was authored and delivered by an award-winning biology instructor (control). Students receiving traditional instruction were almost six times more likely to withdraw from the course than students in the treatment condition (8.1% vs. 1.4% of initial enrollment). Of the students who completed the course, those who received the CTA-based instruction demonstrated significantly higher levels of performance in the discussion section of their written laboratory reports. Significantly higher performances were seen specifically in the areas of analyzing data to formulate valid conclusions, considering alternative explanations, consideration for the limitations of the experimental design and implications of the research. ß

Integrative and …, Jan 1, 2008

Synopsis University faculty often express frustration with the accuracy of students' understandin... more Synopsis University faculty often express frustration with the accuracy of students' understanding of science in general and of evolution in particular. A rich research literature suggests that inquiry-based pedagogies are more effective in producing meaningful learning than are traditional, didactic approaches. A pragmatic investigation into the efficacy of inquiry-based curricular reforms compared to traditional laboratory activities was undertaken in the introductory biology course for majors at a large state university in the southeastern United States. The topics of the course focused on biodiversity, evolution, and plant and animal anatomy and physiology. Students' learning in the inquiry versus traditional units was compared using both a test of pre-post content knowledge as well as open-ended written responses in which students described events in which there was meaningful learning and conceptual changes. The pre-post tests were replicated over five semesters of the same course (n ¼ 1493 students). Students' misconceptions as well as examples of meaningful learning were gathered for two semesters in the same course (n ¼ 518 students). Results consistently revealed that descriptive, concrete topics such as anatomy can be taught effectively using traditional didactic methods; average effect sizes (a measure of the difference between pretest scores and posttest scores) range from 1.8 to 2.1. The inquiry units also increased knowledge of content on the topics of evolution and biodiversity by a significant degree (average effect sizes range from 1.0 to 1.1), despite the fact that students spent less than half the instructional time on these units compared to the didactic units. In addition, a literature review indicated that highly abstract or mathematical concepts such as evolution or geologic time require greater formal reasoning ability and that students often show lesser gains in these areas compared to more concrete topics. It was therefore especially notable that the frequency of meaningful learning events was significantly higher in the units on evolution compared to the traditional units ( 2 P50.5 to 0.001). A catalog of students' misconceptions (some of which were quite unexpected) was also generated and found useful for future teaching. Therefore, we feel that when time and resources for curricular reform are limited, those efforts should prioritize abstract and foundational topics such as evolution. Didactic teaching appears sufficient for more concrete topics such as anatomy.

Skip to main content Scholar Commons. ...

Journal of Great Lakes Research, Jan 1, 1998

Two closely related Dreissenid mussel species, Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis, both ... more Two closely related Dreissenid mussel species, Dreissena polymorpha and Dreissena bugensis, both recent invaders of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, have potential as biological monitors of metal contamination. To better understand their usefulness as biomonitors, we measured total cadmium, copper, and zinc concentrations in soft tissues of both species at a site at the outflow of Lake Ontario. We examined total mean metal concentrations in soft tissues for both seasonal and interannual variability. Both mussel species exhibited elevated copper and cadmium concentrations compared to relatively uncontaminated waters. D. bugensis (quagga) mussels bioaccumulated higher levels of cadmium than D. polymorpha (zebra) mussels, while zebra mussels had higher concentrations of zinc and copper. Zebra mussels showed greater interannual variability in metal concentrations than quagga mussels. Total metal concentrations in both species were influenced by season, particularly stage in the reproductive cycle. The two species differed in their seasonal bioaccumulation patterns for both cadmium and zinc, but were similar in their seasonal variability of copper. We did not find a consistent pattern between shell length and total metal concentration for either species. Patterns of bioaccumulation for these species must be better known if they are to be used in biological monitoring programs to assess trends of contamination in the Great Lakes basin.

Helmuth, B.S.T., Timmerman, B.E.H. and Sebens, K.P. (1997). The interplay of host morphology and... more Helmuth, B.S.T., Timmerman, B.E.H. and Sebens, K.P. (1997). The interplay of host morphology and symbiont microhabitat in coral aggregations. Marine Biology 130: 1-10