Christopher W. Beck

Redefining Authentic Research Experiences in Introductory Biology Laboratories and Barriers to Their Implementation

A national survey of faculty teaching introductory biology laboratory courses uncovered different conceptions of course-based authentic research and identified barriers that prevent the expansion of undergraduate research in courses.

Promoting Inquiry-Based Teaching in Laboratory Courses: Are We Meeting the Grade?

The authors reviewed the current literature on inquiry-based learning in laboratory courses and found that most exercises were guided inquiry. The majority of studies included assessment data showing learning gains. Few exercises were assessed in multiple courses or at multiple institutions. Therefore, whether results can be generalized is unclear.

Energetics of metamorphic climax in the southern toad (Bufo terrestris)

During metamorphic climax, anuran larvae must rely on stored energy because changes in oral and digestive morphology prevent foraging and efficient assimilation. Thus, the time required to store adequate energy for metamorphic climax may set a lower limit on age at which it can occur. Therefore, the amount and type of energy used during metamorphic climax must be determined. To quantify the energetic costs of metamorphic climax in Bufo terrestris, oxygen consumption during climax was measured. Wet mass, dry mass, and lipid mass for a group of individuals at the initiation of climax (forelimb emergence, FL) and for another group at the end of climax (complete tail resorption, TR) were also measured to determine whether lipids were used to fuel metamorphic climax. The total amount of energy used, maintenance costs, and development costs during metamorphic climax varied considerably among individuals. Variation in energy metabolism during climax was not related to differences in energy metabolism during larval development or body mass at initiation of climax. TR individuals were significantly lighter in terms of wet mass and had less body water than FL individuals. However, the two groups did not differ in dry mass or lipid mass. Therefore, lipid catabolism is not a major source of energy during metamorphic climax in B. terrestris. As a result, decreases in age at metamorphosis may not be constrained by the need to store energy in the form of lipids.

Inquiry‐based ecology laboratory courses improve student confidence and scientific reasoning skills

Recently, the AAAS Vision and Change report renewed the push to incorporate inquiry throughout the biology curriculum. Even prior to the report, many ecology faculty have used inquiry-based approaches in their laboratory and field courses. However, the efficacy of these approaches has been assessed only to a limited degree and often at a single institution. Therefore, whether one may generalize the results of previous studies of inquiry-based teaching in laboratory courses is unclear. We examined the change in student confidence and scientific reasoning skills using published, validated instruments in inquiry-based ecology laboratory courses at two different institutions (a historically black, all-male, liberal arts college and a private research university) across multiple semesters. Students exhibited a significant increase in overall confidence and scientific reasoning skills with students in the lowest quartile at the beginning of the semester for each construct exhibiting a significantly greater gain in comparison to students in the highest quartile for the same construct. Institution had no effect on learning gains, indicating that the positive impact of inquiry-based learning is general, at least for students at our two institutions. Although weaker students exhibited greater learning gains, significant differences in confidence and scientific reasoning skills between the lowest and highest quartile persisted at the end of the semester; thus, a single, inquiry-based laboratory course is not sufficient to overcome initial differences among students. Interestingly, gains in confidence were not significantly correlated with gains in scientific reasoning with some weaker students increasing in confidence while their scientific reasoning skills decreased, which suggests that our inquiry-based laboratories did not help these students develop important metacognitive skills. Overall, our results indicate that inquiry-based laboratory courses in ecology can lead to significant learning gains, but that performance gaps among students might only be bridged by students taking multiple inquiry-based courses.

Add ecology to the pre-medical curriculum.

In their Letter “Competencies: A cure for pre-med curriculum” (11 November 2011, p. [760][1]), W. A. Anderson and colleagues endorse a proposed shift in pre-medical education toward core competencies. We believe that the specific competencies proposed by the Association of American Medical

Alternative Realities: Faculty and Student Perceptions of Instructional Practices in Laboratory Courses

A survey was developed on inquiry-based learning and assessment in undergraduate laboratory courses and defined five constructs: metacognition, feedback and assessment, scientific synthesis, science process skills, and instructor-directed teaching. In general, faculty and student perceptions were not related at the course and instructor levels.

Interactions are critical.

Although we agree with Theobold and Freeman (2014) that linear models are the most appropriate way in which to analyze assessment data, we show the importance of testing for interactions between covariates and factors.

Effects of Evolutionary History on Adaptation in Bean Beetles, a Model System for Inquiry-based Laboratories

BackgroundCurrent reforms in undergraduate biology education are advancing research experiences in laboratory courses. Such experiences in evolutionary biology have largely been limited to microbial systems.MethodsWe designed a guided-inquiry experiment in which students examine the effect of evolutionary history on the potential for adaptation in the bean beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus), an insect model system widely used in evolutionary biology research. Bean beetles lay their eggs on a variety of species of dried beans (seeds of species in the Fabaceae) and the larvae develop within the bean. They are an ideal model system for studies of experimental evolution in teaching laboratories as they are easy to rear, handle and manipulate. In this study, students design an experiment to determine if adaptation to a particular bean host pre-adapts their offspring to be more successful on a new bean host.ResultsPreliminary experiments by our students suggest that beetles adapted to a lower quality host (adzuki beans, Vigna angularis) are more successful on a new higher quality host (black-eyed peas, Vigna unguiculata) than beetles adapted to a higher quality host (mung beans, Vigna radiata). However, beetles adapted to black-eyed peas are more successful on mung beans than adzuki beans.ConclusionsTaken together, their results show that an evolutionary history on a low quality host might allow bean beetles to be more successful at invading new hosts.

Multi-Institutional, Multidisciplinary Study of the Impact of Course-Based Research Experiences

Numerous national reports have called for reforming laboratory courses so that all students experience the research process. In response, many course-based research experiences (CREs) have been developed and implemented. Research on the impact of these CREs suggests that student benefits can be similar to those of traditional apprentice-model research experiences. However, most assessments of CREs have been in individual courses at individual institutions or across institutions using the same CRE model. Furthermore, which structures and components of CREs result in the greatest student gains is unknown. We explored the impact of different CRE models in different contexts on student self-reported gains in understanding, skills, and professional development using the Classroom Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) survey. Our analysis included 49 courses developed and taught at seven diverse institutions. Overall, students reported greater gains for all benefits when compared with the reported national means for the Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE). Two aspects of these CREs were associated with greater student gains: 1) CREs that were the focus of the entire course or that more fully integrated modules within a traditional laboratory and 2) CREs that had a higher degree of student input and results that were unknown to both students and faculty.

Comparison of Two Bioassessment Protocols in Five Georgia Streams

ABSTRACT We compared two stream water quality biomonitoring methods used by the environmental agencies of the state of Georgia. One uses fish communities; the other uses benthic macroinvertebrate populations. Five wadeable streams of varying water quality, size, and impacts in the greater Atlanta area were selected as study sites at which both bioassessment protocols were carried out, along with a physical habitat assessment. To compare the protocols, we examined correlations between specified indices of stream health based on each protocol as well as correlations among their individual components. Although general classification of the five streams by the indices from the protocols was consistent, the indices for stream assessment themselves were not correlated. Furthermore, many component metrics were not correlated with their index, especially for the fish indices. As a result, these indices may need to be considered and modified to reflect properly stream impact and degradation.