AIBS Eye on Education 3

PULSE: Implementing Change within and among Life Science Departments

Many efforts are under way to support individual faculty-member development and course revision to achieve the outcomes described in the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Vision and Change: A Call to Action (2011) report. For their contribution, staff from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH-NIGMS) wanted to support systemic institutional change for entire departments. To that end, they formed the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE) to collaboratively focus their resources on catalyzing departmental change at all institutions of higher learning. Shawn Gaillard, PULSE Steering Committee member and program director at NIH-NIGMS, said that it is the partnership of the three agencies working together that makes PULSE distinct.

In September, the PULSE Steering Committee selected 40 faculty members with expertise in leading change from 2-year colleges, liberal arts colleges, regional and comprehensive universities, and research universities to serve as fellows for a year-long project. "We decided to name them the Vision and Change Leadership Fellows because we wanted to anchor it to the Vision and Change report," said Judith A. Verbeke, PULSE Steering Committee member and acting director of the NSF Division of Biological Infrastructure. The fellows were charged with leading a national conversation on how to implement changes at the department level, explains Cynthia Bauerle, another PULSE Steering Committee member and assistant director of precollege and undergraduate education at the HHMI.

Soon after their selection, the fellows participated in a workshop at the HHMI to develop an action plan. Although an implementation framework was the product originally envisioned, the fellows chose four projects in response to their charge. Together, the projects form a cohesive plan to support college and university departments, regardless of where they are in terms of implementing the Vision and Change report's recommendations, said Teresa Balser, a fellow and dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Florida.

One project is "Raising the PULSE" by increasing awareness within the life science community and introducing the Vision and Change report to leaders of departments who are not yet familiar with it. According to a letter from the fellows to the community, this group is "celebrating the good work already under way around the country and inspiring other departments to embrace the challenge."

A second project is "Taking the PULSE" of departments already engaged in implementing changes by sharing assessment evidence, developing new tools, and establishing a certification and recognition program for exemplary departments. The certification process would act as a guide for departments seeking to engage in substantive curricular change and would be flexible enough that departments at all institution types would be able to envision recognition for adopting the recommendations of Vision and Change. "Inclusion of fellows from all types of institutions provides tremendous recognition by the PULSE Steering Committee that undergraduate life science students at every school can and should benefit from the ideas behind Vision and Change," commented Kate Marley, a fellow and chair of the Science, Mathematics, and Information Science and Technology Division at Doane College, in Crete, Nebraska.

The "Faculty Networks" project is building a toolkit of resources, making connections between existing faculty-development initiatives both nationally and regionally, and hosting events so that departments can share knowledge. The fourth project is "Spreading the PULSE" by recruiting and training members from the community to serve as Vision and Change ambassadors. The ambassadors will use the benchmarks developed by the "Taking the PULSE" group and the toolkit of resources to guide departments in implementing changes.

"It is important to emphasize that the PULSE initiative is a subset of the broader Vision and Change activities," says Loretta Brancaccio-Taras, fellow and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Kingsborough Community College, in Brooklyn, New York. The fellows' projects are a critical piece of the work that is needed to achieve the kind of largescale institutional change envisioned in the Vision and Change report. "The goal of the fellows is to provide a framework to catalyze this change and build a mechanism to sustain the changes departments make," adds Akif Uzman, fellow and interim dean at the College of Sciences and Technology and professor of biology and biochemistry at the University of Houston-Downtown.

As the fellows continue their work, they will reach out to the life science community on a regular basis. They are facilitating conversations at local, regional, national, and global events through an online network (http://pulsecommunity.org) that had over 800 members as of January 2013. All stakeholders in undergraduate life science education are encouraged to contribute their expertise and ideas as the fellows work with the community to improve life sciences education for all students.

BioScience 63: 254
doi:10.1525/bio.2013.63.4.4

Discovering the Biology Education Research Community

When Sarah Eddy began work on her doctoral thesis, she assumed that her main contribution would relate to her field of study—behavioral ecology and the sexual selection of salamanders—but one of her more significant discoveries had nothing to do with amphibians and everything to do with what was going on in the classroom. As a graduate teaching assistant at Oregon State University, she realized how important it was to her to see students truly improve their learning. "It was in trying to figure out how to help students achieve more that I discovered education research literature," she explained. Many biologists in all phases of their careers have made similar discoveries, and they will benefit from the growing biology education research (BER) community.

In May 2012, the BER community gained new insights when the National Research Council published "Discipline-Based Education Research: Understanding and Improving Learning in Undergraduate Science and Engineering." The National Science Foundation (NSF) commissioned the report and charged the authoring committee with providing a synthesis and analysis of discipline-based education research (DBER). The report provides an overview of the field, compares the history and current scope of DBER's subdisciplines (biology, chemistry, geology, physics, and engineering), and makes recommendations for future directions. DBER is conducted by those with expert knowledge of one of the sciences, and rigorous research methods are used to generate a body of evidence about effective ways to teach students about science, explained Susan R. Singer, chair of the authoring committee and professor of biology and cognitive science at Carleton College.

The growing BER community is adding to that collective knowledge. Until recently, isolated groups interested in BER interacted at various professional society meetings but did not have a central community of their own. That all changed in 2010, when a trio of biology educators—Mary Pat Wenderoth, principal lecturer at the University of Washington's biology department; Clarissa Dirks, associate professor of biology at The Evergreen State College; and Teresa Balser, dean and professor at the University of Florida—received an NSF incubator grant to host a pilot meeting to bring the BER community together. During that meeting, participants discussed the major research questions, challenges facing the field, and ways to best support the growing community. The outcome of that meeting was the formation of the Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER).

Two SABER meetings have taken place annually since that initial gathering, and because of great interest, another is planned for 2013. "There were many new faces at each of the meetings," says Dirks. She was especially excited to see the large number of postdoctoral fellows and graduate students who actively participated and provided information about how SABER could meet their needs. The DBER report's authoring committee commissioned Dirks to write a paper in which she analyzed the past 20 years of biology education research. She found that there has been an increase in publications in recent years. "Most of the papers were from the last decade," said Dirks about the emerging field.

"The science of biology has changed more radically than any other discipline in recent years," said Balser. "It's clear that we can't keep trying to teach everything that is known to the field; we've reached a tipping point."

Balser, a soil microbiologist, discovered BER after becoming disillusioned with the ineffectiveness of traditional teaching methods. She is now helping foster changes in the way biology is taught both on her own campus, as dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and nationally, through SABER and other initiatives. Balser encourages instructors who want to dive into biology education research to join SABER. "It provides a community and a vehicle for those who want to move to the next level," she explained. SABER is a home for those who want to contribute to the body of evidence-based, data-driven research that will help all instructors who want to teach biology the way the science is practiced.

Now a postdoctoral research associate in the biology department at the University of Washington, Eddy has joined the growing SABER community. The discovery that she made in graduate school transformed her career path from one solely focused on science research to one that allows her to combine her knowledge of biology and education research and apply it to significant questions about biology teaching and learning. She believes that the results coming from the BER community can benefit all biology instructors and can help them to apply evidence-based practices in the classroom. Only then can biology instructors be confident that their students are actually engaged. "We can't assume [that] they are learning," said Dirks. "We need to reach a broad audience and not turn students off to science."

BioScience 63: 13
doi:10.1525/bio.2013.63.1.5

Collaborations Grow through the Introductory Biology Project

When Elena Bray-Speth, assistant professor of biology at Saint Louis University, presented her case study on the evolution of fur color in mice, little did she know that someone in the audience had developed a case on the very same topic. That person was Jim Smith, principal investigator (PI) of Evo-Ed (http://lbc.msu.edu/evo-ed), a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project that currently houses four evolutionbased case studies. "Elena and I met just after her session and I showed her our cases," said Smith, who is a professor in the Lyman Briggs College and the Department of Entomology at Michigan State University.

The connection between Bray-Speth and Smith was made possible by the Introductory Biology Project (IBP; http://ibp.ou.edu) during a conference held in late June at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, DC. Gordon Uno, PI of the IBP at the University of Oklahoma, organized the conference, which is one of many meetings he has hosted on the introductory biology experience. The IBP was the first Research Coordination Network for Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN–UBE) funded by the NSF in 2009. Its goal is to foster networking opportunities and new collaborations between those creating, implementing, or evaluating best practices in introductory biology teaching and learning.

The IBP summer conference brought together over 150 individuals focused on this goal, including graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, textbook publishers, representatives from scientific societies and education associations, science faculty with education specialties, members of the Biology Directors Consortium, two-year and four-year college and university faculty, and program officers from funding agencies.

For Bray-Speth and Smith, the conference sparked what they expect will be an ongoing collaboration. "Elena suggested the development of some online interactive activities that would bolster the case and help students with the content," said Smith. The two plan on working together in the near future to enhance their case studies.

Others also found the gathering productive. "This conference was much more interactive than those I've experienced previously," said Anna Hiatt, PhD candidate at Oklahoma State University. This was one of the first times at a conference that she felt as a graduate student that she was contributing in a major way. The conference connected Hiatt with others in her research area. Kathy Williams, at San Diego State University and PI of another RCN–UBE, called BioHUB, led a workshop for those developing, testing, or using conceptual assessments in biology. Many participants were interested in formalizing additional collaborations and met over breakfast the following morning to discuss professional development. After hearing the group say that they wanted to incorporate training for graduate students, Hiatt shared her needs and experiences and those of her peers. She felt comfortable doing so because Uno made it clear during the opening session that the voices of students and postdocs were welcome throughout the conference.

Another set of voices critical to include in conversations about the introductory biology experience are those of two-year faculty members. Twenty-five were present at the IBP conference, including Craig Longtine, of North Hennepin Community College, who gave a presentation on improving student engagement at two-year colleges through research experiences. Ellis Bell, of the University of Richmond, approached him afterward, because he shares a similar goal at his primarily undergraduate institution. They are now planning to develop a research-oriented community, said Bell. "Our thought was to expand on the growing level of undergraduate research at two-year colleges...through two-year-four-year collaborations that would support two-year college faculty in conducting authentic research with their students," explained Longtine.

From the very start of his project, Uno envisioned scientific societies playing a key role in transforming the undergraduate introductory biology experience. The IBP conference provided two opportunities for participants to discuss the role of scientific societies. The conversations revealed that many scientific societies do not focus on specifically providing resources and programs aimed at introductory-course instructors. However, education associations such as the Association for Biology Laboratory Educators and the National Association of Biology Teachers do provide such resources. All those present at the IBP conference agreed that increased communication between these two types of organizations is essential. The group identified ways to address common challenges, such as drafting a statement about the importance of the introductory course for societies to endorse.

Approximately 300 people have participated in IBP meetings since the project started, including many who have attended multiple meetings. The work of the IBP will continue for another two years, bringing people focused on the introductory biology experience together to encourage more formal collaborations. "I am very pleased with the progress of the project," said Uno. "We have been successful at bringing together different groups of people who might not have met otherwise, to discuss biology education reform and how we move forward together."

BioScience 62: 868
doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.10.5

Community Colleges Giving Students a Framework for STEM Careers

Over the coming decade, our country will need one million more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals than was originally projected. That is the conclusion of a February 2012 report, Engage to Excel: Producing One Million Additional College Graduates with Degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-engage-to-excel-final_2-25-12.pdf), presented to President Obama by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

The report stresses the importance of exciting early on students who are potential STEM majors. It notes that our country must "improve the first two years of STEM education in college, provide all students with the tools to excel, [and] diversify pathways to STEM degrees" (p. ii). Because the council found that "highperforming students frequently cite uninspiring introductory courses as a factor in their choice to switch majors" (p. i), the report recommends increasing the retention rates of already interested students instead of trying to recruit new ones.

Those all-important first two years of STEM education for many students takes place at the often-overlooked community-college level. According to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), in 2008, community-college students made up 44 percent of all undergraduates and 43 percent of first-year students, including those who went on to pursue STEM careers. According to the National Science Foundation's Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 (www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c2/c2s1.htm), almost 20 percent of US residents who were awarded science and engineering doctoral degrees and 46 percent who graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in science and engineering in recent years earned credits at a community or two-year college.

The Biology Department at the Northern Virginia Community College's (NOVA) Annandale Campus is already implementing multiple strategies to improve student success in their biology courses, says Mary Vander Maten, assistant dean and professor of biology. "We have the responsibility to help all of our students succeed," she says, which is no small task, given that NOVA is the second largest 2-year college in the nation, serving over 75,000 students. Vander Maten's department has 25 full-time biology faculty and 60 adjunct professors, all working toward meeting the needs of a very diverse student body.

Well before the PCAST report was released, NOVA's biology program began to introduce more interactive-learning opportunities and investigative laboratory experiences, as well as general programs to help students learn. "We know that students struggle with fact-based courses such as biology—especially students who come back to take courses for a second career or [who] avoided science courses until now," says Vander Maten. NOVA's Science Learning Center is available to students who want additional help, offering one-on-one assistance from faculty, group study sessions, and spaces for laboratory review. Although much of the PCAST report's contents are not new to 2-year-college faculty members, Vander Maten says that it is helpful. "It allows us to focus on issues such as the unwelcoming atmosphere found in many introductory courses," she says.

Two-year colleges offer a variety of pathways for students to earn STEM degrees. An excellent example of this is found at Lorain County Community College (LCCC) in Ohio. One of 11 effective programs highlighted in the PCAST report, LCCC's University Partnership program allows students "to earn bachelor's and master's degrees from any of eight Ohio universities without leaving the LCCC campus." Rosa Rivera-Hainaj, dean of the Division of Science and Mathematics at LCCC, applauds the report for highlighting the importance of connections between community colleges and nearby 4-year institutions. These connections are essential to the establishment of agreements for the transfer of college credits. Established relationships between institutions can also lead to opportunities for graduate students to teach at 2-year colleges, which would provide teacher training for these future professors. "We must change the way STEM graduate students are trained. They focus on research discovery and publication and are given little opportunity to learn about student-active teaching," says Rivera-Hainaj.

Vander Maten echoes the need for such partnership programs. "Any 4-year institution that can reach [out] to a neighboring 2-year college is encouraged to do so," says Vander Maten. Like LCCC, NOVA has numerous articulation agreements and pathway programs with regional universities, including their Pathway to the Baccalaureate for at-risk students from 48 local high schools.

Partnerships between 2- and 4-year institutions are extremely important, says Ellen M. Hause, director for innovative learning and student success at the AACC. Although she knows of many programs that are already working to address the report's recommendations, she says that "any report that calls for the need for more STEM graduates is valuable, especially if it translates into increased funding at the federal level." Hause's focus at the AACC is on scaling up programs that are working, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Rivera-Hainaj agrees with this approach and emphasizes the need for cross-institutional conversations, stating that "the PCAST report will be effective as long as people take the time to share what works so that others can learn from them."

BioScience 62: 632
doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.7.5

Making Biology Relevant to Undergraduates

Terry R. McGuire always assumed that his students understood the relevance of their biology coursework to their lives outside the classroom, and he expected their grades to fall along a normal bell curve. But when he returned from a professional development experience in 2002, his life as a professor was forever changed.

McGuire, who teaches genetics at Rutgers University, had attended a Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER; www.sencer.net) Summer Institute. On his return, he began to make small shifts in his teaching approach, sharing course-relevant current events and assigning "one-minute papers" at the end of each class.

As a result, more of his students began earning As and Bs, and they were connecting science to their lives and to society as a whole. Impressed and reinvigorated, McGuire returned to the SENCER Summer Institute in subsequent years, bringing colleagues to also benefit from the experience.

The SENCER program, which began formally in 2001, was the vision of David Burns; Karen Oates, currently Peterson Family Dean of Arts and Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute; and Ric Wiebl, currently director of the American Association for Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Center for Careers in Science and Technology; among others. "We didn't invent anything; we gave a name to it. Aristotle was doing the same kind of thing," said Burns, now the principal investigator of SENCER. With initial funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), SENCER fostered a community of faculty members who recognized the power of giving students a stake in their own learning. "Students need to have clear vision of what is done in the field of biology, why it matters, and what it has to do with the human condition," explained Burns.

Myles Boylan, a program director at the NSF, where he has been a member of the Division of Undergraduate Education since 1984, was attracted to SENCER's team approach and its focus on engaging science students civically in issues of national importance. Prior to joining the NSF, Boylan had worked with students who had the opportunity to connect a service learning experience with courses. "I realized they would remember this for the rest of their lives, because what they are doing matters," said Boylan. To counteract a strong antiscience movement, he added, scientists realize that students need to become informed citizens.

SENCER, now a project of the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement at the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, has reached over 1300 faculty members. The program hosts annual institutes, organizes symposia, facilitates regional groups, publishes a journal, develops model courses, and connects faculty members with SENCER faculty mentors to provide inspiration and support. "We start where the student is, and through the study of a matter of civic consequence and interest to the learner, we get deep[er] and deeper into the core of disciplinary knowledge. Hence we teach 'through' the issue 'to' the basic science, making it relevant," explained Burns. The faculty members benefit greatly from the experience, too, as McGuire described in Reinventing Myself as a Professor: The Catalytic Role of SENCER (http://serc.carleton.edu/sencer/backgrounders/reinventing_myself_professor.html): "SENCER reconnected us with our students. We want to share our excitement about science, and we want them to do well."

Penny Bernstein, associate professor of biological sciences at Kent State University at Stark, had always worked to make her courses inquiry based and relevant to students' lives. After attending a SENCER Summer Institute in 2010, she found a new way to apply the SENCER principles. "I realized that I could put together a course to actively engage students in local environmental issues," she said. The goal of the 2011 "Environmental Media" class was not to have students simply learn about and describe local water-quality problems but to have them actually work with community partners to identify and communicate solutions to the public.

The project evolved into a living network focused on the regional watershed, connecting Bernstein's Stark Campus students, colleagues in other departments, four other institutions in the area, and local community agencies and citizen groups. The course—a collaboration with another biology colleague and three colleagues from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at both the Stark and Kent campuses—will be offered again in 2012, and Bernstein and colleagues hope to develop an environmental media minor.

Examples such as this are just what SENCER's founders envisioned. Still, one of the top suggestions made by undergraduate students in 2007, as reported in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology: A Call to Action, was for the opportunity to participate in discussions "about how biology [affects] our lives" and for "courses designed around real-world issues." McGuire, now a full professor and master teacher at Rutgers, and a SENCER senior associate, acknowledged that the program has a long way to go: "It would be wonderful if in 10 years, we had transformed the entire academic world, but we are just getting started."

BioScience 62: 341

doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.4.5

Motivating Tomorrow's Biologists

"How do you make the biology we teach as exciting as the biology that we do?" was the challenging question posed by V. Celeste Carter to participants at the National Academy of Sciences convocation, "Thinking Evolutionarily: Evolution Education across the Life Sciences," held in October. Carter, program director at the National Science Foundation, and others at the convocation discussed the converging efforts to improve biology education, to better motivate students, and to integrate evolution across learning experiences.

Simply regurgitating the biological knowledge generated by the scientific community or conducting "cookbook" laboratory experiments does not result in genuine understanding or excitement on the part of students, Carter and other speakers stressed. Instead, the nature and process of science, the unifying concepts and connections to the real world, and the problems encountered and discoveries made by scientists are what make biology come alive.

The story of biology is far more complex and fascinating than straightforward facts or neatly labeled diagrams of structures and systems. Although exams can motivate students, the key to using these extrinsic motivators to increase student understanding lies in the way the assessments are designed and what they measure. Those involved in developing the new Advanced Placement Biology exam told convocation participants that the exam will include a greater number of higher-order-thinking questions and will ask students to demonstrate a solid understanding of evolution. It will require students to apply their knowledge in new ways and is a solid example of how exams of the future can drive improvements in student learning.

Although extrinsic motivators are certainly important, educators should also consider the role they play in igniting students' interests and creating lifelong learners who truly appreciate and understand biology and the nature of science. Field experiences are one of many ways to motivate students intrinsically, suggested David Mindell of the California Academy of Sciences. "We have a real disconnect between students and the natural environment," commented Mindell. Allowing students to explore the outdoors through research projects is a proven way to encourage them to inquire deeply about the world in which they live. This in turn opens up opportunities for engaging them in more sophisticated learning experiences.

Offering opportunities to explore and test scientific questions using primary data can also engage students, said John Jungck, professor at Beloit College and cofounder of the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium. BioQUEST has a vast collection of teaching resources, including Beagle Investigations Return with Darwinian Data, which allows students "to develop investigations that explore evolutionary phenomena in a realistic manner" (bioquest.org/products/ files/2349_BIRDD.pdf).

Robert Pennock, professor at Michigan State University and coprincipal investigator of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, told the convocation participants, "If we hope to effect a change in attitude toward evolution and science in the public and in our students, we cannot simply wield more data; we must first reach their hearts and engage their minds." He encouraged scientists to remember what initially got them interested in their fields and to find ways to spark similar enthusiasm in their students.

Others, including Paul Beardsley, formerly with the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) and currently at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, said that if students see the relevance of biology to their own lives, they will be more motivated to delve into the subject matter and gain a deeper understanding of it. "Intrinsic motivation seems to be especially important for students that are underrepresented in the sciences and students that initially have low expectations for success," he added. Resources such as the National Institutes of Health's Curriculum Supplement on evolution and medicine (http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/HSEvolution.htm), developed by BSCS, can change students' perspectives of biology.

One place to find out more about motivating students is on the Science Education Research Center (SERC) at Carleton College's Web site (http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/motivation.html). This compilation of resources includes information about types of motivation, suggested strategies with concrete examples, presentations from a SERC workshop on student motivation and attitudes, problems and suggested solutions, and a list of Web sites, books, and journal articles. The Web page is part of a larger resource called the "Affective Domain," which contains a wealth of information about "attitudes, values, beliefs, opinions, interests, and motivation."

Regardless of the strategies used, the more educators know about what motivates students and what works to engage them, the better their students will be able to take ownership of their own learning. And that is essential if we are to increase the biological literacy of today's students, who are tomorrow's politicians, school board members, precollege teachers, and voters.

BioScience 62: 16
doi:10.1525/bio.2012.62.1.5

Teaching Biology for a Sustainable Future

Students at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, can now take an innovative biology course in which an integrated, interdisciplinary, problem-based approach is used—one that the scientific community itself is promoting. The first course in a four-semester sequence, Biology 123—The Living World: Concepts and Connections—explores real-world problems and biology's role in addressing these major societal issues.

"We thought we could do a better job to help students retain conceptual knowledge from one course to the next and also to help students identify early on what you can do with a biology major," says Professor David Koetje, who coteaches the course with Associate Professor Amy Wilstermann.

In Bio123, students learn core biological concepts while developing their problem-solving and quantitative skills and applying their new knowledge to societal challenges related to food, the environment, energy, and health. The students work in teams and do not read a traditional textbook. Instead, they read trade books, such as Anthony Barnosky's Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming and Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. "We spend time explaining to the students our rationale for doing the course this way and why we emphasize teamwork," Wilstermann says.

Courses such as this address critical needs identified by both the research and the education communities. The research community is increasingly interested in drawing connections between biological research and its application to societal issues, as is evidenced in the National Research Council's A New Biology for the 21st Century. The 2009 report highlights four of the major challenges facing our global society and argues that the biology community must "demonstrate that basic science research is not distinct from society but is a critical ingredient in developing innovative solutions to societal problems." The report stresses that addressing the major challenges requires an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach.

For its part, the education community's 2011 Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education report emphasizes that both faculty and students want to see courses connect biological concepts to real-world issues. The report outlines "core competencies" for students, including understanding the interdisciplinary nature of biology and developing communication skills. This report also states the need to prepare future biologists to work collaboratively "to address complex and increasingly interdisciplinary problems."

Many of these problems, such as those caused by climate change, the lack of a sustainable food supply, or reliance on nonrenewable energies, stem from years of shortsighted practices that will negatively affect future generations' quality of life. Sustainable solutions must take into account environmental, economic, and social implications, says David Hassenzahl, founding dean and professor at Chatham University's School of Sustainability and the Environment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He stresses the need for a holistic picture, saying, "Sustainability means treating as coequals environment, economics, and social justice and avoiding focus on any one of them." Students need to be inspired and prepared to join the scientific community's sustainability efforts.

Framing is critical when introducing global challenges and the impacts of unsustainable past practices to students. "One of the things we constantly wrestle with," says Koetje, "is providing a realistic picture of the situation while giving them hope." He and Wilstermann do not want to scare students into action. Instead, they provide students with information, tools, and experience so they can contribute to solving complicated problems.

"It turns students off when people are pessimistic," agrees Hassenzahl, adding that focusing solely on society's problems can lead to fatalism. "We should be innovative and optimistic," he says, and encourage students to think about how we can improve our quality of life as we put less demand on the planet.

Another new project is under way to support faculty who want to engage students in sustainability topics and connect course content to the "big questions" that students face as active citizens. Over the next couple of years, the project, called Mobilizing Disciplinary Societies on Behalf of Our Students...and Our Planet, will bring together societies representing a wide range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines to collectively assemble resources and provide professional-development opportunities for faculty. The project, funded by the US Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, is a collaboration among Project Kaleidoscope, Mobilizing STEM Education for a Sustainable Future, and the Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability.

Cathy Middlecamp, distinguished faculty associate at University of Wisconsin at Madison and one of the project's leaders, notes that, too often, faculty use teaching methods that do not support the ways in which people learn, the needs of the world, or the job market. By focusing on sustainability, students can experience firsthand the relevance of their STEM courses and can gain insight into how they can contribute to solving challenging global problems both throughout their lives and through their own career choices. Says Middlecamp, "We need to match our curriculum to the needs of our students and our planet."

BioScience 61: 751
doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.10.4

Upgrading Undergraduate Biology Education

On many campuses throughout the country, undergraduate biology education is in serious need of an upgrade. During the past few decades, the body of biological knowledge has grown exponentially, and as a research endeavor, the practice of biology has evolved. Education research has also made great strides, revealing many new insights into how students learn and producing effective teaching strategies. But the practice of undergraduate biology education does not reflect these advances. For many students, biology continues to be a laundry list of topics, countless new words and diagrams to memorize, and cookbook experiments to get through, rather than a conceptual understanding of the field and scientific skills.

Fortunately, there are three new initiatives for improving the undergraduate biology experience for students, each targeting different segments along the education system continuum. The first of these initiatives focuses on precollege biology teaching and learning. The College Board is making significant revisions to the Advanced Placement (AP) Biology course and exam (http://advancesinap.collegeboard.org/science/biology). Teachers who were hard-pressed to cover the extensive AP Biology course outline in one year will welcome the changes. The revised AP Biology course emphasizes students' application of biological concepts, the use of quantitative reasoning, and the development of scientific skills. The final products will be officially released for use during the 2012–2013 academic year, and many experts believe that the changes will also influence undergraduate biology education.

Next, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) joined forces to focus on improving undergraduate learning for premedical students majoring in biology. The two organizations assembled a committee charged with elucidating the knowledge and skills that are essential for future physicians. The resulting Scientific Foundations for Future Physicians (www.hhmi.org/grants/sffp.html), published in 2009, outlines competencies for premedical undergraduates, as well as for medical school students. The report recommends that premedical students be able to demonstrate a solid understanding of specific scientific concepts and skills as evidence of their preparation for medical school.

AAMC's Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) is set to be revised in 2015, with proposed changes in line with the AAMC–HHMI recommendations (www.aamc.org/initiatives/mr5/preliminary_recommendations). "Now is the time for science faculty to get involved" in ensuring that undergraduates are prepared for these changes, notes HHMI Senior Program Officer Cynthia Bauerle.

Finally, the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is facilitating the redesign of undergraduate biology education for all students, regardless of their future career aspirations. Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange.org/finalreport), published in February 2011, is the culmination of five years of work.

Vision and Change, as it is commonly known, originated in discussions among staff members from two directorates at NSF: the Education and Human Resources directorate and the Biological Sciences directorate. They acknowledged the need for a stronger connection between biology as a research endeavor and biology as an undergraduate experience for students. From 2006 to 2007, with NSF funding and additional support from HHMI and the National Institutes of Health, AAAS held a series of face-to-face meetings across the country with undergraduate students, faculty members, and professional society leaders. Participants discussed a wide range of topics, including what courses should look like, how to better prepare faculty, how to influence institutional change, and what barriers to improving undergraduate biology education remain.

The meetings were followed in 2009 by an invitational conference attended by hundreds of people engaged in undergraduate biology education, including faculty members, students, and administrators. Using the outcomes of the meetings as a starting point, the conference participants divided into groups to further explore assessment strategies, student research experiences, faculty development, student learning, institutional change, and unifying concepts and competencies. In the months that followed, a working group synthesized the results and produced a final report, which was released at the 2011 AAAS annual meeting.

The report makes three major recommendations: (1) All undergraduate biology curricula should include the described "core concepts for biological literacy" and "core competencies and disciplinary practice," (2) students' learning must be the focal point for teaching, and (3) there must be full-scale institutional investment to improve undergraduate biology education. To inspire change, the report also shows how these goals can be achieved, giving snapshots of success stories at colleges and universities, within professional societies, and through student-centered programs.

As with any report of recommendations, publication is just the first step. Implementation, followed by evaluation, will be the critical next steps. Of the three initiatives presented here, the Vision and Change report will be the most challenging to implement. The kinds of changes it describes will not be driven by an exam, as were the AP Biology revisions, or by entrance requirements, as was the AAMC–HHMI report. Instead, improvements to biology education for all students will need to be driven by the entire community, including faculty, institutions, funding agencies, and employers.

BioScience 61: 512
doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.7.5

Expanding the Understanding of Evolution

Originally designed for K–12 teachers, the Understanding Evolution (UE) Web site (www.understandingevolution.org) is a onestop shop for all of a teacher's evolution education needs, with lesson plans, teaching tips, lists of common evolution misconceptions, and much more. However, during the past five years, the UE project team learned that another group of educators uses it, too. "It became clear to us that there was a significant number of undergraduate faculty using it," says Judy Scotchmoor, assistant director of Education and Public Programs at the University of California Museum of Paleontology. So, she and her colleagues decided to focus on meeting the needs of this newly discovered audience.

With additional funding from the National Science Foundation, the UE project team sent out a call for applicants to form a Teacher Advisory Board (TAB) that would help expand the UE Web site for undergraduate educators. The response was overwhelming. "In two weeks, close to 60 people responded for eight TAB spots," Scotchmoor says. The TAB was officially established in late 2009 with a group of diverse members. "Each brings a very different perspective to the conversation, based upon individual experiences, expertise, and teaching environments," says TAB member Jason Wiles, of Syracuse University.

After a year of hard work, the team unveiled an expanded and enhanced UE Web site in early 2011. Faculty can find a wide variety of teaching materials for many types of undergraduate settings and audiences. "It provides resources for labs, class projects, homework assignments, class discussions, and guidelines for implementation," says TAB member Robin Bingham, from Western State College in Colorado. In many cases, she says, it is possible to take a UE activity and use it right away in the classroom. With her upper-division evolutionary biology students, she uses the "Evo in the News" articles (http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/news/newsarchive_01), which take a story in the popular news media and explain it from an evolutionary perspective.

"Each story includes links to primary literature and discussion questions so that students can learn how to use the data and see how they support the scientist's conclusions," explains Anna Thanukos, UE's principal editor.

The UE team has developed other activities that use data from the primary research literature, such as the "Visualizing Life on Earth" module (http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/ldg_01). Based on the work of David Jablonski at the University of Chicago, the module guides undergraduates through the logic of interpreting data, says Thanukos, to give them experience in generating expectations from hypotheses and have them work with data to answer evolutionary questions.

Ensuring that there are resources that help teachers engage students in the real science of evolutionary biology is exactly why Kristina Curry Rogers joined the TAB. "I'm involved in TAB because I feel very strongly that communicating about evolution is one of the most important (and most challenging) topics that we need to teach our students," says Rogers, who teaches at Macalester College in Minnesota. She and others are currently working on a UE toolkit for faculty interested in starting an evolution journal club.

The part of UE that TAB member Jennifer Katcher, of Pima Community College in Arizona, uses most is the Evolution101 section on phylogenetic trees (http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/evo_05). "There aren't many resources that explain it at an appropriate level for undergraduates, and this does the best job that I've seen," she says. Fellow TAB member Jim Smith at Michigan State University agrees: "I have used—and send a lot of people to—the phylogenetics pages, which for me always leads to some other interesting and informative place."

Understanding Evolution project staff also used feedback they received over the past year to revise the site's navigation and to add new tools. Visitors can now post a review, rate resources, connect content within the site, and access new guides and teaching tips for using original UE materials in the classroom.

Despite all of their recent accomplishments, the TAB and UE project team are not slowing down. During the January 2010 TAB meeting, they outlined their plans for 2011 and dove into developing the next new set of materials, including an interactive syllabus, questions to actively engage students in class, and new hands-on labs. "I continue to be in awe of the TAB's dedication and creative energy," Scotchmoor says, adding that she and Thanukos are amazed by what the group accomplishes each time they meet.

Members of the TAB are equally full of praise for the UE staff and the project as a whole. "I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work with this outstanding group," says Bingham. Smith adds, "I think the work that is being done by UE is not only important but incredibly well done."

BioScience 61: 270
doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.4.6

Forging a 21st Century Model for Undergraduate Research

Not all biology students get to experience scientific research firsthand, but the National Genomics Research Initiative (NGRI) is working to change that, says its director, Tuajuanda Jordan. "The goal is to support educators and improve the number and quality of 21st century scientists," Jordan says. The NGRI is the first initiative to spring from Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) new Science Education Alliance (SEA).

At present, a competitive application process determines which institutions become part of NGRI. The goal is to make the experience readily available to all who are interested within the next few years. Participating faculty receive curricular resources and a framework to infuse genomic research into a yearlong course, as well as connections to other faculty in the SEA network. Undergraduates taking part in the courses become bacteriophage "hunters," sampling their local environments for novel bacteriophage species. In the first semester, students isolate, characterize, and purify phages, completing a preliminary characterization of the phages' DNA before sending it to the sequencing center. The following semester, students annotate their phages' DNA sequences and select one to submit to GenBank. They present their research to fellow students at their home institutions, and selected students give presentations at an annual SEA symposium.

"The program has shown that freshmen can be engaged in real research that is moving science forward," Jordan says. Because resources are limited, she says, NRGI replaced the one-on-one apprenticeship model with peer mentoring, where individual students assist entire classes. Many institutions use graduate student mentors, but at institutions where this is not possible, upper-level undergraduate students mentor their peers.

Cabrini College became part of NGRI in 2009 through the initiative of science faculty members Melinda Harrison and David Dunbar. One of Dunbar's senior advisees, Katie Mageeney, was a natural fit for the role of peer mentor. "It was self-evident she would do this. She has all of the skills needed and a great rapport with students," Dunbar says. But he and Harrison had no idea how significant Mageeney's influence on their students would be.

During the 2010 SEA symposium at HHMI, they shared their course evaluations. "One of the big items that came out of students' responses," Harrison says, "was that the students started thinking about science more seriously in terms of careers." At the symposium, David Lopatto, a psychology professor at Grinnell College whose work includes research on the benefits of undergraduate research experiences, heard their presentation. Lopatto encouraged Dunbar and Harrison to explore Mageeney's impact on the freshman students more deeply. "He helped us develop an instrument that would allow us to specifically evaluate the benefits and merits of peer mentoring on research in the classroom," Dunbar explains. The results were striking.

According to Lopatto, there are two very different but equally necessary elements to successful research experiences for students: the structural environment and the emotional and social environment. Dunbar and Harrison provided the first element by setting the stage, integrating the research into the course, and ensuring the proper equipment and tools were available. According to the survey results, Mageeney provided the other key element.

"Katie went beyond the call of duty," Dunbar says. She was there for the students, available around the clock, both in person and through e-mail. Mageeney was not only an accomplished science student but also a resident assistant and athlete, and this, according to Harrison, inspired the students under her mentorship. "They loved Katie," Harrison adds, "they clearly trusted her and felt more comfortable going to her rather than to their teachers."

Dunbar and Harrison now realize the influence that having a great peer mentor has on the success of their program. But finding another Mageeney may be easier said than done. "It's not simply putting an undergraduate student in the room with the freshmen," Dunbar says. He and Harrison plan to outline the qualities necessary to identify future peer mentors for their course, and they hope to pay their peer mentor next time to compensate for the time commitment. That will require additional support from their institution.

Cabrini College's example illustrates that, when the right elements are in place, undergraduate research can be transformative for the students. Assessment data across NGRI institutions show similar impacts, Jordan says, both on retention and performance, even in at-risk student populations. The SEA is building the case for administrative support for undergraduate research at all institutions. "We are trying to open the eyes of some of the administrators," she says, while she allows that this will be a significant paradigm shift.

BioScience 61: 18
doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.1.6

Mobile Learning Anytime, Anywhere

Pssst, do you want a free iPod? Sure, but what's the catch? You must use it to learn! Some educational institutions are taking the leap to mobile learning (m-learning) by giving out free iPods. For example, Abilene Christian University gave iPods or iPhones to freshman students and developed 15 Web applications specifically for the mobile devices. Free iPod Touches were handed out to newly hired math and science teachers at a technology training workshop at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Duke University's Digital Initiative program lends iPods to students and staff, or sells them at about a third of the market price.

The iPod is not the only ubiquitous m-learning device. Any technology that connects wireless or mobile phone networks to Web-based public or private services can be used. Other examples include smartphones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), handheld gaming devices, netbooks, and specialty technologies such as those used in science labs. At California State University, a satellite dish connects field archaeologists using mobile devices to the classroom. Instead of lab notebooks, geology students use netbooks equipped with global positioning and geographic information systems software on field trips.

M-learning should be familiar territory in many ways. Educators have already discovered the value of e-learning, which has extended education beyond the classroom. And institutions that offer distance education courseware have acquired the technological know-how of connectivity and digital content distribution. Most of us are comfortable using digital or Web-based resources to support learning, and many teachers and instructors are skilled at creating modules for custom learning. M-learning takes what we already know to the next level. "It works and reaches places other learning cannot," writes Jill Attewell, m-learning manager for the Learning and Skills Development Agency, London. "We know that m-learning can empower and engage. We know that the engagement and motivation can continue beyond the initial 'gadget honeymoon.'"

Some skeptics refer to m-learning as "e-learning lite" because they think it delivers only snippets of coursework. But its potential is growing. Rural students in Arkansas riding three hours to school in the Sheridan school district are given iPods or laptops to study science on schoolbuses that are equipped for wireless Internet access. A Web site devoted to m-learning, Learning in Hand, started by an elementary-school teacher in Arizona, includes lesson plans for handheld devices. Project Numina at University of North Carolina, Wilmington, develops science and mathematics education software for mobile devices. Learner-centered modules are being developed at the University of Michigan for K–12 students who use mobile technology. At Eastern Washington University, assessments, quizzes, and surveys are conducted using software for blended delivery; that is, a combination of offline, online, and mobile devices.

New m-learning resources continue to be developed. The Wireless Instructional Initiatives project at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, investigates best practices for teaching and learning with new technologies. An m-library is being created at the University of Athabasca in Canada. The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business continues to improve SPIKE, its intranet, which ties the entire student experience together into a single, customizable interface. The Human Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland also develops advanced user interfaces to study how people experience new technologies. And Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania is experimenting with how the tablet (a wireless computer that allows a user to take notes with a digital instrument or on a touch screen) can change classroom learning.

This and other anecdotal evidence shows that portable technology tools engage students and promote learning. However, empirical data to support these claims are thin. A large-scale study in the works, Project K-Nect, tracks high-school students in North Carolina who use smartphones to study math. The program's evaluation results show that using these devices as learning aides has had a measurable impact on student achievement (read the report at www.tomorrow.org/research/ProjectKnect.html). Interestingly, almost two-thirds of the students reported taking additional math courses as a result of smartphone use, and more than 50 percent are now considering a career in a math-related field as a result of participating in Project K-Nect. Such studies typically examine the effectiveness of only specific devices, applications, software, or activities; they are not yet broad enough to produce data that illustrate if and how sustained m-learning can enhance education.

Empirical evidence will come, as it did for e-learning. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project's ongoing survey, by 2008, 77 percent of teens owned a game console, 74 percent owned an iPod or MP3 player, 71 percent owned a cell phone, and 60 percent had a desktop or laptop computer (see http://pewresearch.org/ pubs/1315/teens-use-of-cell-phones). Students already know how to use the technology. It is up to teachers to add academic value to these tools.

BioScience 60: 682
doi:10.1525/bio.2010.60.9.4