Authentic Scientific Practices in the Classroom: A Model-Based-Inquiry Curriculum for the Introductory Biology Laboratory

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

A key challenge facing undergraduate science education is how best to integrate scientific practice into classrooms. It is not enough for students to know the information that scientists have learned. They should also learn the skills that are needed to conduct scientific inquiries. In particular, traditional laboratory courses are frequently misaligned with the ways of thinking that take place in an authentic research setting. Participation in authentic scientific inquiry has been shown to enhance the undergraduate science experience in several ways, but these opportunities are not available to all students. For students at two-year colleges these opportunities are even less common. Instead many students, particularly at the introductory level, are presented with an incomplete or even skewed view of the nature of science - often focused on memorization of facts and completion of procedures rather than the practices that scientists use to develop and refine new knowledge. By contrast, a pedagogical method termed 'Model-Based-Inquiry" (MBI) has been successfully used to engage students in authentic scientific practices. The effectiveness of MBI has been demonstrated in K-12 classrooms and in undergraduate physics and chemistry classrooms, but not in undergraduate biology classrooms. The primary goal of this project is to develop and test a Model-Based-Inquiry curriculum for an introductory biology laboratory course. This project will take place as a collaboration between a large, public, research university, the University of Arizona (UA), and a two-year college, Pima Community College. Students will engage in laboratory activities that directly relate to ongoing research at UA. Project impacts will include: 1) reform of a key introductory course at two institutions which serve large numbers of students from underrepresented groups; 2) national dissemination of a novel curriculum that addresses current needs in biology education; 3) training of postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate researchers in biology education, including members of groups underrepresented in science; 4) synergistic collaboration between biologists at a two-year college and a research university. In addition to development and implementation of a novel curriculum, the project will include educational research to uncover new information about undergraduate model-based-reasoning through detailed assessment of classroom learning. Project assessment will determine how well the MBI curriculum contributes to students': 1) agency and identity as a scientists, 2) understanding of the nature of scientific inquiry, and 3) cognitive and technical skills for science. Project dissemination will include publication of research results as well as sharing of the curricular approach through distribution of curricular materials and through workshops to engage faculty in MBI-based pedagogy.