Characterizing First-Year Biology Majors' Motivations and Perceptions of the Discipline.

Understanding why students choose to major in biology provides important insight into the motivations of biology majors. It is similarly important to investigate how biology majors perceive the discipline, including associated activities, such as independent research, which can influence students' interests in the field and likelihood to persist in science, engineering, technology, and math. However, there has been little work done examining biology student motivations and perceptions, particularly at non-research-intensive universities or after the COVID-19 pandemic started. To address this gap, we surveyed the first-year cohort of biology majors at a private, comprehensive university. We found that students largely reported choosing the major because of interest in the field and/or the fact that the major would prepare them for specific careers. We also found that students had skewed conceptions of several major subdisciplines of biology (ecology and evolution; cell and molecular biology; and anatomy and physiology). Finally, most students reported not knowing what independent research is or presented naive conceptions of research. Our work offers a characterization of how first-year students at our university perceive the discipline, and we conclude by discussing changes that our program has made to address these results as well as implications for instructors and biology administrators.

Using primary literature on SARS-CoV-2 to promote student learning about evolution.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has caused widespread deaths, illnesses, and societal disruption. I describe here how I pivoted a discussion-based senior biology capstone course to include a multiweek module surrounding one primary literature paper on the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and the subsequent scientific discourse about the paper. Using a gradual reveal of the paper following the CREATE method (consider, read, elucidate, and think of the next experiment), I challenged students to learn new evolutionary principles and critically analyze the data surrounding the evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 presented in the paper. I also provide general advice for implementing this module in future courses.

Student perceptions of an inquiry-based molecular biology lecture and lab following a mid-semester transition to online teaching.

The transition to online learning in spring 2020 was abrupt for both students and instructors. While many instructors moved to asynchronous classes, some institutions relied more heavily on synchronous online courses. Here, we evaluate student perceptions of an inquiry-based molecular biology lecture and lab course following this transition by comparing student survey responses from spring 2019, when the lecture and lab were fully in person, to spring 2020, when the lecture and lab started in person before transitioning to a synchronous online format. Students were asked to identify the main factors that supported their learning in lecture and lab, characterize the main barriers to learning in those courses, and discuss their preference of having an inquiry-based lab or a traditional "cookbook" lab with pre-determined answers. We coded these responses and provide one of the first studies to examine the impact of this online transition on student perceptions of learning in an inquiry-based molecular biology lecture and lab course.

Promoting Academic Integrity and Student Learning in Online Biology Courses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an abrupt shift in biology courses, with many transitioning to online instruction. This has led to an increased concern about academic integrity and cheating in online courses. Here, I draw upon the peer-reviewed literature to provide evidence-based answers to four questions concerning cheating and online biology courses: (i) What types of cheating are prevalent with the shift to online instruction? (ii) Should instructors make assessments open book and open notes? (iii) How does cheating occur in biology lab courses? (iv) Finally, what strategies can biology instructors take to uphold academic integrity with online learning? I frame these answers not only around academic integrity but on the potential impacts on student learning and discuss some strategies that may not only deter cheating but also promote greater student learning.