Programs
Biology Education Research Group
Our research group broadly explores how to improve biology teaching and learning at the undergraduate level. We are a team of discipline-based education researchers (DBERs) and science faculty with education specialties (SFEPs) that collaborate with other STEM faculty, staff, and students to study, practice, and promote evidence-based teaching practices in our STEM classrooms.
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Biology Education Research Projects
Look who’s talking
Teaching and discourse practices across discipline, position, experience, and class size in STEM college classrooms
Investigators: Jourjina Subih Alkhouri; Cristine Donham; Téa Pusey; Alexander Stivers; Adriana Signorini; Petra Kranzfelder
I will teach you here or there, I will try to teach you anywhere
Perceived supports and barriers for emergency remote teaching during COVID-19 pandemic
Investigators: Cristine Donham; Hillary A. Barron; Jourjina Subih Alkhouri; Maya Changaran Kumarath; Wesley Alejandro; Erik Menke; Petra Kranzfelder
Instructor and classroom characteristics related to implementation of active learning
Investigators: Kameryn Denaro; Petra Kranzfelder; Melinda Owens; Brian Sato; Austin Zuckerman; Rebecca Hardesty; Adriana Signorini; Andrea Aebersold; Mayank Verma; Stanley Lo
Collaborative Teaching Plus (CT+)
A timely, flexible, and dynamic course design to improve instruction and the student learning experience in introductory biology courses
Investigators: Kamal S. Dulai, Petra Kranzfelder, Adriana Signorini, Tea S. Pusey, Andrea Presas Valencia, Christian Urbina, and Néstor J. Oviedo
Breakout Rooms, Polling, and Chat, Oh My! The Development and Validation of Online COPUS
Investigators: Téa S. Pusey, Andrea Presas Valencia, and Adriana Signorini, and Petra Kranzfelder
Cross-campus DART comparison by instructor type
Investigators: Austin, Melinda, Jeff, Mike, Petra, Kameryn
Discourse practices in remote learning environments
Investigators: SATAL interns, Adriana, and Petra
Conceptions, approaches, and practices of teaching and learning
Investigators: Amber, Nicole, Stanley, Erik, Petra
Transforming Teaching and Learning in the Sciences at a Hispanic-Serving Institution through a Graduate Teaching Assistant Program
Investigators: Laura, Erik, Petra
Biology Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science or Bio-MAPS: Exploring students’ understanding of biology concepts across the Biology Program at UC Merced
National Institute on Scientific Teaching
The National Institute on Scientific Teaching is a non-profit organization devoted to empowering and inspiring the transformation of STEM education through evidence-based teaching practices. The Institute is dedicated to STEM education reform by improving science literacy and increasing diversity in the academia in universities across the United States.
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NIST draws scientific teaching principles from models supported by peer-reviewed research and support participants to directly apply these principles in their classrooms and in their course development. The curriculum includes core elements of active learning strategies, effective assessment development, and inclusive teaching practices. Institute alumni continue to actively transform STEM education on their home campuses, contribute to national STEM education initiatives, and disseminate their evidence-based teaching efforts and research through peer reviewed publications.
Learning Assistant Program
The goal of the instructional Learning Assistant Program is to increase student persistence and retention rate in STEM disciplines. A Learning Assistant is an undergraduate student who has been trained in pedagogical practices and hired to facilitate active learning among groups of students within the classroom structure of a course they have previously successfully completed. This program is modeled on the LA program established at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Our program will be one of the first LA programs systematically implemented on a large scale at a public research university that is an HSI-MSI with a student body composed of historically underrepresented groups in STEM.
Instructional LAs will be placed in courses are required by most STEM major programs including:
· Biology
· Chemistry
· Math
· Physics
This program is supported by the Dean of the School of Natural Sciences and the Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education. It is organized and managed by SNS faculty in applied math, chemistry, physics, and biology and in collaboration with the Center for Engaged Teaching and Learning.
Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences
As a research-focused university, UCM strives to engage undergraduates in authentic research experiences. UCM has been successful in this realm, as it organizes several competitive summer research programs for undergraduates through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Center (UROC),funded by the NIH, NSF and the University of California, in which students are paired with a faculty research mentor and receive technical training, as well as professional skills coaching (e.g. oral and written communication, scientific dissemination) and advising for STEM-based careers. However, UROC only can place a small percentage of the total student body into these internship programs, and those students are self-selected, as they must apply and be accepted into the program. In order to include all UC Merced Biological Sciences students in research experiences, we will incorporate the process of scientific discovery directly into our core biology laboratory courses\.Our goal is to embrace our students’ diverse backgrounds and entry points as we fulfill the UCM mission by creating research experiences for all biology students. A key recommendation of the Vision and Change report is the integration of research activities into the curriculum (AAAS, 2009). We propose to use both inquiry-based laboratories (IBLs) and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) in two stages to teach STEM research practices to all students. Our short-term goal is to transition the one-year introductory biology lab sequence into collaborative IBLs. Our long-term goal is to create and institutionalize CUREs in the upper division biology courses, directly linked to our faculty research and student interests.
Progress 2018-present:
1. Revised and updated introductory biology labs (BIO 1L and BIO 2L) in terms of course learning outcomes for technical, data analysis, communication and critical thinking skills; in collaboration with the SNS Instructional Lab Staff. The goal is to ensure that students are prepared for upper division lab courses.
2. SATAL recorded classroom activities, and also to analyze student exit surveys on their learning.
3. Site visits to UC Riverside and UC San Diego to meet with CURE faculty and direct observe and interview undergraduate students, learning assistants and graduate teaching assistants in their courses, in order to assess best practices to be incorporated to CUREs at UC Merced.
4. Continuing to build out CUREs at UC Merced. Grant funds were used to support purchases of reagents and graduate student researcher to help pilot lab exercises for CUREs and guide undergraduate students.
•BIO 120L: Microbiology Lab (Small World Initiative)
•BIO 127LA/LB: Virology Lab (SEAPHAGES)
•BIO 150L: Developmental Biology Lab
In pilot stages:
•Genetics Lab
•Molecular Biology/Developmental Biology
•Ecology Field Research
•Symbiosis Lab
What's Your Story? Faculty - Student Dinners
As part of the HHMI grant, the University of California, Merced aims to establish inclusive co-curricular activities to build faculty-student learning communities and support networks. In collaboration with the campus residence hall Living Learning Communities, UC Merced started hosting “What’s Your Story?” faculty-student dinners. The goals for the “What’s Your Story?” events are 1) to engage in conversation with students about the many challenges along a professional trajectory and strategies for dealing with challenges and 2) to allow faculty the opportunity to learn students have already faced, or are facing, numerous challenges and to consider how to adapt their pedagogy and mentoring strategies to meet students where they are. We aspire to have these events promote community building, with a lasting culture of inclusion, between the faculty and students in STEM.
STEM Resource Center & Tutor / Mentor Program
Made possible with funding provided by the HHMI Inclusive Excellence In Science Education grant.
The STEM Resource Center is building a learning community to enhance academic and social experiences for UC Merced undergraduates pursuing degrees in science, engineering and math. We work with students individually to help them flourish in intellectual endeavors and take personal responsibility for their own successes. We support students in finding research and internship opportunities and building lifelong skills needed for advancement and leadership in STEM careers.
The STEM Resource Center provides academic support to the UC Merced undergraduate student population through a variety of services aimed at supporting academics and learning.
The peer tutor/mentor program was established to provide academic assistance to undergraduate students and designed to serve the diverse undergraduate population by providing continuous and comprehensive educational support.
Bobcat Biology Mentor Program
This program provides one-on-one peer mentorship for biology majors. The program learning outcomes are to:
· Provide a networking support path in science for students.
· Foster students’ science identities and develop a sense of belonging in science.
· Promote the social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion mission of the School of Natural Science by supporting academic outcomes for underrepresented students in STEM and first-generation college students.
Students participating in the mentoring program are expected to:
· Commit to a mentor/mentee relationship for at least 6 months
· Attend required events and one-on-one mentor meetings
· Mentors will attend training sessions
· Mentees will drive the type of relationship needed
Applications for the mentor program open in October.
Biological Sciences Club
The biological sciences club aims to help students struggling with biology to teach and mentor them. This club will provide opportunities to meet people who have reached their professions with a biological sciences bachelor’s degree. The club's goal is to provide a wide spectrum of pathways available to take in advancement to a person's career. Many students at University of California, Merced are biology majors and have difficulty learning and studying for the courses they take, we want to help these students through facilitated group study sessions where new studying patterns are introduced, helpful tips are given, and bonds are established with students seeking help in achieving a well-rounded education.
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Contact Information
Address
5400 N. Lake Rd.
Merced, CA 95343
United States
Contact Email: ucm.biological.sciences.club@gmail.com
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence
UC Merced’s efforts to make science education more inclusive were given a huge boost after the campus was awarded its first Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) grant, an impressive mark of distinction that reflects the strong upward trajectory of the campus’s research and teaching efforts. One of 33 schools selected to join the HHMI Inclusive Excellence initiative, UC Merced will receive $1 million over five years to test a new undergraduate biological sciences curriculum — one that’s more inclusive of underrepresented and non-traditional students.
“This grant will help us implement faculty development programs, revise the laboratory curriculum and build student-faculty learning communities that promote inclusivity across the university,” said Jennifer Manilay, professor of biological sciences and program director on the new grant.