News

2024:

Gena and Ross publish a new framework for linking DEI goals to empirical analyses of educational outcomes.

Evan and John True publish a paper on student learning of genetic drift in Evolution: Education and Outreach (March)

Ross, along with an international group of scholars in genetics education, publish “The sociopolitical in human genetics education” in Science. (February)

Ross publishes “Considering Explanatory Diversity and Holistic Understanding of Biological Phenomena” in The American Biology Teacher. (February)

2023:

Ross was an invited speaker on The Importance of Education in the Digital Age: Artificial Intelligence at the Third International Congress on Excellence in Education. (December)

Evan, Gena, and Ross presented multiple papers at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching conference in Chicago (April).

Ross was an invited speaker at the Undergraduate Anthropology Society. He enjoyed great questions and discussions about How Humans Think About Our Evolving World. (March)

Roberto Bertolini, along with Steve Finch and Ross, publish a new paper in the special issue on AI for Tackling STEM Education Challenges in Frontiers in Education (February)

Ross joins the board of BioScience. (January)

2022:

Ross and Kostas Kampourakis (University of Geneva) wrote a chapter “Evolution education and outreach – important things to know about how to each about evolution” in the new book Learning Evolution Through Socioscientific Issues. (December)

Ross gave an invited talk “Predictive Learning Analytics in University Settings: Promise and Pitfalls” at the University of Hannover (Germany). (November)

Ross, Gena, and Stephen Finch (applied math) publish a new paper about active learning and misconceptions in BioScience. (September)

Congratulations to Gena as she starts her new job as an assistant professor at San Diego State University! (August)

Gena and Ross publish a new paper about evolution learning (July).

Ross, Gena, and Evan were invited speakers at the Third International Workshop of Genetics and Evolution at the Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN) in Germany. They presented “Does learning about explanation promote learning about evolution?” (June)

Ross delivered a keynote address at the International Conference for AI-based Assessments in STEM Education. His talk discussed the role of AI in biology education and assessment. (June)

Congratulations to Evan on being awarded a Turner Fellowship! (April)

Ross’ paper with Xiaoming Zhai and colleagues was the top cited paper in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching last year. (March)

Gena presents “A mixed-methods study of the importance of family-level variables to evolution-related perspectives and careers in Black undergraduates” at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (Vancouver) (March)

Gena and Ross summarized their reform work in gateway biology at the Annual Department Retreat. (March)

2021:

Ross was an invited speaker and panelist at Kennesaw State University’s DBER series. He spoke on “Biology Education Research: Opportunities and Challenges Facing
Life Science Education.” (October) and a multidisciplinary panel discussion on Nov. 3.

Ross was an invited Panelist at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine round table on role of data and assessments in undergraduate life sciences education reform. (September).

Ross and Gena presented in two symposia at the European Science Education Research Association international conference: “Teleology in biology education” and “Measuring evolution acceptance – Testing validity inferences and understanding response patterns”. (September).

A warm welcome to new graduate student Evan Abreu! (August)

Congratulations to Gena, Justin, Lucy, and Ross on the publication of their work on measuring faculty change! Thanks to the URECA program for funding this 3 year undergraduate research project! (August)

Congratulations to Roberto, Ross, and Stephen Finch on their new paper on learning analytics! (August)

Gena and Ross presented two papers at the Evolution2021 conference: “Identifying and dismantling barriers to evolutionary biology interests and outcomes in minoritized students: Examples from gateway biology” and “The importance of explicit attention to evolution misconceptions: A large-scale, quasi-experimental, multi-instrument study of learning outcomes.” (June)

Gena, Justin, Lucy, and Ross present ” Measuring Faculty Enactment of Evidence‐Based Teaching in Undergraduate STEM: The Role of Observation Sampling Intensity” at the national meeting of the American Educational Research Association (April).

Gena and Ross present “The Impact of Biology Instruction on Evolution Acceptance and Conflict in Underrepresented Minority Undergraduates” at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching!  (April)

Congratulations to Roberto on publication of his paper in on predictive learning analytics in biology education! This is a great collaboration with Steve Finch in Applied Math and Statistics (AMS)! (January)

2020:

Gena and Ross‘ paper on the Validation of the Scales of Evolutionary Conflict Measure (SECM) accepted in Evolution: Education and Outreach (in press). (December 2020)

Ross‘ collaboration with Xiaoming Zhai and colleagues at the University of Georgia on machine learning published! J Sci Educ Technol (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-020-09875-z (November 2020)

Brian Donovan and Ross Nehm’s introduction to the special issue on Genetics and Identity is published! Science & Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-020-00180-0 (November 2020)

Gena presented Seeing Equity in Education (SEE): First Steps Towards the Development of the SEE Instrument at Third Annual BioTAP (NSF’s Biology Teaching Assistant Project) Virtual Conference October 2020

Gena  and Ross present “Matter and Energy Digital Assets for Learning (MEDAL) for gateway biology classes at SUNY” at the University Libraries 2020 Open Educational Resources Colloquium October 

Ross’ paper with Xiaoming Zhai and colleagues is getting good press (September)! Science Daily, American Institute of Physics, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), MC.AI

New National Science Foundation grant for a RCN on evolution acceptance with colleagues at multiple institutions! August 2020.

Nicole Kinlock, Catie Foley, Gena Sbeglia, and Ross Nehm received final acceptance of their paper “A lesson on matter and energy at the organismal scale: Linking patterns and processes across diverse taxa” in CourseSource  https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2020.42  August 2020.

Ross Nehm, working with Marcus Hammann in Germany, finished a special issue on Teleology in Evolution Education in the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach. Thanks to the international collaborators who helped make this effort a success.  July 2020

Gena Sbeglia was awarded a 2020-2021 Presidential Mini-Grant for Departmental Initiative. The project will focus on developing a measure capable of quantifying the extent to which instructors “see” inclusive practices in classroom settings. Congratulations! July 2020

Justin Goodrich, Lucy Gordon, Gena Sbeglia, and Ross Nehm presented “Faculty Adoption of Evidence‐based Teaching Practices: The Role of Observation Sampling Intensity on Measures of Change” at the national meeting of the Society of the Advancement for Biology Education Research. July 2020. https://saberbio.wildapricot.org/SABER-Annual-Meeting-2020.

Gena Sbeglia and Ross Nehm presented “The Scales of Evolutionary Conflict Measure (SECM)” at the national meeting of the Society of the Advancement for Biology Education Research. July 2020. https://saberbio.wildapricot.org/SABER-Annual-Meeting-2020

Ross Nehm joined Melanie Cooper as invited discussants in the American Chemical Society Webinar on assessment July 2020.

The Editors of the International Journal of Science Education (IJSE) recognized Ross Nehm with an Award of Reviewer Excellence! June 2020.

Robyn Tornabene received final acceptance of her paper with Gena and Ross on the psychometric properties of the PUGGS instrument in Science & Education. June 2020.

Gena Sbeglia and Ross Nehm presented “Validation of the SECM (Scales of Evolutionary Conflict Measure) Instrument” at the international meeting of the Australian Science Education Research Association. June 2020.

Lucy Gordon and Justin Goodridge received URECA mini grants to present Are Faculty Changing? Sampling Effects on Measures of Instructor Adoption of Evidence-based Teaching Practices”  at the National Association of Research in Science Teaching (NARST) Conference. Spring 2020.