Back from @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER East! There, I presented work that @dforsythe.bsky.social, @quaylanallen.bsky.social, Amy Moors & I led on first-generation college students’ experiences w/advising in STEM. Paper now out in @cbelifescied.bsky.social! 1/3 www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/...

“It's because of me – I made myself get here”: First-Generation College Students in STEM Motivations for, and Experiences with, Academic Advising | CBE—Life Sciences Education

Academic advising plays a major role in shaping undergraduate life sciences students’ experiences through college. However, despite the critical nature of advising, there have been relatively few stud...

lifescied.org

New paper alert! We investigate how students in introductory bio conceptualize a fundamental question: what does it mean to be alive? We share instructional implications for supporting more coherent, scientifically aligned understandings. Check it out! journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

What is alive? Students’ conceptions of the traits that unite living organisms | Advances in Physiology Education | American Physiological Society

Biology is the study of life, but students often hold misconceptions about what it means to be alive, with children often associating life with movement. These misconceptions can lead to biases in wha...

journals.physiology.org

“Effective teaching is not static but a continual process of learning, adapting & growing alongside my students.” — @hsubox.bsky.social, ChapmanU In a new essay, Hsu reflects on how a difficult exam transformed the way he approaches assessment and student learning: www.asbmb.org/asbmb-today/....

Backward design and beyond: Lessons from a molecular genetics classroom

Associate professor reflects on an early teaching misstep and explains how backward design, clear learning objectives and reflective tools reshaped assessment, clarified expectations and helped studen...

asbmb.org

Last month, 17 members of the Chapman Biology Education Research lab attended the @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER West conference. Check out the university coverage of our undergraduate students presenting their work at SABER West - I'm so proud of my mentees! blogs.chapman.edu/scst/2026/02...

Chapman Undergraduates Shine at SABER West 2026

Ten undergraduate students from Chapman University, including six dedicated majors and minors from Schmid College of Science and Technology, recently had the remarkable opportunity to present their re...

blogs.chapman.edu

That's a wrap! Thank you to everyone who came to Chapman for our interdisciplinary conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM education! We had nearly 100 attendees from 46 institutions and 26 states, and an engaging and intellectually stimulating two days of conversations!

What an exciting week for the Chapman Biology Education Research Group! First, we're hosting a conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM education. We have 5 keynotes, 30 talks, and 10 posters, with nearly 100 attendees from 46 institutions across 26 states! 1/2

A reminder about the upcoming abstract deadline (extended to 11/1) for our conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning (QR) in STEM education in January! We welcome research as well as innovations in teaching & assessing QR. Works in progress welcome! sites.chapman.edu/qrstemeducat...

We are so glad to see this collaboration for our O.A. journal! Thanks for partnering with us @sabercommunity.bsky.social (& @hsubox.bsky.social for being AE on this grouping) & go here to find out more: academic.oup.com/iob/pages/tr...

Jeremy Hsu@hsubox.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Call for Papers: Teaching Integrative & Organismal Biology! Integrative and Organismal Biology is excited to announce a collaboration b/w @sicbjournals.bsky.social & @sabercommunity.bsky.social. Manuscripts submitted by 2/28 will form core of collection. More info: academic.oup.com/iob/pages/tr...

Call for Papers: Teaching Integrative & Organismal Biology! Integrative and Organismal Biology is excited to announce a collaboration b/w @sicbjournals.bsky.social & @sabercommunity.bsky.social. Manuscripts submitted by 2/28 will form core of collection. More info: academic.oup.com/iob/pages/tr...

Transforming the Teaching of Integrative and Organismal Biology

Integrative and Organismal Biology, the open access online journal of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), is excited to announce a speci

academic.oup.com

We are hiring for a postdoc in STEM education research to join us at Chapman University! The postdoc will join a team researching STEM course office hours and ways to improve office hours. Please RT - more info here! saberbio.mcjobboard.net/jobs/197483

What do first-year students think about STEM course office hours? How do these perceptions change over time? So excited to share a new paper in the International Journal of STEM Education where we conducted a longitudinal study to find out! 1/7 stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10....

“Asking for help feels like a weakness”: factors shaping first-year students’ expectations of STEM course office hours - International Journal of STEM Education

Background Office hours are one of the most ubiquitous resources for students in STEM courses. However, there has been only limited work examining what students think of STEM course office hours, and ...

stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com

Abstract submission for joint NABT @nabtbio.bsky.social & @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER Midwest Biology Education Poster Session (in St. Louis, 11/1) extended to 8/15! Any work on bio teaching & learning welcome; includes student competitions for bio ed research & more! nabt.org/Call-for-Pos...

We are hosting an interdisciplinary conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM ed at Chapman in January! Registration & abstract submission now open! Conference is adjacent to @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER West. More info: sites.chapman.edu/qrstemeducat... See you there!

Breaking news: Staff at the National Institutes of Health have issued a declaration calling on their director to depoliticize the agency and reverse spending cuts.

NIH staff and biomedical community sound alarm about agency politicization, funding slowdown

In test of NIH director’s support of dissent, NIH staff sign Bethesda Declaration urging reversal of grant cuts and freezes

scim.ag

Last week’s SABER East brought together a vibrant community for three days of learning and collaboration. 📅 3 days 👥 120 attendees 🛠 9 workshops 🦈 4 Shark Tank presenters 💬 30 short talks 🎤 2 keynotes 👏 Huge congrats to the SABER East planning committee on a fantastic conference!

2️⃣ new papers to share! First is a paper in CBE-Life Sciences Education led by former undergrad Gabby Dauber '24, examining student motivations and experiences in STEM course office hours (OH). She conducted interviews with students about their knowledge of and 1/5 www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/...

Factors Influencing Student Motivations and Experiences in STEM Course Office Hours | CBE—Life Sciences Education

Office hours are a part of nearly all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, with many academic and affective benefits for students who attend. However, despite their ubiqui...

lifescied.org

Thank you to everyone at @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER East 2025 for a fantastic conference and some great conversations and ideas! A huge shout out to @dinanewman.bsky.social and the rest of the SABER East planning team for all of your hard work!

Coverage from New York Times on the devastating cuts to STEM education research around the country. Our country needs to continue investing in STEM education to support our students and our STEM and healthcare infrastructure.

Gale Sinatra@galesinatra.bsky.social · last yr.

No STEM ed means depleting the STEM workforce. Explore this gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/s...

New piece out in @insidehighered.com, examining office hours and providing suggestions for improving OH! I draw upon research our group and collaborators have done in investigating student and faculty experiences in OH. Check it out and please share! www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

Office Hours: An Old Tool for New Challenges (opinion)

Rethinking office hours and how we talk about them can unlock new opportunities for improving student learning, Jeremy Hsu writes.

insidehighered.com

New paper alert, in @asm.org J Microbio and Bio Education! Joelle Prate, a graduate student in education, and I examine how students bring quantitative reasoning skills from other contexts into biology labs, and what they see as supports and barriers. Check it out! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Student perceptions of supports and barriers for transferring quantitative reasoning in introductory biology lab courses | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

Quantitative skills are essential to student success in undergraduate biology. The importance of this critical skill is stressed in influential reports, including the American Association for the Adva...

journals.asm.org

I had an NSF grant abruptly cancelled on Friday, joining so many of my colleagues in STEM education research. Our grant was about improving STEM course office hours, with work underway to develop and test strategies to leverage office hours to promote student learning and success. 1/3

Delighted to share that I've been awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of biology, effective in the fall! I've been so fortunate to work with an amazing group of faculty, staff, and students. Thank you to everyone who has made this such an incredible journey!

Interested in quantitative reasoning (QR) in biology? Check out our new paper in @CBELifescied! We explore how students learn QR in intro bio labs by applying the theoretical framework of student noticing. Through observations and interviews, we find that... 1/n www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10....

Investigating Student Noticing of Quantitative Reasoning in Introductory Biology Labs | CBE—Life Sciences Education

Quantitative reasoning (QR) is a key skill for undergraduate biology education. Despite this, many students struggle with QR. Here, we use the theoretical framework of student noticing to investigate ...

lifescied.org

So very excited for @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER West this weekend! It will be a busy weekend for the Chapman Bio Ed Research group - check out the lineup of presentations, with lots of great work by students and collaborators! #SABERWest2025 @dforsythe.bsky.social @lisalimeri.bsky.social

Are you a biology educator? Check out our new paper, Charting a new vision: Lessons on Vision & Change from a network of biology educators! We describe the conversations we've had as members of the Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring (PALM) Network 1/5 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Charting a new vision: lessons on Vision & Change from a network of biology educators | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

The release of the 2011 Vision & Change report was a watershed moment for the undergraduate life science education community. The report, a product of some of this community’s intellectual leaders, called for the transformation of undergraduate biology education by incorporating a student-centered model of education based on active learning techniques and getting students to think and act as “real scientists” (Box 1). The past 13 years have seen significant progress towards the widespread adoption of this goal, with many individual instructors and entire departments working to bring their pedagogical practices in line with the goals set out by the 2011 report, while maintaining the unique character of their individual classrooms. Vision & Change has also sparked the development of several organizations and networks devoted to facilitating the spread of pedagogical reform as well as initiatives sponsored by life science professional societies to make Vision & Change recommendations accessible to their members.

journals.asm.org

Excited to share a new paper, out in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, that @dforsythe.bsky.social and I worked on together! We characterized full-time, non-tenure track teaching faculty (NTT teaching faculty) in biology. (1/7) journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Characterizing full-time, non-tenure-track teaching faculty in biology | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education

Institutions of higher education play a major role in teaching undergraduate students. Historically, most courses have been taught by tenure-track (TT) faculty who may also be responsible for research...

journals.asm.org

Now out in Ecosphere, a paper with the @bceenet.bsky.social crew describing how we use digital natural history collections data (e.g. herbaria) in ecology/evolution courses, improving access to course-based undergrad research experiences (CUREs) esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Improving access to undergraduate research using digitized natural history collections course‐based research experiences

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can be a powerful tool in broadening participation in undergraduate research. In this paper, we review the benefits of and barriers to undergra....

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

New paper alert in @CBELifescied with @dforsythe.bsky.social and @BMDewsbury! We examine the journeys of STEM faculty into justice-centered pedagogies, investigating how their experiences shape their teaching and curriculum. Check it out! www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/...

Exploring the Journey of STEM Faculty into Justice-centered Pedagogy | CBE—Life Sciences Education

In higher education and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), interlocking oppressions can lead to inequitable environments for those who hold marginalized identities. Instructors ...

lifescied.org

The Chapman University Biology Education Research Group had multiple students present at the National Association of Biology Teachers this weekend. They did great (proud mentor!) Special congratulations to Tammy '25 for winning first prize in the undergraduate biology education research competition!

Are you coming to Anaheim for NABT #NABT2025 next week? Check out the presentations from the Chapman University Biology Education Research Group! I am lucky to work with such a great team. Looking forward to great conversations and talks!