NGSS beyond K-12: Freshman College Biology “Gets Real” at Gonzaga University

1. NGSS beyond K-12: Freshman College Biology “Gets Real” at Gonzaga University Julie Beckstead Amanda Braley Helen Smith

2. Transition From Breadth to Depth Are you concerned whether your students will be prepared for college-level science? • Gonzaga’s new integrative curriculum • Authentic research laboratory experience • Student responses to the experience

3. Gonzaga’s curriculum transformation • Old Curriculum • Designed 1990 • Courses – content & discipline focused • Labs – scientific method, techniques, & exposure to diversity • New Curriculum • Designed 2012 • Admitted “content” limits • Courses – Key concepts & Integrative • Labs – scientific method, techniques PLUS authentic research experience Shift from discipline-content focus to an integrative approach immersing students in doing science

4. Gonzaga’s curriculum transformation

5. Gonzaga’s new integrative curriculum Energy Flow in Biological Systems How do you get energy? What is energy? How does energy transfer between organisms? How do humans impact energy transfer in biological systems?

6. NGSS – and the University scene Next Generation Science Standards (2013) focus on deeper understanding of overarching themes and crosscutting concepts similar to Gonzaga’s new curriculum and College level Vision and Change

7. Transition From Breadth to Depth Are you concerned whether your students will be prepared for college-level science? • Gonzaga’s new integrative curriculum • Authentic research laboratory experience • Student responses to this experience

8. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience Transforming the Undergraduate Biology Laboratory Experience: • What is an Authentic Research Experience? • What do we study at Gonzaga? • What do students need to know to succeed?

9. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience What is an Authentic Research Experience? • Engaged in real science problems1, 2 • The problems have no known solution1,2 • Students interact with peers and other scientists1,2 • Experienced mentors model problem solving1,2 • The tools, skills, and practices are current and real1,2 • High potential for presentation and/or publication2 • Laursen, S; A Hunter; E Seymour; H Thiry; G Melton. 2010. Undergraduate Research in the Sciences: Engaging Students in Real Science. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons. • Brownell, Sara E., Matthew J. Kloser, Tadishi Fukami, and Rich Shavelson. 2012. Undergraduate Biology Lab Courses: Comparing the Impact of Traditionally Based “Cookbook” and Authentic Research-Based Courses on Student Lab Experiences. Journal of College Science Teaching 41(4): 36-45

10. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience All Introductory Biology Students (freshmen) are immersed in a real research program that continues for those in the major. Gonzaga students study bateriophages. Bacteriophages (aka “phages”) are viruses that infect bacteria. Phage Arthur, 2014

11. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience • Phage Discovery Lab • Collect • Purify • Characterize • Plaque formation • Virus morphology • Genome

12. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience Sophomore Genomics: Two Phage Modules Phage Genomics • Select phage genomes from the Phage Discovery Lab are sent for sequencing • Bacteriophage genome annotation, with students submitting final annotation to GenBank • Structural and evolutionary genome analysis Genetic Analysis of Phage Diversity • Each student clones a fragment of his or her phage • Cloned fragments are sent for sequencing • Relationships with known phages determined from public databases (BLASTn, PhagesDB.org)

13. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience Junior or Senior Advanced Phage Research Phages of different subclusters are isolated at 37C and 25C Figure 1. Subcluster distribution of phages. Phages were isolated from soil around the Gonzaga campus in Spokane, WA in September 2011/2012 and in January 2013. Of 18 phages isolated at 37 ºC, 6 were of subcluster A3; 1 of A10; 1 of C1; 2 of E; 6 of F1; 1 of G; 1 of K4. Of 23 phages isolated at room temperature, 3 were of subcluster A1; 1 of A2, 1 of A6; 1 of A8; 2 of A9; 1 of G; 14 of K1. Subclusters of phages isolated at 37C Subclusters of phages isolated at 25C

14. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience What skills do we think help students succeed in college research? • Motivation • Quantitative skills • Communication (written and verbal) • Group work

15. Gonzaga’s Authentic Research Experience What skills do we think help students succeed in college research? Quantitative Skills How big is my phage? If Arthur’s tail measures 4.8 cm on my screen and the100 nm scale bar measures 1.3 cm, how long is Arthur’s tail in nanometers? • And see also: • High School math classes are the only cross-discipline predictor of success in college science classes (Sadler and Tai, 2007). Phage Arthur, 2014

16. Transition From Breadth to Depth Are you concerned whether your students will be prepared for college-level science? • Gonzaga’s new integrative curriculum • Authentic research laboratory experience • Student responses to this experience

17. Student Responses What did students gain from the authentic research experience? What are the important components that allow for these student gains?

18. What did our students gain? • Similar to previous observations (Seymour et al 2005) • Thinking and working like a scientist • Increased interest and/or decisions about career/major • Skills, basic knowledge (skip; not unique) • Increased confidence

19. What did our students gain? • Thinking and working like a scientist: • Making connections Question: What was your favorite ‘ah-ha’ moment?* I didn't have just one ah-ha moment, but rather felt that I was understanding the process and why I was doing what I was doing as the weeks progressed.  I started out not entirely understanding the reasoning behind the steps we were taking.  After a couple weeks everything started coming together.  From that point on, I was sometimes confused, but my overall understanding continued to grow, which made me much more interested in the material. -Spring2014 Quote #39

20. What did our students gain? • Thinking and working like a scientist: • Repeating/dealing with failure Question: What was your favorite ‘ah-ha’ moment?* I found that after having to do the DNA extraction a second time, I became more familiar with the process that we were doing in the experiment and it made more sense as to why we were doing each step. -Spring 2014 Quote #100

21. What did our students gain? • Thinking and working like a scientist: • Ownership Question: What was your favorite ‘ah-ha’ moment?* For me, receiving the TEM images was extremely reassuring. That was the moment that I realized that I was actually producing tangible, real results. -Fall 2013 Quote #57

22. What did our students gain? • Thinking and working like a scientist: • Science as a process: How is knowledge created in science? Question: Give an example of how has this lab impacted your understanding of science? … by giving me an insight into the amount of time it takes to get the information that we read in our science books.  It helped me to really see that science is a process and that results do not occur over night.   -Fall 2013 Quote#347

23. What did our students gain? Increased interest in major or informing their decisions about career Question: Give an example of how has this lab influenced your specific educational or career goals? …because it has me excited to go out and do more research before i go into medical school. This class was a blast and now i know how much i enjoy research. -Fall2013 Quote#506 it made me realize how much i don't find research interesting -Spring2014 Quote#578

24. What did our students gain? Increased confidence …The culture of applying to med-school is highly competitive, and there is a lot of emphasis on not messing up. I think this is very unhealthy, and only promotes a false sense of self-confidence; but it's okay to make mistakes -- it's how we learn (or at least how I learn best). Because of this, I no longer have any fears of messing up, and I'm okay with that.  -Spring2014 Quote#614 I definitely feel much more confident going into other labs now and I am not so afraid of learning how to use unfimiliartechonology in a lab setting. -Spring2014 Quote#617

25. What did students gain from our authentic research experience? • Thinking/working like a scientist • Experience science as a process • Ownership • Informs career/major, increase interest • Increased confidence

26. What are the important components for an authentic research experience?

27. Important Components Multi-week project that allows time for: Student learning Repeating procedures Summative assignments (poster, presentation, exam/midterm) Authenticresearch skills that transfer to career: Micropipetting Aseptic technique Lab notebook Group work

28. Conclusions • Colleges - more integrative approach with less subject-specific material • Successful students – strong quantitative, communication, and interpersonal skills • Early authentic research experiences for undergraduates • Students gain – understanding the nature of science, confidence, interest, ownership

29. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks to: Dr. Marianne Poxleitner Dr. Kirk Anders Phage lab funding: Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Sciences (SEA-PHAGES) National Science Foundation (NSF) Funding for conference: Gonzaga University College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Engineering, and the Office of Admissions