The Genetics Conceptual Understanding of Indonesian and United States Undergraduate Biology Students

Genetics as a core concept of life science is essential for understanding biology. Examining genetics understanding among biology majors is becoming important since they must necessarily achieve some level of genetics understanding to advance their career. This study compares Indonesian biology majors’ genetics understanding with previously published data from students in the United States (US). This study also identifies the effect of academic year and program on genetics understanding by administering the Genetics Concept Assessment (GCA) to 377 biology majors in Indonesia. IRT-Rasch modeling was performed for instrument validation, followed by one-way ANOVA and independent sample t-test for the analysis. The results showed that Indonesian biology majors’ genetics understanding was significantly affected by academic year but was not affected by the academic program. Indonesian biology majors had a slightly similar level of genetics understanding with US non-majors’ pre-test scores, while Indonesian biology majors’ scores were two times lower than US majors’ post-test scores. The implications of reducing the gap between two countries are discussed.

Analysis of Microbial Water Contamination, Soil Microbial Community Structure, and Soil Respiration in a Collaborative First-Year Students as Scholars Program (SAS)

The persistence of college students in STEM majors after their first-year of college is approximately 50%, with underrepresented populations displaying even higher rates of departure. For many undergraduates, their first-year in college is defined by large class sizes, poor access to research faculty, and minimal standing in communities of scholars. Pepperdine University and Whittier College, funded by a National Science Foundation award to Improve Undergraduate Stem Education (NSF IUSE), partnered in the development of first-year classes specifically geared to improve student persistence in STEM and academic success. This Students as Scholars Program (SAS) engaged first-year undergraduates in scholarly efforts during their first semester in college with a careful approach to original research design and mentoring by both faculty and upperclassmen experienced in research. Courses began by introducing hypothesis formulation and experimental design partnered with the scientific focus of each course (ecological, biochemical, microbiological). Students split into research teams, explored the primary literature, designed research projects, and executed experiments over a 6–7 week period, collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. Microbiology-specific projects included partnerships with local park managers to assess water quality and microbial coliform contamination at specified locations in a coastal watershed. In addition, students explored the impact of soil salinity on microbial community structure. Analysis of these samples included next-generation sequencing and microbiome compositional analysis via collaboration with students from an upper division microbiology course. This cross-course collaboration facilitated additional student mentoring opportunities between upperclassmen and first-year students. This approach provided first-year students an introduction to the analysis of complex data sets using bioinformatics and statistically reliable gas-exchange replicates. Assessment of the impact of this program revealed students to view the research as challenging, but confidence building as they take their first steps as biology majors. In addition, the direct mentorship of first-year students by upperclassmen and faculty was viewed positively by students. Ongoing assessments have revealed SAS participants to display a 15% increased persistence rate in STEM fields when compared to non-SAS biology majors.

A Comparison of Nonmajors' & Majors' Incoming Science Process Skills

Recommendations for undergraduate biology education include integration of research experiences into the curriculum, regardless of major. While non-biology majors and biology majors differ in affective characteristics, it is not clear if they differ in their incoming science process skills. We created a scenario-based assessment instrument – designed to gauge science process skills – that was accessible to nonmajors and majors. We evaluated nonmajors' and majors' open-ended responses using a rubric. We also assessed students' science identity, confidence, and attitudes with a pre-course survey. While affective differences between the populations are evident, we did not detect meaningful differences in science competency. These findings indicate that nonmajors and majors are skilled in the process of science and have the ability to engage in meaningful scientific inquiry, confirming our hypothesis that, in supporting a scientifically literate citizenry, educators must emphasize teaching strategies that target affective differences between nonmajors and majors.