{"title":"The Roles of Epistemological Versus Content-Based Security in Evolution Acceptance by Religious Students.","authors":"Andrea Phillips, Jade Sorensen, Jamie Jensen","doi":"10.1187/cbe.26-02-0033","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.26-02-0033","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The purpose of this study was to characterize, using interview data, the nature of religious university students' reconciliation of evolution and religious belief. Data were collected from a large private Western university and consisted of interviews with students whose previous survey responses indicated acceptance of evolution co-occurring with contradictory statements about biblical stories. Findings reveal the distinction between epistemological (based on differences in science and religion as ways of knowing) and content-based reconciliation (based on the evaluation of the claims made by science and/or religion) between science and religion, and provide distinct features of reconciliatory responses. Implications are discussed for evolution instructional strategies, specifically a focus on epistemological reconciliation between evolution and religion, along with content-based security through theistic evolution, biblical reconceptualization, and open-mindedness.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 4","pages":"ar39"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149247648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Selective Cognitive and Affective Benefits of 3D-Printed Bacteriophage T4 Models in High School Molecular Biology Instruction: A Quasi-Experimental Study.","authors":"Lele Xu, Yongqin Li, Liyun Wang, Changgeng Yang","doi":"10.1187/cbe.26-06-0149","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.26-06-0149","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Teaching abstract molecular concepts poses persistent challenges in high school biology education. This study evaluated a custom-developed three-dimensional (3D) bacteriophage T4 model for teaching the Hershey-Chase experiment in a Grade 11 classroom. Using a quasi-experimental design, 92 students were assigned to either model-based instruction (<i>n</i> = 46) incorporating hands-on assembly of a disassemblable 3D-printed phage model, or conventional instruction (<i>n</i> = 46). Pre- and post-intervention questionnaires assessed conceptual understanding and affective outcomes. ANCOVA revealed no significant overall cognitive difference between groups, <i>F</i><sub>(1, 89)</sub> = 1.42, <i>p</i> = 0.237. However, item-level analysis showed the model group significantly outperformed on structural component identification (52.2% vs 26.1%, <i>p</i> = 0.018, <i>ϕ</i> = 0.27). Affective outcomes significantly favored the model condition, including lesson enjoyment (<i>p</i> = 0.038), model construction interest (<i>p</i> = 0.028), perceived knowledge mastery (<i>p</i> = 0.033), perceived instructional utility (<i>p</i> = 0.028), and modeling skill need (<i>p</i> = 0.049). These findings suggest that curriculum-aligned 3D model-based instruction selectively enhances representational competence for spatially complex concepts and improves situational affective engagement.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 4","pages":"ar45"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149247573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amy K Dunbar-Wallis, Annie Meeder, Zachary Schwartz, Emma Groenevelt, Teresa Bilinski, Deidre Jaeger, Laura Baumgartner, Paige Littman, Maggie Prater, Lisa Corwin
{"title":"Instructor Development of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) Self-Efficacy within a PoP-CURE Professional Development Community of Practice.","authors":"Amy K Dunbar-Wallis, Annie Meeder, Zachary Schwartz, Emma Groenevelt, Teresa Bilinski, Deidre Jaeger, Laura Baumgartner, Paige Littman, Maggie Prater, Lisa Corwin","doi":"10.1187/cbe.25-10-0224","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.25-10-0224","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This case study investigates changes in technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) self-efficacy in a group of instructors engaged in a Power of Place Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (PoP-CURE) Professional Development (PD) Community of Practice. We hypothesized that mentored and iterative PD would create a community of practice in which instructors become confident adopters of evidence-based technological PoP-CURE practices, promoting the overall development of instructor TPACK self-efficacy. Previous work on PD personas helped to inform our work by guiding observations of how interactions and individual choices contributed to TPACK self-efficacy. Within this case, the multiple embedded units of analysis were the five personas identified from the previous work. We found increases in various components of TPACK across all personas, but different TPACK components were emphasized for different personas. In-person PD retreats and group meetings offered opportunities for mastery, vicarious learning, and verbal persuasion to increase self-efficacy in TPACK building blocks (content knowledge, technological knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge). Mastery experiences during implementation, followed by reflection during the community of practice, were the sources of more complex forms of TPACK self-efficacy.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 4","pages":"ar43"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149247592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Networked Mentorship and Cultural Integration: Understanding Indigenous Motivation and Persistence in STEM.","authors":"K Kanoho Hosoda, Rachelle Pedersen, Jill Morimoto, Kennedy-Kainoa Tamashiro, Mirai Manatad, Brittany Anderson, Kathy DeerInWater","doi":"10.1187/cbe.25-11-0246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.25-11-0246","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Indigenous scholars remain severely underrepresented across STEM disciplines, particularly at the faculty level. To address these challenges, the Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society (AISES) developed the Lighting the Pathway to Faculty Careers (LTP) program, a culturally relevant mentorship initiative supporting Indigenous scholars' persistence and success in STEM. This cross-sectional study examined how participation in the LTP program shapes scholars' experiences of support, identity integration, and career intentions. Results showed that scholars who endorsed both STEM and Indigenous values and experienced harmony between these identities reported stronger connections and greater access to social capital. Central community figures, often women faculty, played key mentorship roles and fostered mutual support. Findings highlight associations between mentorship network characteristics and participant outcomes. Broader mentorship networks were associated with more distributed and diverse sources of guidance, connection, and cultural affirmation. Stronger networks and higher social capital were linked to greater intentions to persist in STEM and to incorporate Indigenous identities and knowledge into future scholarly work. This study advances understanding of mentorship in STEM by examining how support operates within a broader network of relationships in an Indigenous culturally relevant context.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 4","pages":"ar38"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149247625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Moving Research Meetings from Data Updates to Cognitive Windows in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.","authors":"Amy Jeanette Prunuske, Lori C Adams-Phillips","doi":"10.1187/cbe.26-03-0053","DOIUrl":"10.1187/cbe.26-03-0053","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping how scientific work is conducted, enabling trainees to produce summaries, analyses, and interpretations with unprecedented speed and often plausible outputs. While these tools can enhance productivity, they may also obscure the reasoning processes that underlie scientific judgment. Research meetings have long been valuable spaces for discussing progress, troubleshooting experiments, and developing ideas, but in the era of generative AI they may serve an even more important role as critical touchpoints for assessing understanding. We propose that research meetings serve as critical \"cognitive windows\" into trainee understanding. Structured discussion can reveal three complementary dimensions of scientific reasoning: metacognitive calibration, conceptual explanation, and collaborative sensemaking. A case study illustrates how AI-generated analyses, combined with routine meeting dynamics, can obscure these dimensions when a trainee's reasoning is not made explicit. Intentionally structuring research meetings to surface these processes can help mentors more effectively assess trainee understanding and support the development of independent scientific judgment.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 4","pages":"pe1"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13577364/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149247650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrea R Burton, Eloise Davenport, Sarah A Bissonnette, Kimberly D Tanner, John D Coley
{"title":"Anthropocentric Thinking about Antibiotic Resistance and Ecosystems: Relations between Explanations and Misconceptions in American Undergraduates from Urban and Rural Backgrounds.","authors":"Andrea R Burton, Eloise Davenport, Sarah A Bissonnette, Kimberly D Tanner, John D Coley","doi":"10.1187/cbe.26-02-0035","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.26-02-0035","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Intuitive conceptual frameworks can shape students' reasoning for biology concepts, sometimes forming misconceptions. Anthropocentric thinking-reasoning that centers humans-often relates to misconceptions about antibiotic resistance and ecosystem change. Cultural influences, such as lifestyles with greater exposure to nature, have been associated with reduced anthropocentric reasoning. The backgrounds of rural and urban children vary in opportunities for experiences with nature-rural children have greater exposure and urban children less exposure to outdoor settings. The relationship between students with rural and urban backgrounds and anthropogenic thinking highlights potential differences in students' biology misconceptions. Here, we compare students' rural and urban backgrounds and institutions to their use of anthropocentric reasoning and its relatedness with misconceptions in biology. Students from rural and urban backgrounds were recruited to complete a survey with written and categorical agreement ratings for misconceptions in biology. All students-regardless of hometown population and institution densities-showed similar rates of anthropocentric reasoning. However, the use of anthropocentric language was highly correlated with biological misconceptions. Our research suggests that anthropocentric thinking is pervasive in undergraduate students and influences biological misconceptions.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 4","pages":"ar44"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149247601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mallory M Rice, Lorenzo Lones, Lucy M C Luong, Maurina L Aranda, Katherine M Farrar, Kimberly D Tanner
{"title":"Investigating Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Classroom Inclusion-Emergence of the Student Perceptions of Instructor Practices-Inclusion/Exclusion (SPIP-I/E) Framework.","authors":"Mallory M Rice, Lorenzo Lones, Lucy M C Luong, Maurina L Aranda, Katherine M Farrar, Kimberly D Tanner","doi":"10.1187/cbe.25-06-0124","DOIUrl":"10.1187/cbe.25-06-0124","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While assertions are common about what fosters inclusive undergraduate STEM classrooms, few studies have systematically investigated student perspectives. Additionally, it is unclear how students broadly perceive active learning practices in relation to inclusion. As such, we purposefully investigated student perceptions of classroom inclusion across courses in a biology department enriched with evidence-based teaching and situated in an urban, public institution. Student perceptions were investigated using open-ended prompts on a department-wide, end-of-term assessment. Results revealed that students, across social identities, do indeed report active learning strategies-as well as instructor interactions and collaborative classroom culture-as fostering inclusion. Student reports about instructor practices associated with their inclusion or exclusion clustered into four mirrored categories: <i>Building/Dismantling the Instructor/Student Relationship, Making/Compromising Student-Centered Pedagogical Choices, Establishing Collaborative/Non-Collaborative Classroom Culture,</i> and <i>Portraying Science as Inclusive/Exclusive</i>. These categories comprise a new analytical framework, the <i>Student Perceptions of Instructor Practices</i>-<i>Inclusion/Exclusion (SPIP-I/E) Framework</i>, for investigating student perspectives on inclusion. Intriguingly, student reports about inclusion consistently alluded to instructor language, and the emergent <i>SPIP-I/E Framework</i> aligns with existing Instructor Talk frameworks. We hypothesize that modest differences in instructor language-surrounding any teaching strategy-may mediate and be a predictive, explanatory variable for student perceptions of inclusion.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 3","pages":"ar30"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13532803/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148764204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caleb M Trujillo, Jenna Kesh, Melanie M Cooper, Joelyn de Lima, Tammy M Long, Keenan Noyes, Christina V Schwarz, Jon R Stoltzfus
{"title":"Supporting Development of Mechanistic Reasoning Across Chemistry and Biology.","authors":"Caleb M Trujillo, Jenna Kesh, Melanie M Cooper, Joelyn de Lima, Tammy M Long, Keenan Noyes, Christina V Schwarz, Jon R Stoltzfus","doi":"10.1187/cbe.25-07-0149","DOIUrl":"10.1187/cbe.25-07-0149","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While extensive research explores the difficulties undergraduate students face when learning chemistry or biology, less is known about how students learn across disciplines, especially when constructing mechanistic explanations. This study investigates (1) how undergraduate students explain differences in protein function, focusing on their use of conceptual resources and mechanistic reasoning, and (2) how task design influences their explanations. Using three different tasks with the same underlying mechanistic explanation, we analyzed responses from students who had completed a transformed cell and molecular biology course to determine what conceptual resources they use and how they connect those resources. Our findings show that, given a task with appropriate scaffolding, half of the students constructed mechanistic explanations. We also found that students rarely integrated ideas from both biology and chemistry, but when they did, they consistently constructed mechanistic explanations. Task design significantly influenced the conceptual resources students used and the frequency of mechanistic explanations. These findings highlight the need for careful instructional and curricular design to support cross-disciplinary learning and mechanistic reasoning in STEM education.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 3","pages":"ar34"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13532918/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148868037","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Paula E Adams, Paula A G Soneral, Cara Brittain, Cissy J Ballen
{"title":"Impacts of Sharing an Instructor's Religious Identity on Students in a Large-Enrollment Introductory Biology Course.","authors":"Paula E Adams, Paula A G Soneral, Cara Brittain, Cissy J Ballen","doi":"10.1187/cbe.25-09-0205","DOIUrl":"10.1187/cbe.25-09-0205","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Stereotypes about scientists narrow how students relate to them and influence how students see themselves in science. However, sharing identities and interests of contemporary scientists enables students to see aspects of their possible selves in that role. Previous work has demonstrated positive impacts of scientist role models on students who share marginalized identities in society and STEM, though less work has addressed whether the same positive effect would occur if the shared identity is more common in a broader societal context. We address this question by exploring the impact of an instructor revealing that she is Christian as a counter-stereotypical scientist identity in a large-enrollment undergraduate biology course. Scientists are less religious than the general population and are often stereotyped as non-religious. We found that briefly revealing the instructor's religious identity had a neutral impact on most students and that Christian students were most likely to report that the information was appropriate, positively impacted their course experience, and positively impacted their sense of inclusion. We contribute to the role model literature with an example of how shared identities positively impact students who most relate, even when the identity is not underrepresented in the educational context or across the United States.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 3","pages":"ar37"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13532900/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148867986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amanda R Butz, Alexandra M Schnoes, Rosa A Veguilla, Shannon L Behrman, Sarah S Goodwin, Janet L Branchaw
{"title":"Build Your Research Community: Evaluation of an Online Course to Build Strong Mentoring Relationships and Networks.","authors":"Amanda R Butz, Alexandra M Schnoes, Rosa A Veguilla, Shannon L Behrman, Sarah S Goodwin, Janet L Branchaw","doi":"10.1187/cbe.25-11-0263","DOIUrl":"10.1187/cbe.25-11-0263","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Build Your Research Community (BYRC) is an asynchronous, free online course that guides research students to build effective relationships with their primary research advisors as well as build mentoring networks that provide holistic support as they navigate their research training experiences and careers. Preliminary evaluation evidence of the effectiveness of BYRC was collected from undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, and graduate students in 22 biomedical research training programs, as well as students who enrolled in the course independently from across the country. Students valued the course components, module topics, and structure, and the majority indicated they would recommend it to others. Students self-reported learning gains for all course modules, identified several specific course elements that positively impacted their learning and development, and indicated that the course positively impacted their current and future training experiences and mentoring relationships. Students at earlier training stages reported the greatest impacts. In addition, training program directors reported satisfaction with the course and their ability to integrate the course into their existing programs. Overall, these results indicate that the BYRC course may be an effective addition to research training programs. All course materials are freely available online (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WR6KP), and the modules may be implemented independently.</p>","PeriodicalId":56321,"journal":{"name":"Cbe-Life Sciences Education","volume":"25 3","pages":"br1"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13532901/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148867917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}