How well do my students learn how to: 1) create hypotheses, 2) test hypotheses, and 3) use tested hypotheses to speculate on the implications and applications of knowledge gained? GOAL: Improve course design to teach “the process of science” (threshold concept)

All General Ed science courses  NMHEC “the process of science” Me: Gen Ed course should be make all students better aka “critical thinking” Most BIOL & MICRO majors get very little “process of science” instruction AFTER their first two courses. BIOL 101G: Human Biology (non-majors) BIOL 111G: Natural History of Life (biology, microbiology secondary ed science, animal science/wildlife science)

First and last lab reports ( ) Introduction Hypothesis Predictions Background Information 0 = absent or non-functional 1 = present but defective 2 = present & functional. end of semester assessed “blind” add 2 nd assessor (next semester). Discussion (next semester) Hypothesis Compare predictions to results Accept or reject the hypothesisImplications of the conclusions

Lecture (beginning & end of semester) ( ) Lopes Motta et al. (2007) (used later in the semester) Introduction (“discovery science”)0, 1 or 2 Students: 1) search for hypothesis (none is present) 2) make predictions (without seeing the data) 3) create “explanations” (= hypotheses) 4) later use data table from Results to check their predicts and test their “explanations” Isomorphic assignment needed for end of semester Potentially could be used  Same course different schools

My classes (over time) BIOL 101G Section D01Las Cruces BIOL 101G Section D02Gadsden (ESL) BIOL 111G Section D01Gadsden (ESL) Other campuses (other methods) BIOL 111G Section A01Alamogordo BIOL 111G Section A02Alamogordo BIOL 111G Section C01Carlsbad BIOL 111G Section C02Carlsbad