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Societal Impact StatementThe practice of writing science blogs benefits both the scientist and society alike by providing professional development opportunities and delivering information in a format that is accessible to large and diverse audiences. By designing a project that introduced upper‐level undergraduate students to science blog writing with a focus on plant biology, we piqued students' interest in science writing and the content of a popular plant science blog website. If adopted more widely, this work could broaden the scope of science education and promote the development of effective science communication skills for the next generation of scientists. SummarySuccessful scientists must communicate their research to broad audiences, including distilling key scientific concepts for the general public. Students pursuing careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields benefit from developing public communication skills early in their careers, but opportunities are limited in traditional biology curricula.We created the “Plant Science Blogging Project” for a Plant Biology undergraduate course at the University of Pittsburgh in Fall 2018 and 2019. Students wrote blog posts merging personal connections with plants with plant biology concepts for the popular science blogsPlant Love StoriesandEvoBites. By weaving biology into their narratives, students learned how to share botanical knowledge with the general public.The project had positive impacts on student learning and public engagement. In post‐assignment surveys, the majority of students reported that they enjoyed the assignment, felt it improved their understanding of plant biology, and piqued their interest in reading and writing science blogs in the future. Approximately one‐third of the student‐authored blogs were published, including two that rose to the top 10 most‐read posts on Plant Love Stories. Some dominant themes in student blogs, including medicine and culture, differed from common story themes published on the web, indicating the potential for students to diversify science blog content.Overall, the Plant Science Blogging Project allows undergraduate students to engage with plant biology topics in a new way, sharpen their scientific communication skills in accordance with today's world of mass information sharing, and contribute to the spread of scientific knowledge for public benefit.
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This content will become publicly available on April 24, 2026
A group-forming course content-focused icebreaker for life science classrooms
ABSTRACT Collaboration and communication are important competencies for undergraduate life science education, as noted in theVision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Educationreport. However, initiating collaboration and communication in the classroom can be an anxiety-inducing experience for many students. In contrast to traditional-style icebreakers, we introduce a course content-focused icebreaker activity that served as a group-forming undertaking on the first day of class. We developed four sets of handouts (icebreaker tickets), each having a common course theme (e.g., microbiology, cell biology, physiological system infections/disorders, virology). Students were randomly provided with a ticket at the beginning of the course, and they worked to establish groups with their peers, based on their own interpretation of the ticket’s content and rationalization of a grouping scheme. Student feedback and engagement data collected from implementation at three independent institutions were largely positive, where students reported the activity to be an effective tool for building a course content-focused community of learners. The icebreaker tickets and instructor’s notes disseminated in this manuscript can be adapted to fit educators’ course goals and help set the tone for the first day of the class and beyond that fosters communication and collaboration among students.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2316260
- PAR ID:
- 10639576
- Editor(s):
- Barker, Megan K
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society for Microbiology
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
- Volume:
- 26
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1935-7877
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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