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Sense of belonging supports student success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet prior research indicates that systemic inequities shape who feels included in college classrooms. Racism, sexism, and classism can shape students’ belonging, which then can impact their outcomes. We studied students’ sense of belonging in 56 large introductory biology courses that used active learning, reaching more than 4900 students. We used a QuantCrit methodological framework and hierarchical linear models to examine how the intersection of racism and sexism, and racism and classism, related to three components of students’ belonging. Racism impacted groups differently, and its impact varied across intersecting identities and components of belonging. Sexism undermined women's comfort sharing ideas in class and seeking instructor help across racial/ethnic groups. Women in some racial/ethnic groups experienced greater connectedness to classmates than men. Classism diminished students’ sense of belonging across most racial/ethnic groups. Disaggregating students into more racial/ethnic groups revealed important differences in the experiences of Native American, Latiné, Black/African, and two groups of Asian students. These findings demonstrate that within the same classroom, students can have profoundly different experiences and challenge us to recognize the influence of intersecting forms of oppression on our students. 

ABSTRACT Active learning is a phrase that lacks clear definition, which has hampered researchers’ efforts to investigate the nuances of effectiveness and instructors’ efforts to capitalize on potential benefits for students. One way to advance our understanding of “active learning” is assessing by the type of intellectual work that in-class activities require of students. We systematically analyzed in-class work opportunities created for students in 55 introductory biology courses around the United States, each of which used active learning. We did so by adapting an observation approach grounded in the ICAP framework and analyzing classroom videos in 15-s segments. Instructors devoted about a quarter of class time to student work time, on average, but this varied widely. About half of these student work opportunities focused on recall, and half required students to generate answers beyond what had been presented to them, which can foster deeper learning and better transfer than recall alone. The ratio of these levels of intellectual work varied considerably across courses. We also tested whether course- and instructor-level factors predicted the amount and level of active-learning opportunities and found no significant relationships. This work provides a striated definition of active learning that will be useful to researchers studying active-learning outcomes and instructors aiming to harness learning benefits for their students. 

Instructor discourse, defined as verbal interactions with students in the classroom, can play an important role in student learning. Instructors who use dialogic discourse invite students to develop their own ideas, and both students and the instructor share ideas in back-and-forth exchanges. 

ABSTRACT While many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) instructors returned to in-person instruction in fall 2021, others found themselves continuing to teach via online, hybrid, or hybrid flexible (i.e., hyflex) formats. Regardless of one’s instructional modality, the findings from our own and other studies provided insight into effective strategies for increasing student engagement and decreasing cognitive overload. As part of this perspective, we included data from undergraduate students, many of whom are first generation and low income and from marginalized backgrounds, to identify instructional practices that helped them thrive and succeed during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, we explored the various pedagogies and technologies utilized during emergency remote teaching to identify best practices as we considered the future of teaching. In sharing best practices at our institution, we aimed to provide a framework for deep reflection among the readers and the identification of practices to start, stop, and/or continue at their own institutions. 

Abstract Background Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities moved to emergency remote teaching (ERT). This allowed institutions to continue their instruction despite not being in person. However, ERT is not without consequences. For example, students may have inadequate technological supports, such as reliable internet and computers. Students may also have poor learning environments at home and may need to find added employment to support their families. In addition, there are consequences to faculty. It has been shown that female instructors are more disproportionately impacted in terms of mental health issues and increased domestic labor. This research aims to investigate instructors’ and students’ perceptions of their transition to ERT. Specifically, during the transition to ERT at a research-intensive, Minority-Serving Institution (MSI), we wanted to: (1) Identify supports and barriers experienced by instructors and students. (2) Compare instructors’ experiences with the students’ experiences. (3) Explore these supports and barriers within the context of social presence , teaching presence , and/or cognitive presence as well as how these supports and barriers relate to scaffolding in STEM courses. Results Instructors identified twice as many barriers as supports in their teaching during the transition to ERT and identified casual and formal conversations with colleagues as valuable supports. Emerging categories for barriers consisted of academic integrity concerns as well as technological difficulties. Similarly, students identified more barriers than supports in their learning during the transition to ERT. More specifically, students described pre-existing course structure, classroom technology, and community as best supporting their learning. Barriers that challenged student learning included classroom environment, student availability, and student emotion and comfort. Conclusions Together, this research will help us understand supports and barriers to teaching and learning during the transition to ERT. This understanding can help us better plan and prepare for future emergencies, particularly at MSIs, where improved communication and increased access to resources for both students and instructors are key. 

Abstract Students are more likely to learn in college science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classrooms when instructors use teacher discourse moves (TDMs) that encourage student engagement and learning. However, although teaching practices are well studied, TDMs are not well understood in college STEM classrooms. In STEM courses at a minority-serving institution (MSI; n = 74), we used two classroom observation protocols to investigate teaching practices and TDMs across disciplines, instructor types, years of teaching experience, and class size. We found that instructors guide students in active learning activities, but they use authoritative discourse approaches. In addition, chemistry instructors presented more than biology instructors. Also, teaching faculty had relatively high dialogic, interactive discourse, and neither years of faculty teaching experience nor class size had an impact on teaching practices or TDMs. Our results have implications for targeted teaching professional development efforts across instructor and course characteristics to improve STEM education at MSIs.