SEARCH · bioRxiv Science

Results for “scientific communication and education”

Search indexed bioRxiv preprints in genomics, neuroscience, cell biology and bioinformatics. Read source abstracts and check manuscript versions; preprints are not peer reviewed.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

EpyNN: Educational python for Neural Networks

SummaryArtificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have achieved unequaled performance for numerous problems in many areas of Science, Business, Public Policy, and more. While experts are familiar with performance-oriented software and underlying theory, ANNs are difficult to comprehend for non-experts because it requires skills in programming, background in mathematics and knowledge of terminology and concepts. In this work, we release EpyNN, an educational python resource meant for a public willing to understand key concepts and practical implementation of scalable ANN architectures from concise, homogeneous and idiomatic source code. EpyNN contains an educational Application Programming Interface (API), educational workflows from data preparation to ANN training and a documentation website setting side-by-side code, mathematics, graphical representation and text to facilitate learning and provide teaching material. Overall, EpyNN provides basics for python-fluent individuals who wish to learn, teach or develop from scratch. AvailabilityEpyNN documentation is available at https://epynn.net and repository can be retrieved from https://github.com/synthaze/epynn. ContactStephanie Olivier-Van-Stichelen, solivier@mcw.edu. Supplementary InformationSupplementary files and listings.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2026

Patterns of genAI bias in guiding prospective undergraduate students: a study of UK neuroscience programmes

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) tools are increasingly used by prospective higher education (HE) applicants seeking guidance on university and programme selection. Despite rapidly expanding use, little is known about how genAI systems may introduce or amplify bias in undergraduate admissions decision-making. Here, we systematically examined patterns of bias across three widely used genAI chatbots (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini) using neuroscience as a representative UK undergraduate programme. We constructed 216 prompts that varied by applicant characteristics (e.g. gender, study type, academic attainment). Each prompt was submitted to all three chatbots, generating 648 responses and 3240 individual programme recommendations. Output responses underwent text analysis (e.g. n-grams, gender-coded language), and national HE markers of esteem (REF21, TEF23, NSS24) were analysed. Applicant grades and priorities produced the strongest effects on genAI outputs. Higher-grade applicants and those prioritising research received significantly more masculine-coded language, independent of applicant gender. N-gram patterns also diverged: high-grade prompts more frequently elicited terms relating to excellence and research intensity, whereas lower-grade prompts produced greater emphasis on widening access. Recommendations were systematically skewed, with higher grades, private schooling, and research-focused priorities increasing the likelihood of recommending elite institutions and programmes with higher entry requirements. Critically, the gender-coded language of outputs predicted institutional characteristics: masculine-coded responses were associated with recommendations featuring higher entry thresholds and stronger research performance, while feminine-coded responses favoured institutions with higher student satisfaction. These findings reveal clear, systematic biases in how genAI guides prospective HE applicants. Such biases risk reinforcing existing educational and socioeconomic inequalities, underscoring the need for transparency, regulation, and oversight in the use of genAI within HE decision-making. HighlightsO_LIGenAI is widely used by HE applicants despite little study of its biases. C_LIO_LI216 prompts across 3 chatbots generated 3240 programme suggestions. C_LIO_LIGrades and priorities drove major shifts in language and recommendations. C_LIO_LIGender-coded wording mapped onto research strength and entry standards. C_LIO_LIGenAI biases may reinforce inequalities in HE admissions decision-making. C_LI

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

10 recommendations for strengthening citizen science for improved societal and ecological outcomes: A co-produced analysis of challenges and opportunities in the 21st century

Citizen science plays an increasingly important role in generating scientific knowledge and supporting environmental and social action. However, its potential to address complex global challenges remains underutilised. This study explores how to improve citizen science by involving the public in all stages of scientific research. Using participatory research methods, we conducted online surveys and group discussions with researchers, citizen scientists, and Indigenous people. Thematic coding was used to identify key challenges, opportunities, and best practices to enhance citizen science initiatives. Additionally, nine case studies were reported using the Standardised Data on Initiatives (STARDIT) reporting tool. The study identifies key strategies for enhancing participant engagement and retention in citizen science initiatives. Findings underscore the importance of inclusive, evidence-informed approaches such as targeted outreach, fair compensation, tailored support, and co-creation practices. Ensuring data quality and fostering trust require adherence to FAIR data principles, transparent validation and sharing processes, and the establishment of ethical research partnerships. Persistent challenges include short-term funding, which undermines long-term project sustainability, and the lack of centralized support for ethics and project management. Formal recognition of citizen scientists through co-authorship, standardized training, and professional development opportunities can further strengthen involvement and build capacity. Finally, emerging technologies--including AI and open data platforms--present opportunities to scale and improve efficiency, provided they are implemented with appropriate ethical safeguards and investment. Drawing together these insights, we provide 10 actionable recommendations for citizen science in the 21st century. These highlight the importance of embedding citizen science in national research infrastructure, education, and policy, alongside consistent evaluation and reporting, to improve its inclusivity, longevity, and impact. We conclude by arguing that as the world confronts climate change, public health crises, and biodiversity loss, broader public involvement in science is key for equitable, efficient and evidence-informed responses.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2026

Influence of non-content instructor talk on students' motivation-related outcomes in laboratory courses

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) can expand undergraduates access to research and motivate students to stay in science. Yet, little research has examined how CURE instruction shapes student motivation. We leveraged a motivation-related characterization of non-content talk of 48 CURE and non-CURE instructors to predict the motivation-related outcomes of 462 students. We fit a series of multi-level models (MLM) in which we regressed students post-course scientific self-efficacy, task values, scientific identity, and science-related intentions onto instructors self-efficacy and task values-related talk, controlling for students pre-course levels. We also fit an MLM to explore whether instructors relationship-building talk (immediacy talk) was associated with students rapport with their instructor. Instructors self-efficacy talk did not affect students self-efficacy, and instructors immediacy talk had a marginally positive but non-significant association with students rapport ratings. Instructors task values talk positively influenced students scientific identity and some but not all of their task values. Instructors task values talk also positively influenced students intentions to pursue a science career, but not graduate education or research careers. Collectively, these results suggest that instructors task values talk may underpin some of the motivational effects of CURE instruction, but that task values talk need not be limited to CUREs. HIGHLIGHTWe examine whether instructor talk predicts students motivational outcomes in CURE and non-CURE lab courses. Self-efficacy talk had no effect on student self-efficacy. Task values talk positively affected students science identity and career intentions, and some value beliefs. Immediacy talk was marginally related to student-instructor rapport.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2025

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Antimicrobial Resistance Among Practising Veterinary and Para-veterinary Professionals in Zambia

In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of veterinary and para-veterinary professionals concerning antimicrobial resistance (AMR), in order to identify key drivers of inappropriate antimicrobial use and gaps in current stewardship efforts. Data was collected from a cross-sectional survey of 144 veterinary and para-veterinary professionals (n=144) using an online structured self-administered questionnaire in ZOHO software. We analyzed data using descriptive statistics and logistic regression in IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25. The findings revealed a high foundational knowledge of AMR, with 66.7% correctly defining AMR. The majority of respondents (82%) acknowledged that overuse of antimicrobials reduces their effectiveness and expressed strong support for mitigation efforts, with 95.8% endorsing farmer education as a key strategy. However, significant gaps in practice persisted: 75% of animal owners frequently initiated antibiotic use without supervision; professionals largely relied on empirical treatment (62.5%); and only 20.8% of professionals routinely performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST), due to barriers like cost and laboratory accessibility. Logistic regression analysis revealed no significant associations between socio-demographic variables and levels of AMR knowledge or attitudes. This suggests that barriers to responsible antimicrobial use may be more structural than individual. We conclude that while Zambian practicing veterinary and para-veterinary professionals possess strong AMR awareness and positive attitudes, risky practices do persist. We recommend strengthening AMR stewardship with a holistic One Health approach by improving veterinary services to promote more appropriate and effective antimicrobial use. Author SummaryAntibiotics are essential for treating sick animals, but their misuse can lead to antimicrobial resistance, where bacteria no longer respond to the drugs meant to kill them. This problem threatens both animal and human health. In Zambia, veterinary and para-veterinary professionals are actively involved in administering treatments and supporting decisions related to antibiotic use in livestock and pets. We wanted to understand what these professionals know, believe, and do when it comes to using antibiotics responsibly. To find out, we surveyed 144 veterinary and para-veterinary professionals from across the country. We learned that most of them were aware that misuse of antibiotics can make treatments less effective and that drug-resistant bacteria can spread between animals and people. Many also supported educating farmers and working with human health experts to tackle the issue. However, we also discovered that antibiotics were often used in animals without proper testing or diagnosis, mainly because of limited laboratory access and cost concerns. Our findings show that while knowledge and attitudes are strong, actual practices need improvement. We believe improved access to diagnostic services, more explicit rules, and ongoing training can help veterinary and veterinary paraprofessionals protect both animal and public health from the growing threat of antibiotic resistance.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2021

Designing a high-resolution, LEGO-based microscope for an educational setting

Microscopy is an essential tool in many fields of science. However, due to their costs and fragility, the usage of microscopes is limited in classroom settings and nearly absent at home. In this article we present the construction of a microscope using LEGO(R) bricks and low-cost, easily available lenses. We demonstrate that the obtained magnification and resolution are sufficient to resolve micrometer-sized objects and propose a series of experiments that explore various biophysical principles. Finally, a study with students in the age range of 9 to 13 shows that the understanding of microscopy increases significantly after working with the LEGO microscope.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2021

Making BrainWaves: Portable Brain Technologies in Biology Education

Neuroscience is one of the fastest growing STEM fields, yet its presence in K-12 science education is very limited, partially due to the lack of accessible teaching materials and tools. Here, we describe a new high school neuroscience curriculum ("BrainWaves"), where students utilize recent advances in low-cost, portable Electroencephalography (EEG) technology to investigate their own brain activity. This semester-long curriculum is supported by science mentors and an educational application that guides students through the process of recording and analyzing their own brain activity. Evaluation data collected in 5 public New York City schools in 2018/19 indicate significant positive shifts in content knowledge and self-efficacy among students who participated in BrainWaves compared to students in other courses of the same teacher. The quantitative findings are supported by interviews, where students reported increased appreciation for neuroscience and college readiness and discussed the benefits of collaborating with scientists and using portable brain technology in classrooms.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2022

Education in the Time of COVID-19: The Improvised Experiment of Virtual Assessments

One of the aspects in which the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the most was education. Teachers and students had to face a new reality for which they were not prepared adapting in an improvised way new methods and strategies to teach and to learn. Within virtual education, exams reduced in some cases to multiple choice tests while others tried to mimic traditional (pen and paper) exams. In this paper, these two kind of evaluations are compared. Although the results appear to be similar, a deeper look shows that their structure is completely different and some groups of students are unfairly harmed or benefited depending on the assessment applied. Beyond analyzing the reasons of this discrepancy, it is determined that for some type of evaluation, at least 21.1% of students maybe passing a course irregularly meanwhile, at least 5.5% could be failing a course despite their actual capabilities.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2018

The effect of community dialogues and sensitization on patient reporting of adverse events in rural Uganda: uncontrolled before-after study

BackgroundThe patients that experience adverse events are in the best position to report them, only if they were empowered to do so. Systematic community engagement and support to patients in a rural setting to monitor any potential harm from medicines should provide evidence for patient safety.\n\nMethodsThis paper describes an uncontrolled before and after study aimed at assessing the effect of a community engagement strategy, the Community Dialogues and Sensitization (CDS) intervention between January and April 2017, on the knowledge, attitude and practice of reporting adverse drug events by community members in the two eastern Ugandan districts. A representative cross-sectional baseline household survey was done prior to the intervention in September 2016 (n=1034) and the end-line survey (n=827) in July 2017.\n\nResultsAfter implementation of the CDS intervention, there was an overall 20% (95% CI=16- 25) increase in awareness about adverse drug events in the community. The young people (15- 24 years) demonstrated a 41% (95% CI =31-52) increase and the un-educated showed a 50% (95% CI=37-63) increase in awareness about adverse drug events. The attitudes towards reporting increased overall by 5% in response to whether there was a need to report ADEs (95% CI =3-7). An overall 115% (95% CI =137-217) increase in the population that had ever experienced ADEs was also reported.\n\nConclusionOur evaluation shows that the CDS intervention increases knowledge, improves attitudes by catalyzing discussions among community members and health workers on health issues and monitoring safety of medicines.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2019

Relationship of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors and diet habits with metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a multi-ethnic Asian population

ObjectivesLiterature shows a high prevalence of MetS among Malaysians, varying across major ethnicities. As sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and diet habits of such communities have been reported to be diverse, the study objective was to investigate the association of various sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors and diet habits on MetS overall and among the three major ethnic communities in Malaysia.\n\nMaterials and MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study among 481 Malaysians of age 18 years and above living in Johor, Malaysia. Information on demographics, lifestyle and diet habits was collected using a structured questionnaire. MetS was diagnosed among the subjects using the Harmonized criteria. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse associations between sociodemographic and lifestyle factors and dietary behaviours with MetS.\n\nResultsMetS was found among 32.2% of the respondents, more prevalent among the Indians (51.9%), followed by Malays (36.7%) and Chinese (20.2%). Overall, increasing age (AOR=2.44[95%CI=1.27-4.70] at 40-49 years vs. AOR=4.14[95%CI=1.97-8.69] at 60 years and above) and Indian ethnicity (AOR=1.95[95%CI=1.12-3.38)] increased, while higher education (AOR = 0.44[95%CI = 0.20-0.94] reduced the odds of MetS in this population. Quick finishing of meals (AOR=2.17[95%CI=1.02-4.60]) and low physical activity (AOR=4.76[95%CI=1.49-15.26]) was associated with an increased odds of MetS among the Malays and Chinese, respectively.\n\nConclusionThe population in Johor is diverse in these factors, and some of these are associated with MetS in certain ethnicities. In light of such differences, ethnic specific measures are needed to reduce the prevalence of MetS in this population.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2024

The potential applications of high-resolution 3D scanners in the taxonomic classification of insects

The phenotypic classification of small biological specimens, such as insects, can be dependent on phenotypic features that are difficult to observe and communicate to others. Here, we evaluate how high-resolution 3D photogrammetric scanner technology can potentially allow such features to be resolved and visualised as a 3D models, which can then be shared as a taxonomical resource for species identification, as virtual type specimens, and for educational and public engagement purposes. We test the viability and limitations of this approach using specimens digitised with a Artec Micro scanner. Ten samples from unique species were mounted and scanned. The model outputs were evaluated against an identification key, which compiled diagnostic features for the specimens from the wider literature, to describe the specimens to the lowest taxonomic level possible. The results showed that six of the ten specimens could be identified to species level using the scans. Threshold values for body length and width were 10.7 mm and 4.4 mm respectively. Below these body dimensions important diagnostic features of specimens could not be resolved reliably. This result suggests that with current technology, 3D photogrammetric modelling is a viable method for taxonomic identification of a wide range of insect groups with larger body sizes. This approach opens up novel applications for species identification and data sharing among taxonomists, international field research, conservation efforts, and entomological outreach. However, the limitations of this approach to taxonomic identification must be considered depending upon the size of the specimen and its diagnostic features. Future developments in the technology and processing methods used may alleviate the constraints on body size exhibited in this study, widening the applications for smaller bodied specimens.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2020

Environmental influences and individual characteristics that affect learner-centered teaching practices

Research-based teaching practices can improve student learning outcomes in a variety of complex educational environments. The implementation of learner-centered teaching practices in STEM can both benefit or be constrained by different factors related to individual instructors and the teaching environment. However, we know little of how the instructional climate varies across institutions and how this climate affects teaching practices. Our study sought to describe the relative importance of environmental influences and individual characteristics on learner- centered teaching practices across institutions. We also assessed departmental climate for 35 US higher education institutions. We found that self-efficacy in teaching and professional development exert a strong influence on faculty teaching practices. While departmental climate did not emerge as a significant predictor of teaching practices, there was consistently low support for teaching, and institution size was negatively correlated with leadership and evaluation of effective teaching. We also found that professional development may prepare instructors to teach learner-centered courses in different collegial teaching climates. Our results suggest that through cultivating self-efficacy and participating in iterative professional development, instructors can implement effective teaching practices across institutional environments.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2018

Aligning interests: Integrating Citizen Science Efforts into Schools Through Service Requirements.

Citizen science is an increasingly valuable tool for both scientists and educators. For researchers, citizen science is a means of more quickly investigating questions which would otherwise be time-consuming and costly to study. For educators, citizen science offers a means to engage students in actual research and improve learning outcomes. Since most citizen science projects are usually designed with research goals in mind, many lack the necessary educator materials for successful integration in a formal science education (FSE) setting. In an ideal world, researchers and educators would build the necessary materials together; however, many researchers lack the time, resources, and networks to create these materials early on in the life of a citizen science project. For resource-poor projects, we propose an intermediate entry point for recruiting from the educational setting: community service or service learning requirements (CSSLRs). Many schools require students to participate in community service or service learning activities in order to graduate. When implemented well, CSSLRs provide students with growth and development opportunities outside the classroom while contributing to the community and other worthwhile causes. However, CSSLRs take time, resources, and effort to implement well. Just as citizen science projects need to establish relationships to transition well into formal science education, schools need to cultivate relationships with community service organizations. Students and educators at schools with CSSLRs where implementation is still a work in progress may be left with a burdensome requirement and inadequate support. With the help of a volunteer fulfilling a CSSLR, we investigated the number of students impacted by CSSLRs set at different levels of government and explored the qualifications needed for citizen science projects to fulfill CSSLRs by examining the explicitly-stated justifications for having CSSLRs, surveying how CSSLRs are verified, and using these qualifications to demonstrate how an online citizen science project, Mark2Cure, could use this information to meet the needs of students fulfilling CSSLRs.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2022

Indigenous Cultural Safety Training for Applied Health, Social Work and Education Professionals: A PRISMA Scoping Review

BackgroundAnti-Indigenous racism is a widespread social problem in health, social work, and education systems in English-speaking Colonized countries such as Canada, with profound negative impacts to the health and education of Indigenous peoples. In 2015, Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission recognized the legacy and impact of Colonization and recommended training programs for these professions on cultural competency and curricula, and on the colonial history of Canada. Yet there is little evidence on best practices for such training, highlighting the need to synthesize existing findings on how these training programs are developed, implemented, and evaluated. MethodsThis scoping review explored the academic literature on Indigenous cultural safety and competence training in the health, social work, and education fields. Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, ERIC and ASSIA were searched for articles published between 1996-2020 in Canada, United States, Australia, and New Zealand. The Joanna Briggs Institutes three-step search strategy was used as was the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews. Data was charted and synthesized in three stages. Results134 were included in this review. Data was extracted on four themes: 1) Article Characteristic; 2) Cultural Safety Concepts, Critiques and Rationale; 3) Characteristics of Cultural Safety Training; and 4) Evaluation Details of Cultural Safety Training. Findings suggest that research on cultural safety training programs in health, social work and education has grown significantly. Nursing and medicine professions have received a significant proportion of cultural training programs, compared with general/allied health, social work, and education. Across fields, professionals and students were targeted equally by training programs. Only half of evaluations of cultural safety and related intervention identified methodological limitations. ImplicationsConsidering, comparing, and contrasting literature on cultural safety and related concepts and how they are applied in practice would advance this scholarly work, as would more robust evaluations of cultural safety and similar training interventions to understand their impact at the individual level. Finally, commitment to meaningfully engage Indigenous communities to develop, implement and evaluate such programs is urgently needed.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2018

Exploring the relationship between altmetrics and traditional measures of dissemination in health professions education

Researchers, funders, and institutions are interested in understanding and quantifying research dissemination and impact, particularly related to communicating with the public. Traditionally, citations have been a primary impact measure; however, citations can be slow to accrue and focus on academic use. Recently altmetrics, which track alternate dissemination forms (e.g., social media) have been suggested as a complement to citation-based metrics. This study examines the relationship between altmetrics and traditional measures: journal article citations and access counts.\n\nThe researchers queried Web of Science and Altmetric Explorer for articles published in HPE journals between 2013-2015. They identified 2,486 articles with altmetrics. Data were analyzed using negative binomial and linear regression models.\n\nBlogging was associated with the greatest increase in citations (13% increase), whereas Tweets (1.2%) and Mendeley (1%) were associated with smaller increases. Journal impact factor (JIF) was associated with a 21% increase in citations. Publicly accessible articles were associated with a 19% decrease, but the interactive effect between accessible articles and JIF was associated with a 12% increase. When examining access counts, publicly accessible articles had an increase of 170 access counts whereas blogging was associated with a decrease of 87 accesses.\n\nThis study suggests that several altmetrics outlets are positively associated with citations, and that public accessibility, holding all other independent variables constant, is positively related to article access. Given the scientific communitys evolving focus on dissemination--including to the public--these findings have implications for stakeholders, providing insight into the factors that may improve citations and access of articles.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2023

AG3D: A low-cost educational 3D printable toolkit for agarose gel electrophoresis

Access to desktop additive manufacturing is growing and the argument could be made for 3D printers to be standard laboratory equipment. The power of the printers lies in the democratisation of scientific equipment. Traditional agarose gel electrophoresis forms a cornerstone of molecular biology research, teaching and learning. Reliable electrophoresis is dependent on a number of factors which include standardized commercial equipment with respect to casting trays, combs, horizontal tanks and power supplies. The aforementioned systems come at a high initial cost; this is before factoring in the costs of standard electrophoresis grade agarose and associated reagent pricing. Here, we present a basic method for the additive manufacturing of a simple 3D printable agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) unit with a built-in gel casting tray for standard size microscope slide-based AGE; named AG3D. The system presented was validated using different standard agarose-buffers (Tris Acetate EDTA and Tris Borate EDTA) and commercially available base-pair ladders. We provide a comparison between the AG3D and a commercial AGE system in respect to resolving power of the electrophoresis unit and discuss the overall reduction in cost afforded by the AG3D electrophoresis toolkit. The method presented has the potential for application in low resource educational environments by: O_LISignificantly lowering costs through the reduction of reagents (agarose, buffers etc). C_LIO_LIAllow for the use of low sample volumes. C_LIO_LIProviding an open-source toolkit for modification whether for research or teaching & learning C_LI Graphical abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=64 SRC="FIGDIR/small/533785v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (16K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@135b120org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1ffca3eorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@36ce4corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@21dfb0_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG Specifications table O_TBL View this table: org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1e4a30forg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@18d57c9org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@7e8b77org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1f64979org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@51e36f_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_TBL C_TBL

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2021

Breakout Rooms, Polling, and Chat, Oh My! The Development and Validation of Online COPUS

We developed and validated a new classroom observation protocol, Online COPUS (E-COPUS), to measure teaching and learning practices in the online learning environment. We collected COPUS and E-COPUS data from 40 STEM courses before, during the transition, and continuation of emergency remote teaching (ERT). Through weekly discussions among observers, we adjusted six of the original instructor COPUS code descriptions and six of the original student code descriptions to fit the online learning environment. We trained 23 observers to conduct E-COPUS utilizing both in-person and online lecture recordings. To validate E- COPUS, we consulted an expert panel of science educators and education researchers to provide feedback on our code descriptions and complete a matching activity with our E-COPUS code descriptions. We further examined E-COPUS by analyzing the teaching and learning practices of 6 instructors across in-person and online instruction and found that the online functions of breakout rooms, polling, and the chat were utilized to promote active learning activities in the online learning environment. As we prepare for teaching in the future, it is important to have formative assessment tools designed for all course formats to support assessment and improvement of teaching practices in college STEM classrooms.

scientific communication and education↗

bioRxiv2022

SynBio in 3D: the first synthetic genetic circuit as a 3D-printed STEM educational resource

Synthetic biology is a new area of science that operates at the intersection of engineering and biology and aims to design and synthesize living organisms and systems to perform new or improved functions. This novel biological area is considered of extreme relevance for the development of solutions to global problems. However, its teaching is often inaccessible to students, since many educational resources and methodological procedures are not available for understanding of complex molecular processes. On the other hand, digital fabrication tools, which allow the creation of 3D objects, are increasingly used for educational purposes, and several computational structures of molecular components commonly used in synthetic biology processes are deposited in open databases. Therefore, we hypothesize that the creation of biomolecular structures models by handling 3D physical objects using computer-assisted design (CAD) and additive fabrication based on 3D printing could help professors in synthetic biology teaching. In this sense, the present work describes the design and 3D print of the molecular models of the first synthetic genetic circuit, the toggle switch, which can be freely downloaded and used by teachers to facilitate the training of STEM students in synthetic biology.

scientific communication and education↗