Students in an extensively student-centered biology class using multiple active-learning pedagogies and consistent formative assessment had greater content gains and more sophisticated views about learning biology compared with students in a moderately student-centered section using fewer active-learning pedagogies and less formative assessment.

We conducted a study to examine how a writing-tolearn assignment influenced student learning of polymer behavior. In particular, we examined the role of specific content and a rhetorical framework as well as a structured writing process including peer review and revision. The student-generated writing was analyzed via a content-directed rubric. Students' conceptual understanding of stress−strain behavior was gauged via a multitiered assessment. Finally, interviews were conducted to probe students' experiences during the writing process. Results indicate that the writing-to-learn assignment was effective in promoting understanding of stress−strain properties, but that further support is needed to help students connect polymer microscopic properties to macroscopic behavior. Specifically, the content requirements and rhetorical framework guided what students included in their writing. Peer review and revision provided students with further opportunities to engage and learn the material.

is a post doctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. She received her doctorate and masters from Tufts University in mechanical engineering and STEM education respectively. Her current research involves examining different types of homework problems in undergraduate engineering courses, teaching in flexible classroom spaces, active learning, responsive teaching, and developing elementary engineering teachers.

The detection and study of extrasolar planets is an exciting and thriving field in modern astrophysics, and an increasingly popular topic in introductory astronomy courses. One detection method relies on searching for stars whose light has been gravitationally microlensed by an extrasolar planet. In order to facilitate instructors' abilities to bring this interesting mix of general relativity and extrasolar planet detection into the introductory astronomy classroom, we have developed a new Lecture-Tutorial, "Detecting Exoplanets with Gravitational Microlensing." In this paper, we describe how this new Lecture-Tutorial 's representations of astrophysical phenomena, which we selected and created based on theoretically motivated considerations of their pedagogical affordances, are used to help introductory astronomy students develop more expert-like reasoning abilities.

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] This paper presents the first item response theory (IRT) analysis of the national data set on introductory, general education, college-level astronomy teaching using the Light and Spectroscopy Concept Inventory (LSCI). We used the difference between students' pre-and postinstruction IRT-estimated abilities as a measure of learning gain. This analysis provides deeper insights than prior publications both into the LSCI as an instrument and into the effectiveness of teaching and learning in introductory astronomy courses. Our IRT analysis supports the classical test theory findings of prior studies using the LSCI with this population. In particular, we found that students in classes that used active learning strategies at least 25% of the time had average IRTestimated learning gains that were approximately 1 logit larger than students in classes that spent less time on active learning strategies. We also found that instructors who want their classes to achieve an improvement in abilities of average Δθ ¼ 1 logit must spend at least 25% of class time on active learning strategies. However, our analysis also powerfully illustrates the lack of insight into student learning that is revealed by looking at a single measure of learning gain, such as average Δθ. Educators and researchers should also examine the distributions of students' abilities pre-and postinstruction in order to understand how many students actually achieved an improvement in their abilities and whether or not a majority of students have moved to postabilities significantly greater than the national average.