Effect of an Online, Inquiry- & Mentor-Based Laboratory on Science Attitudes of Students in a Concurrent Enrollment Biology Course: The PlantingScience Experience

Abstract

The goal of this project was to determine the impact of supplementing a concurrent enrollment (CE; also called dual enrollment) nonmajors biology course with online mentoring from professional scientists via the PlantingScience (PS) program (http://plantingscience.org). Student attitudes and motivation toward science were measured using the Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA) questionnaire as well as open-ended questions. Students in both the experimental group (CE biology course supplemented with PS) and the control group (CE biology course with no PS supplement) were surveyed during two academic years (2015–2017). The impact of PlantingScience on students’ attitudes toward science is discussed.

Digging Deeper into Student–Teacher–Scientist Partnerships for Improving Students’ Achievement and Attitudes about Scientists

“…Liaisons also learned strategies for providing high-quality feedback to students and mentors. Involving PlantingScience liaisons is a practical approach to address the quality, consistency, and frequency of scientist–student interactions (Desy et al, 2018; Scogin & Stuessy, 2015; Peterson, 2012). Previous studies found that the different environments and cultures in which teachers and scientists usually work can create challenges within STSPs (Carr, 2002; Houseal et al, 2014).…”

Student Engagement Amongst Regional Australian Undergraduate Students

“…Depending on the specific content delivery styles, this could result in potential differences in student engagement compared to other universities that deliver learning resources via distance/online mode. As highlighted by many researchers, there is considerable opportunity to use online delivery modes to provide highly engaging material that extends student learning (Baxley, 2018;Desy et al, 2018;Johnson et al, 2021;Sharma et al, 2020). The scope of this study was somewhat limited, as we only considered approximately 300 students from one year.…”

The effect of a student–teacher–scientist partnership program on high school students' science achievement and attitudes about scientists

“…Preparing mentor liaisons to work collaboratively with teachers helps provide higher quality feedback to students and mentors. Involving mentor liaisons is a practical approach to address the quality, consistency, and frequency of scientist-student interactions (Desy et al, 2018;Peterson, 2012;Scogin & Stuessy, 2015). Previous studies identified challenges of having teachers and scientists work together due to the differences between the environments and cultures in which each group normally works (Carr, 2002;Houseal et al, 2014).…”

“…Skillfully orchestrating such student experiences requires practice and support. In addition, the difference in the amount, content, and timing of mentoring is associated with differences in the student experience in PlantingScience (Adams & Hemingway, 2014;Desy et al, 2018;Peterson, 2012;Scogin, 2014;Scogin, 2016;Scogin & Stuessy, 2015). Trained mentor liaisons can help to reduce these inconsistencies.…”