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Inquiry-Team-Based Lab Course Design Enhances Underrepresented Undergraduate Predictors of Persistence in the Sciences.
Denton, Nicholas L; Kulesza, Amy E.
Affiliation
  • Denton NL; Division of Pharmacy Education and Innovation, The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy, Columbus, OH USA.
  • Kulesza AE; Center for Life Sciences Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH USA.
Med Sci Educ ; 34(3): 571-580, 2024 Jun.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38887415
ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Persistence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) may be promoted in underrepresented student populations by implementing an authentic inquiry-team-based learning (ITBL) STEM laboratory course design.

Methods:

Between Spring 2021 and Spring 2022, the research team compared junior and senior undergraduates enrolled in an ITBL-based pharmaceutical science lab course to a comparative student population enrolled in a traditionally designed biology lab course. At the end of either STEM lab course, students completed the experimentally validated Persistence in the Sciences (PITS) survey and an open-ended question asking them to recount a moment that validated or questioned their science identity determined the effect of the ITBL STEM lab course design on factors that may impact underrepresented students' indicators of science identity formation and persistence in STEM.

Results:

Students taking an ITBL-based pharmaceutical sciences lab course demonstrated higher scores on the persistence in the sciences instrument compared to students in the traditionally designed biology lab. Interestingly, different underrepresented student communities scored differently among the six factors. Multiple mechanisms of validating science identity were cited by students such as through gaining confidence in individualistic laboratory performance, collaborating through learning barriers, and fostering confidence and societal impact in a future career in pharmacy.

Conclusion:

The pharmaceutical sciences ITBL lab offered a collaborative, growth-promoting environment with experiments that are authentic to perspective pharmacists, which resulted in students reporting higher persistence in the sciences scores indicative of feeling like a pharmacist such as project ownership content/emotion, science identity, and networking across various student demographics.
Key words

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Language: En Journal: Med Sci Educ Year: 2024 Document type: Article

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Language: En Journal: Med Sci Educ Year: 2024 Document type: Article