CITRAL Resource Library

Craig and Williams argue that in order to keep up with current marketplace trends, universities should “unbundle” their services by focusing on individual competencies rather than degrees.

Typical course structures keep students from developing desired critical thinking skills in their disciscipline. Middendorf and Pace propose a seven-step model to overcoming learning obstacles by developing disciplinary knowledge.

Prescod-Weintein believes science need not be inextricably tied to commodification and colonialism. The discourse around “diversity, equity and inclusion” in science, technology, engineering and mathematics must be viewed as a reclamation project for people of color.

The author proposes a sequential approach, “deep teaching,” to help instructors create more positive classroom environments to address the ‘exclusive’ classroom atmosphere that is a barrier to underrepresented minority students in STEM majors. The deep teaching approach is based on self-awareness, empathy, classroom climate, and network leverage.

Scott et al. developed a characterization framework that described the reasoning patterns we found. Three explanatory frames were developed: a colloquial  frame, an emerging mechanistic frame, and a causal mechanistic frame.

In undergraduate research, students learn and are assessed in ways that come as close as possible to the experience of academic staff carrying out their disciplinary research. This report argues that all undergraduate students in all higher education institutions should experience learning through, and about, research and inquiry.

Estrem identifies the ways that student identities are shaped by encounters with discipline-specific writing. While these encounters at first can threaten students’ sense of self, Estrem argues that students often grapple with new disciplinary identities through their writing as they advance through the university.

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) provide opportunities for undergraduates to participate in novel research. Based on data culled from surveying groups with varying levels of CURE component incorporation, this study shows that the “discovery” and “broad relevance” levels of a CURE have insignificant effects of student performance, self-efficacy, and sense of project ownership for non-majors in biology classes.

This booklet summarizes empirical studies on the educational benefits of diversity and examines some of the challenges associated with diversity in the classroom. It also presents research on microaggressions in order to help faculty members meet the needs of diverse students responsibly and create a classroom environment where all students feel safe, valued, and respected. 

The authors survey biology majors and non-STEM majors in introductory courses in order to discern whether there are significant differences between the two groups. Specifically, they analyze patterns within characteristic differences (gender, ethnicity, academic preparation, citizenship), feelings of “science identity,” level of scientific confidence, and perceptions of science and scientific methods.

This paper presents the results of a systematic review of studies to determine the effects of explicitly teaching critical thinking to students in an English language course in higher education. Additionally, the researchers identify the most effective approaches to instruction in critical thinking in the language classroom. Findings suggest that research in this field is still rather immature, and more large-scale, replicable robust studies are needed to advance the field.

This article presents the results of a qualitative study that explored the attitudes of 14 community college transfer students. The study shows that transfer students reported a sense of stigma for having attended a community college and how they have overcome these feelings. Recommendations are provided for how community colleges and four-year universities can help students combat these feelings.