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I am first and foremost a biology teacher; my research interests lie in how biology students learn biology, and my “research lab” is the biology classroom. What are the biology concepts that trip students up, and how can we use this information to our advantage to solve some of the problems students encounter when they learn biology? How can instructors structure the learning environment to promote understanding of important biology concepts? I am interested in how students’ understanding of the central dogma (DNA codes for RNA, and RNA codes for protein) changes as they progress through their biology coursework. I have also participated in research that showed that students in Introductory Biology can learn how to apply math to biological problems, increasing both their quantitative skills and their understanding about basic biological concepts. What we have learned in our work has significantly changed the way we teach in our MCB courses. I am currently working to help instructors use their instructional teams better so they can use more evidence-based teaching strategies in their classrooms. These strategies can be applied in biology and other STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) classes. I am also involved in efforts to make meaningful changes in biology laboratory classes by helping students to use models as tools to design experiments and interpret data from those experiments.

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Courses
  • CDB
    Cell and Developmental Biology

  • AGT
    Advanced Genetics for Teachers

  • SBLC
    Secondary Biology Laboratory Curriculum

  • BLUD
    Biology Lesson Unit Development

  • BNT
    Biology Nutrition for Teachers

  • HGSCD
    Human Genetics: Sex, Crime, and Disease

  • EEE
    Evolution and the Early Earth

  • CB
    Cell Biology

  • AET
    Advanced Evolution for Teachers

  • IGEE
    Introduction to the General Education Experience

  • KEYSR
    KEYS Research

  • BTMST
    Biology Teaching Methods for Secondary Teachers

  • IBI
    Introductory Biology I

Grants
  • Funding agency logo
    Using Co-Teaching to Expand Evidence-Based Teaching Practices in Undergraduate STEM Courses

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2019

    $20.0K
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Developing Instructional Teams for Evidence-Based Instruction in Large Collaborative Learning Environments

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2016

    $2.8M
    Active
  • Funding agency logo
    Authentic Scientific Practices in the Classroom: A Model-Based-Inquiry Curriculum for the Introductory Biology Laboratory

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2016

    $598.7K
  • Funding agency logo
    UA AAU STEM Undergraduate Education Project

    Co-Investigator (COI)

    2013

    $500.0K
  • Funding agency logo
    AZ-Start: Arizona Science Teacher Advancement and Research Training

    Principal Investigator (PI)

    2007

    $1.0M
News
  • UA at the Forefront as Climate Change Heats Up

    2016

  • UA Science Lecture Series to Focus on Climate Change

    2016

  • UA Paves Way to Redefine STEM Education

    2014

  • UA One of Only Eight Institutions Selected for Nationwide STEM Initiative

    2013

  • UA receives $830K Grant to Aid in K-12 Education Effort

    2007

  • Science Teachers Get Their Hands on Research in UA Labs

    2005

  • Prop. 301 to Fund Water Research at UA

    2003

  • $7.5 Million Grant to Support Cancer Education and Research for Native Americans

    2002

  • Tucson Teacher/UA Grad Wins State Farm Good Neighbor Teacher Award

    2001

  • Scientists, Engineers Invited to Education Forum April 1

    2000

  • Elfring and Taylor to Discuss Fingerprinting at Crime Convention

    2000

Publications (34)
Recent
  • Using an instructional team during pandemic remote teaching enhanced student outcomes in a large STEM course

    2022

  • Assessment Work in an Academic Professional Development Center

    2022

  • Is a Framework of Support Enough?

    2022

  • Responsive teaching in online learning environments

    2021

  • A close look at change: the role of community on an instructor's evolution during instructional reform

    2021

  • STEM education as a vital preventive response to a pandemic

    2021

  • Benefits and Challenges in the Implementation of an Instructional-Teams Model for Supporting Evidence-Based Instructional Practices in Large-Enrollment STEM Courses

    2021

  • Responsive Teaching in Online Learning Environments: Using an Instructional Team to Promote Formative Assessment and Sense of Community

    2021

  • A close look at change: the role of an instructional-team community on an Instructor’s evolution during instructional reform

    2021

  • Undergraduate Student Conceptions of DNA and Their Understanding of Basic Science

    2021

  • Exploring Undergraduate Students' Abilities to Collect and Interpret Formative Assessment Data

    2020

  • Exploring undergraduate students’ abilities to collect and interpret formative assessment data

    2020

  • Learning researchers

    2019

  • Learning Researchers: Promoting Formative Assessment in STEM Courses

    2019

  • Authentic Inquiry through Modeling in Biology (AIM-Bio): An Introductory Laboratory Curriculum that Increases Undergraduates' Scientific Agency and Skills.

    2018

  • Authentic Inquiry through Modeling in Biology (AIM-Bio): An introductory laboratory curriculum that increases undergraduates’ scientific agency and skills

    2018

  • Engaging students in the large‐lecture biology classroom

    2017

  • What do earwax, spinners and cats have in common? Probabilistic reasoning in undergraduate genetics problem-solving

    2017

  • Helping Teachers in the Evolution-Teaching Dilemma: Understanding Evolution by Kostas Kampourakis

    2016

  • Developing faculty cultures for evidence-based teaching practices in STEM: A progress report

    2015

  • Integrating quantitative thinking into an introductory biology course improves students’ mathematical reasoning in biological contexts

    2014

  • Reading Questions in Large-Lecture Courses.

    2008

  • Ph.D. in Biochemistry (Education)!

    2008

  • Ph. D. in biochemistry (education)!

    2008

  • Impact of Including Authentic Inquiry Experiences in Methods Courses for Pre-Service Secondary Teachers

    2007

  • A genetic screen for suppressors and enhancers of the Drosophila PAN GU cell cycle kinase identifies cyclin B as a target

    2001

  • PAN GU: a protein kinase that inhibits S phase and promotes mitosis in early Drosophila development

    2000

  • Genetic analysis of brahma: The drosophila homolog of the yeast chromatin remodeling factor SWI2/SNF2

    1998

  • Drosophila PLUTONIUM protein is a specialized cell cycle regulator required at the onset of embryogenesis

    1997

  • Genetic and molecular analysis of the Drosophila brahma (brm) locus.

    1995

  • Identification and characterization of Drosophila relatives of the yeast transcriptional activator SNF2/SWI2

    1994

  • Genetic analysis of the brahma gene of Drosophila melanogaster and polytene chromosome subdivisions 72AB

    1994

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