Avoiding, Minimizing, or Wrestling? Discussing Uncertainty in Undergraduate General Biology Labs

• In Event: Equity in Science Within Higher Education

Abstract

Recent calls for change in biology education emphasize the need for students to engage in the ways of thinking, feeling, and doing that biologists engage in as they work to explain phenomena. Part of this engagement involves wrestling with uncertainty (the aspect of scientists’ work that is unknown or non-obvious). Students’ engagement with such work is influenced by the interactions they have with their instructors. This study how undergraduate students in a non-majors biology lab and their teaching assistants (TAs) navigate uncertainty during lab investigations. The findings demonstrate how TA’s discussions with students can direct them to avoid, minimize, or wrestle with the uncertainty that they are presented with. The significance of these results will be discussed.

Authors

• Sam Skrob-Martin, Florida State University

• Alicia Batailles, Florida State University

• Sherry A. Southerland, Florida State University