Education Research
Active learning
Active learning is a modernized set of teaching and learning practices that involves engaged participation of students in the classroom. This approach has been shown to generate higher levels of understanding when compared the traditional lecture-style teaching and learning. While "passive learning" simply involves listening and taking notes, active learning includes a wide array of hands-on and/or critical thinking activities that make use of various tools in the classroom. These activities foster higher-order thinking — described in Bloom's Taxonomy as Application, Analysis, Evaluation, and Creation — which lead to better retention of and application of information!
Inclusivity in the classroom
With such a large level of investment into active learning, it is important that we understand the effect that these techniques can have on students from different demographics. Our own research has shown that active learning — particularly group-based activities — can affect students differently based on their social personalities (introverts/extroverts). Differences in performance for group-related activities can affect what types of active learning techniques should be used in the classroom and how frequently. Career trajectory — and whether those jobs are group oriented — also plays an important role when deciding how to use active learning exercises.
Using technology to improve biology education
Video games are very popular around the world. At their most basic level, electronic games can be defined as tools with which players generate visual feedback in response to an input — often resulting in the release of dopamine that reinforces specific behaviors. This positive feedback system is precisely makes video games so incredibly fun! So much so that they have become a staple in many of our lives — particularly for Generation Z and younger individuals born into a world full of smart technology. Our lab is interested in using this technology to improve biology education — both directly through the incorporation of learning material into video games (like in our own virtual reality game about zombie ants called Zombie Ants VR [Meta Link][Steam Link]), and indirectly through the use of gamification principles like reward systems.
Virtual reality (VR) in particularly is very useful for education. Unlike other video game hardware, VR can invoke a sense of immersion and strong association with visual objects . These features offer unique opportunities to provide users with a new perspective that would otherwise be hard to accomplish in a typical classroom — experiences like visualizing the universe on a galactic scales (e.g., Galactic Center VR) or interacting with life at the microscopic level (e.g., BloodBlast VR). VR also offers alternatives for visual learners and can provide opportunities to those with physical disabilities. In these ways, VR can help bridge inclusivity gaps in education
