Alison Davis
Miami Dade College, FL·Education Research
Students who want careers in science or healthcare usually take microbiology, anatomy and physiology, and psychology as separate courses. Each course feels unrelated to the others, even though real health problems cross all three fields.
- Fields
Education Research
Biology
- Topics
STEM education
undergraduate education
interdisciplinary curriculum
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Sep 2029
What they work on
- Design 8 to 10 synchronized case studies and integrative assessments linking introductory microbiology, anatomy and physiology, and psychology, with 20 hours of faculty development in case-based teaching.
- Test whether the Triple Helix curriculum improves course performance, retention and STEM persistence, using a non-randomized controlled design with propensity score matching across about 150 students per cohort.
- Measure gains in interdisciplinary thinking and engagement using the Interdisciplinary Connections Inventory and focus groups, analyzed with multilevel modeling and thematic coding.
- Provide scaffolded undergraduate research experiences connecting microbiology, environmental science and agricultural sustainability within the integrated course model.
More about the research
This project asks whether teaching these courses in a coordinated way, linked through shared cases, improves how students think, learn and stay in STEM. The work takes place at Miami Dade College's Homestead Campus in South Florida.
Why it matters
Integrated, case-based courses could help community college students, about 300 per year at this campus, perform better, stay in STEM majors and become better prepared for interdisciplinary science and healthcare careers. The open-access curriculum and evaluation tools may let other colleges adopt the model nationwide.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Nia Bauer
Arapahoe Community College, CO·Education Research
Develop course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) of variable length for biology courses and labs and for three non-biology courses, with a shared repository of curricula for in-person, hybrid and remote teaching.
Ross Stites
Kansas City Kansas Community College, KS·Education Research
Increase the number of STEM courses at a two-year college that use course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), in which an entire class carries out authentic research as part of the course.
Melanie Will Cole
Central New Mexico Community College, NM·Education Research
Implement and examine a hybrid undergraduate research experience that combines a course-based research class with a stipend-supported apprenticeship, enrolling ten place-bound students per year in a year-long series of special project courses.
The school
Miami Dade College: 1 labs on PI Pages.
Reach out
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