Last month, 17 members of the Chapman Biology Education Research lab attended the @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER West conference. Check out the university coverage of our undergraduate students presenting their work at SABER West - I'm so proud of my mentees! blogs.chapman.edu/scst/2026/02...
Group photo for quantitative reasoning conference
That's a wrap! Thank you to everyone who came to Chapman for our interdisciplinary conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM education! We had nearly 100 attendees from 46 institutions and 26 states, and an engaging and intellectually stimulating two days of conversations!
List of presentations for Chapman Biology Education Research Group at Society for Advancement of Biology Education Research West 2026
Next, our lab is attending the @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER West conference. Our group is giving 3 oral talks and 6 posters. Check out the lineup below, which includes many undergraduate students presenting their research! 2/2
Conference logo reading "Conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM education"
What an exciting week for the Chapman Biology Education Research Group! First, we're hosting a conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM education. We have 5 keynotes, 30 talks, and 10 posters, with nearly 100 attendees from 46 institutions across 26 states! 1/2
A reminder about the upcoming abstract deadline (extended to 11/1) for our conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning (QR) in STEM education in January! We welcome research as well as innovations in teaching & assessing QR. Works in progress welcome! sites.chapman.edu/qrstemeducat...
We are so glad to see this collaboration for our O.A. journal!
Thanks for partnering with us @sabercommunity.bsky.social (& @hsubox.bsky.social for being AE on this grouping)
& go here to find out more:
academic.oup.com/iob/pages/tr...
Call for Papers: Teaching Integrative & Organismal Biology! Integrative and Organismal Biology is excited to announce a collaboration b/w @sicbjournals.bsky.social & @sabercommunity.bsky.social. Manuscripts submitted by 2/28 will form core of collection. More info: academic.oup.com/iob/pages/tr...
We are hiring for a postdoc in STEM education research to join us at Chapman University! The postdoc will join a team researching STEM course office hours and ways to improve office hours. Please RT - more info here! saberbio.mcjobboard.net/jobs/197483
📚 Bottom line: Office hours have powerful potential—and we can play a major role in helping students understand them and feel welcome to attend.
Read the full work below. Please RT and share this work!
stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10....
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2️⃣Invite students early and often! Students reported how frequent reminders made them feel more comfortable and likely to attend.
3️⃣Lower fear of negative evaluation by encouraging all questions, telling students to come listen to others' questions, and inviting students to attend with friends.
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📣 This is the first longitudinal study of how new college students perceive STEM course office hours.
💡 Our work leads to a few recommendations for instructors:
1️⃣Clearly explain what office hours are for. For instance, does your syllabus describe what office hours are and their benefits?
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🎓 A key finding: familiarity with office hours grows over time, and students who attend office hours overwhelmingly report that the experience is helpful—and that it boosts their self-efficacy (though for more reasons than you might think!).
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❌ Misconceptions about office hours:
1️⃣Like an independent study hall
2️⃣Just for struggling students
3️⃣Only useful if students have specific questions ready in advance
We use expectancy-value theory to track how their perceptions and motivations to attend shift across time.
3/7
Most first-year students report entering college already familiar with the idea of office hours. But... what they think office hours are for can vary quite a bit. Some expectations are spot-on. Others? Not so much. For instance, we find that many students hold the following misconceptions: 2/7
What do first-year students think about STEM course office hours? How do these perceptions change over time? So excited to share a new paper in the International Journal of STEM Education where we conducted a longitudinal study to find out! 1/7 stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10....
Abstract submission for joint NABT @nabtbio.bsky.social & @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER Midwest Biology Education Poster Session (in St. Louis, 11/1) extended to 8/15! Any work on bio teaching & learning welcome; includes student competitions for bio ed research & more! nabt.org/Call-for-Pos...
Congrats, Carrie!!!
Flier for QR conference
We are hosting an interdisciplinary conference on advancing research on quantitative reasoning in STEM ed at Chapman in January! Registration & abstract submission now open! Conference is adjacent to @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER West. More info: sites.chapman.edu/qrstemeducat... See you there!
Congrats on the paper - excited to read soon!
Congrats, @alisonfeder.bsky.social !!!
Breaking news: Staff at the National Institutes of Health have issued a declaration calling on their director to depoliticize the agency and reverse spending cuts.
Last week’s SABER East brought together a vibrant community for three days of learning and collaboration.
📅 3 days
👥 120 attendees
🛠 9 workshops
🦈 4 Shark Tank presenters
💬 30 short talks
🎤 2 keynotes
👏 Huge congrats to the SABER East planning committee on a fantastic conference!
In paper 2️⃣ @dinanewman.bsky.social, several fantastic Bsky-less colleagues, and I examine the influence of Vision & Change and the Promoting Active Learning and Mentoring (PALM) Network on participants' teaching philosophies and strategies. Check out our JMBE ms! 5/5 journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Table 3 from Dauber and Hsu 2025 https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.24-08-0214
We come up with multiple implications for instructors based on our work - check it out below or in table 3 of our paper! 4/5
We also identify that how peers & instructors communicate about OH (both in class and in the syllabus) influences students' perceptions of OH. We also apply the theory of racialized opportunity cost, finding that student and instructor identities can shape students' experiences. 3/5
Putative model of the factors that shape students' decision to attend STEM course office hours based on expectancy value theory. The model shows how students' expectancies of achieving success, perceived value, and perceived costs of attending STEM course office hours likely influence their decision on whether to attend STEM course office hours. Dashed lines indicate putative factors that may influence students' expectancies and perceived value and cost of attending office hours. Diagram adapted from Cooper et al. (2017) and based on Wigfield and Eccles (2000).
experiences in OH. We apply expectancy value theory, finding that multiple factors shape students' expectancies, values, and costs for attending OH. For instance, many students highlight how their high schools offered OH, shaping their perception of college OH (often incorrectly). 2/5
2️⃣ new papers to share! First is a paper in CBE-Life Sciences Education led by former undergrad Gabby Dauber '24, examining student motivations and experiences in STEM course office hours (OH). She conducted interviews with students about their knowledge of and 1/5 www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/...
Photo showing opening of conference
The SABER East planning team
Thank you to everyone at @sabercommunity.bsky.social SABER East 2025 for a fantastic conference and some great conversations and ideas! A huge shout out to @dinanewman.bsky.social and the rest of the SABER East planning team for all of your hard work!
Coverage from New York Times on the devastating cuts to STEM education research around the country. Our country needs to continue investing in STEM education to support our students and our STEM and healthcare infrastructure.
New piece out in @insidehighered.com, examining office hours and providing suggestions for improving OH! I draw upon research our group and collaborators have done in investigating student and faculty experiences in OH. Check it out and please share! www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...