Trends in Teaching Experimentation in the Life Sciences / Contributions from Biology Education Research (PDF)

Dr. Nancy Pelaez is a Professor Emerita of Biology who founded the Biology Education Area as one of six research focus area in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University. She holds a B.S. in Biology summa cum laude from Tulane University, a k-12 California teaching credential in both Life Science and Physical Science from Mills College, and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from Indiana University School of Medicine as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellow. With more than 45 refereed publications in the field, Pelaez, who was elected Chair of Section Q (Education) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), has been honored with the American Physiological Society Guyton Educator of the Year Award, a Fulbright Award to Vienna, Austria, and as AAAS Fellow.

Dr. Stephanie M. Gardner is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University. She earned her doctorate in Physiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and conducted her postdoctoral training in Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. As a Visiting Assistant Professor at Dickinson College and Purdue University, her research interests shifted toward biology education. Her research group examines how students and faculty engage in science practices including mechanistic reasoning and creating visualizations to understand and communicate data and experimental concepts. Dr. Gardner leads professional development workshops around inclusive and innovative instruction for faculty and graduate students. She is the co-director of the CURE - Purdue faculty development program to increase access to research for more and diverse undergraduate students. She has served on several biology education research journal editorial boards including as a monitoring editor at CBE-Life Sciences Education since 2018.

Dr. Trevor R. Anderson is a biochemistry education researcher and Professor Emeritus of Chemistry in the