Helping Students SOAR: Quizfolio Tips to Engage First-Generation, Under-Represented Minority Undergraduates in Scientific Inquiry

Posted by The American Biology Teacher on December 11, 2018

Engaging and gauging (engauging) first-generation, under-represented minority undergraduate general biology students through processes of inquiry, critical thinking, and affective learning is vital as they develop their scientific identity. An important challenge is how we can establish communities of practice and instill in our first-generation students self-awareness and reflection as they apply, analyze, and evaluate data on biological principles. In my article, I describe an innovative weekly assignment for my first generation Hispanic and Native Indigenous students called Quizfolio: quiz and mini-portfolios on biological principles and themes outlined in Vision and Change. Within a SOAR framework that will be introduced in my article, quizfolios
provide an active learning space for students to integrate inclusive student centered, in-class discussions and longitudinal lab inquiries in a first-year
undergraduate biology course through metacognition and reflection-in-action.
This transformative, culturally responsive mentoring approach encourages firstgeneration undergraduates to bring self-awareness to unclear or confusing topics that are clarified at the start of class or lab settings, and provides future framework for longterm retention of biological concepts.

http://abt.ucpress.edu/content/80/3/228.full.pdf+html