This paper catalogs previous articles in American Biology Teacher on various aspects of teaching about science misinformation and identifies which of the core concepts are addressed in each. A concise overview of relevant themes is provided, along with how the concepts align with the Next Generation Science Standards. This may serve as a practical guide for organizing and planning science media literacy education, to help students negotiate the growing flood of misinformation.

Climate change caused predominately by carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuel use is a critical issue for our future. It is incumbent on science educators to learn about it and teach it in ways that illustrate the power of science to understand climatic changes and model past, present, and possible climate futures. It is equally important for educators to address alternative explanations that do not cause present warming. We provide sufficient background to understand the effects of atmospheric CO₂ on climate, how we know past values of both CO₂ and temperature, and how mathematical models lead to a quantitative understanding and predictions of increases in temperature on doubling atmospheric CO₂. We discuss alternative but incorrect explanations for present warming that are employed by those who use misinformation and disinformation to take attention away from the main cause, the burning of fossil fuels. Guided student activities are provided to help students develop an understanding of the causes and strategies to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. We must provide students with a sound understanding of climate change to empower them with the knowledge to make effective choices. Informed students can develop into agents of change as we prepare them to live in their changing climate futures.

Productive struggle is a process in which students expend effort to grapple with perplexing problems and make sense of something that is not immediately apparent and beyond their current level of understanding and capacity. The experience encourages students to reflect on and restructure their existing knowledge toward a new understanding of scientific concepts and practice. Scientific uncertainty is common in scientific sensemaking practice and is one of the major factors provoking student struggle. A teaching approach called Student Uncertainty as a Pedagogical Resource (SUPeR) is introduced to encourage teachers to engage students in the practice of productive struggle. The SUPeR approach is composed of four phases: (1) problematize a phenomenon, (2) engage in material practice, (3) participate in argumentative practice, and (4) engage in reflection, transformation, and application. An example from an eighth-grade biology class unit on Mendel's Law of Segregation is used to demonstrate how the SUPeR approach can be implemented in the classroom.

The Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) has been extensively researched as a projective test used to assess individuals' perceptions of scientists. This study investigated student perceptions of entomologists and compared responses of students taught by a male instructor with responses of students who viewed video lectures recorded by the male instructor but interacted with a female instructor. Data were collected from two sections of an introductory entomology course at Oklahoma State University, with one section taught by a male instructor and the other by a female instructor using lecture recordings of the male instructor. Drawings were analyzed for characteristics including facial expression, clothing, equipment, presence of insects, race, and gender. The majority of drawings included smiling faces, glasses, and entomology equipment, while few students illustrated persons of color. Specific criteria to classify drawn entomologists as male, female, or non-gender figures were developed and used to assess drawings. The majority of students in both sections drew male entomologists, consistent with previous DAST studies where male scientists predominate. However, a higher proportion of female entomologists were depicted in the section who interacted with the female instructor. These findings emphasize the impact of instructor gender on students' perceptions and stereotypes. Even when lectures are given by a male instructor, interaction with a female instructor can positively influence the gender representation in students' drawings. Efforts should be made to promote diversity and inclusivity in instruction to increase underrepresented groups in science. This study contributes criteria to assess student depictions of gender and provides valuable insights into the gender representation and characteristics depicted in student drawings of entomologists. It highlights the influence of instructor gender on students' perceptions and stereotypes in entomology and likely applies to other fields of biology.

Grades in introductory STEM courses can impact intrinsic motivation (IM) and self-efficacy (SE). We used an exploratory approach to examine trends in grades and how IM and SE impact students' grades. It is known that most first-generation (FG) college students are from underrepresented backgrounds (URM), and that these students are least likely to persist in STEM fields. Therefore, gaining a better understanding of motivation in our most underserved students could be critical to improving their success in introductory biology courses and ultimately future persistence in STEM. We found that, on average, URM FG students received the lowest final grades and experienced the greatest declines in IM and SE. This research informs the way we may think about changes in motivation and self-efficacy in our introductory biology courses as these lay the foundation for future learning and success.

In popular materials designed to teach American students about the evolution of human skin color, students are guided toward a model in which ancestral latitude predicts levels of skin pigmentation. While this model agrees with data from people whose ancestors practiced intensive agriculture in Europe, Asia, and Africa, this model does not match data from other human populations across the globe, including the predicted skin pigmentation of ancient hunter-gatherer populations who maintained long-term settlements in these same regions. In this review, we discuss findings from ancient genome sequencing and provide guidance on teaching an updated model on the evolution of human skin color. (To increase accessibility for non-specialists, we present here a targeted rationale for updating classroom teaching practices, with a set of frequently asked questions regarding the current state of scientific research on this topic addressed in supplemental material (2317445-supplemental-material.docx).) With this update, we hope to help students avoid common misconceptions about human evolution—particularly, that the evolutionary pressures encountered by those who adopted a single human culture would apply to all humans, everywhere—and leverage authentic data and argumentation to convey the anti-racist reality that people with a wide range of skin colors thrived in high-latitude regions for many thousands of years, just as students with a wide range of skin colors can thrive in whatever place they currently call home.

Students often find kidney function confusing and somewhat counterintuitive, yet existing lab demonstrations often incompletely explain the process (e.g., by misrepresenting the role of filtration). I show how three easy exercises can be combined to demonstrate water recovery and reuptake of ions, as well as ultrafiltration. Materials are generally inexpensive, available through online resellers, and many are recoverable after lab. I then discuss extensions and limitations to this model.

Incorporating students' own skin bacteria samples into microbiology courses presents a practical and engaging approach. This project-based learning strategy addresses the limitations of traditional microbiology experiments, fostering independent inquiry and deeper understanding of microbial concepts. By analyzing their own microbiota, students gain valuable insights while developing essential scientific skills. The implementation of this project offers cost-effective and engaging motivational strategies for microbiology education, with the potential to enhance microbiology education globally.

While scientific publications are key to communicating research findings to other scientists, students face barriers reading scientific literature, understanding the literature's importance, and thinking about the implications of research findings. To help students overcome these barriers, and to further hone their communication skills, we created and provide here a project to have students find a recent scientific paper of interest, carefully read the paper, and then write a letter with relevant questions to one of the authors. This work not only helps engage students with class concepts and increases scientific engagement, but is also important because students realize that scientists are people too, who can (and often do!) write back to interested students to answer their questions. We suggest that this project is a great way for students to form meaningful connections to a scientific topic of interest, regardless of whether they hear back from their scientist, and is a good way for students to further learn about campus resources and develop their writing and communication skills.