Scholars@Duke
Julie Reynolds

Julie Reynolds

Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biology
Biology
julie.a.reynolds@duke.edu
Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708-0038
130 Science Drive, 034 Biological Sciences Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours

Selected Publications

Diversity of undergraduates in STEM courses: individual and demographic differences in changes in self-efficacy, epistemic beliefs, and intrapersonal attribute profiles

Journal Article Studies in Higher Education · January 1, 2024 Across undergraduate STEM learning contexts in several countries, students’ intrapersonal attributes of epistemic beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs, intrinsic motivation, and sense of identity have been found to influence learning and to change in response to ... Full text Open Access Cite

Beyond Content, Understanding What Makes Test Questions Most Challenging

Journal Article BioScience · March 1, 2023 When students answer test questions incorrectly, we often assume they don’t understand the content; instead, they may struggle with certain cognitive skills or with how questions are asked. Our goal was to look beyond content to understand what makes asses ... Full text Cite

Postsecondary Faculty Attitudes and Beliefs about Writing-Based Pedagogies in the STEM Classroom.

Journal Article CBE life sciences education · September 2022 Writing is an important skill for communicating knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and an aid to developing students' communication skills, content knowledge, and disciplinary thinking. Despite the importance of writing, ... Full text Open Access Cite

How faculty discipline and beliefs influence instructional uses of writing in STEM undergraduate courses at research-intensive universities

Journal Article Journal of Writing Research · February 1, 2021 Featured Publication Efforts to accelerate the pace of adoption of writing-to-learn (WTL) practices in undergraduate STEM courses have been limited by a lack of theoretical and conceptual frameworks to systematically guide research and empirical evidence about the extent to wh ... Full text Open Access Cite

Erratum: The Role of a Professional Society in Broadening Participation in Science: A National Model for Increasing Persistence (BioScience DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biy066)

Journal Article BioScience · January 1, 2021 Featured Publication In the originally published version of this manuscript, the following errors were noted and listed in this corrigendum. Upon the original publication, there was an error in the “References cited” section. The following reference should read: “Armstrong MJ, ... Full text Cite

Teaching during a pandemic: Using high-impact writing assignments to balance rigor, engagement, flexibility, and workload.

Journal Article Ecology and evolution · November 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for instructors who seek high-impact educational practices that can be facilitated online without creating excessive burdens with technology, grading, or enforcement of honor codes. These practices must also ... Full text Cite

Beyond the numbers: understanding how a diversity mentoring program welcomes students into a scientific community

Journal Article Ecosphere · February 1, 2020 Programs designed to broaden participation in science are often deemed “successful” based on quantitative evidence such as student participation rates, retention, and persistence. These numbers alone only explain that a program met its goals; they seldom c ... Full text Cite

Student Learning Dispositions: Multidimensional Profiles Highlight Important Differences among Undergraduate STEM Honors Thesis Writers.

Journal Article CBE life sciences education · June 2019 Various personal dimensions of students-particularly motivation, self-efficacy beliefs, and epistemic beliefs-can change in response to teaching, affect student learning, and be conceptualized as learning dispositions. We propose that these learning dispos ... Full text Open Access Cite

The role of a professional society in broadening participation in science: A national model for increasing persistence

Journal Article BioScience · September 1, 2018 Professional societies can, and should, recruit and retain young scientists by providing a welcoming and inclusive intellectual home. SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity and Sustainability), the flagship education program of the Ecological S ... Full text Open Access Cite

Understanding the Complex Relationship between Critical Thinking and Science Reasoning among Undergraduate Thesis Writers.

Journal Article CBE life sciences education · January 2018 Developing critical-thinking and scientific reasoning skills are core learning objectives of science education, but little empirical evidence exists regarding the interrelationships between these constructs. Writing effectively fosters students' developmen ... Full text Open Access Cite

Breaking into science writing

Journal Article Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · November 1, 2017 Full text Cite

Improved Reasoning in Undergraduate Writing through Structured Workshops

Journal Article The Journal of Economic Education · January 2, 2015 Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

"on course" for supporting expanded participation and improving scientific reasoning in undergraduate thesis writing

Journal Article Journal of Chemical Education · January 1, 2015 The Department of Chemistry at Duke University has endeavored to expand participation in undergraduate honors thesis research while maintaining the quality of the learning experience. Accomplishing this goal has been constrained by limited departmental res ... Full text Open Access Cite

Concept Maps for Improved Science Reasoning and Writing: Complexity Isn't Everything.

Journal Article CBE life sciences education · January 2015 A pervasive notion in the literature is that complex concept maps reflect greater knowledge and/or more expert-like thinking than less complex concept maps. We show that concept maps used to structure scientific writing and clarify scientific reasoning do ... Full text Cite

Promoting ecoliteracy through research service‐learning and citizen science

Journal Article Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · December 2013 Full text Cite

Improving Critical-Thinking Skills in Introductory Biology Through Quality Practice and Metacognition

Chapter · April 15, 2013 This book -- by presenting principles that teachers in higher education can put into practice in their own classrooms -- explains how to lay the ground for this engagement, and help students become self-regulated learners actively employing ... ... Cite

Human diversity in science

Journal Article Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · April 1, 2013 Full text Cite

New Ecology Education: Preparing Students for the Complex Human- Environmental Problems of Dryland East Asia

Chapter · 2013 The book provides state-of-the-art knowledge on drylands ecosystem dynamics, climate changes, and land use in DEA. With contributions from international experts, the book will be of interest both to researchers and students. ... Cite

Disciplinary-Specific Thesis Assessment Protocol: A validated rubric that promotes student learning and faculty development

Chapter · 2013 This book hopes to change the nature of the conversation about higher education from critiques to focusing on efforts of systematic improvement in undergraduate education. ... Cite

How Writing-to-Learn Practices Improve Student Learning: Connecting Research and Practice through a Consideration of Mechanisms of Effect

Chapter · 2013 This book hopes to change the nature of the conversation about higher education from critiques to focusing on efforts of systematic improvement in undergraduate education. ... Cite

Add ecology to the pre-medical curriculum.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · March 2012 Full text Cite

Writing-to-learn in undergraduate science education: a community-based, conceptually driven approach.

Journal Article CBE life sciences education · January 2012 Despite substantial evidence that writing can be an effective tool to promote student learning and engagement, writing-to-learn (WTL) practices are still not widely implemented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, partic ... Full text Open Access Cite

Improving the quality of writing in a capstone engineering design course

Journal Article ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings · August 25, 2011 In engineering programs, students develop skills in both technical design and writing, and a capstone design course gives students the opportunity to practice and refine these skills. In our course (a collaboration between faculty and students at the Unive ... Cite

Improving the quality of writing in a capstone engineering design course

Conference ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings · January 1, 2011 In engineering programs, students develop skills in both technical design and writing, and a capstone design course gives students the opportunity to practice and refine these skills. In our course (a collaboration between faculty and students at the Unive ... Cite

Want to improve undergraduate thesis writing? Engage students and their faculty readers in scientific peer review.

Journal Article CBE life sciences education · January 2011 One of the best opportunities that undergraduates have to learn to write like a scientist is to write a thesis after participating in faculty-mentored undergraduate research. But developing writing skills doesn't happen automatically, and there are signifi ... Full text Open Access Cite

Promoting science literacy through Research Service-Learning, an emerging pedagogy with significant benefits for students, faculty, universities, and communities

Journal Article Journal of College Science Teaching · 2010 Research service-learning (RSL) is an emerging pedagogy in which students engage in research within a service-learning context. This approach has great potential to promote science literacy because it teaches students how to use scientific knowledge and sc ... Cite

BioTAP: A systematic approach to teaching scientific writing and evaluating undergraduate theses

Journal Article BioScience · November 1, 2009 Undergraduate theses and other capstone research projects are standard features of many science curricula, but participation has typically been limited to only the most advanced and highly motivated students. With the recent push to engage more undergradua ... Full text Cite

When communicating with diverse audiences, use VELCRO to make science stick

Journal Article Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America · 2009 Link to item Cite

Can You Hear Us Now?: A comparison of peer review quality when students give audio versus written feedback

Journal Article Writing Across the Curriculum Journal · 2008 Most instructors teaching writing courses seek ways to improve student writing and facilitate more active student engagement in the revision process. One way to do this is through teaching students to provide high quality peer reviews. In this study, we fo ... Link to item Cite

Calibrated Peer Review™ assignments in science courses: Are they designed to promote critical thinking and writing skills?

Journal Article Journal of College Science Teaching · 2008 Calibrated Peer Review (CPR), an online program that purportedly helps students develop as writers and critical thinkers, is being increasingly used by science educators. CPR is an enticing tool since it does not require instructors to grade student writin ... Cite

Precisely! A writing exercise for science and engineering classes

Journal Article Journal of College Science Teaching · 2007 While the formats and conventions of scientific and technical writing vary from field to field, the transcendent requirement is precision, so that the work can be understood and, if necessary, reproduced. Science teachers undoubtedly tell students about th ... Link to item Cite

Quantifying habitat associations in marine fisheries: A generalization of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic using commercial logbook records linked to archived environmental data

Journal Article Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences · April 1, 2003 Understanding species-habitat associations is critical for designing marine reserves, defining essential fish habitat, and predicting the impacts of climate change on fisheries. For many species, however, there is a paucity of fisheries-independent data th ... Full text Cite

The sea urchin fishery: Harvesting, processing, and the market

Journal Article Marine Resource Economics · 2003 This paper examines the North American sea urchin fishery, with a particular focus on the Japanese wholesale market. After a brief history and discussion of biology, methods of harvesting are discussed, followed by an overview of processing, handling, and ... Cite