John Basey

• PhD
• Instructor at University of Colorado Boulder

Experimental inquiry-oriented science labs can be designed to have students regulate their own learning and decide when they leave class or to have the teacher regulate student learning and determine when they leave class. In this study, grades were examined relative to student exit times in a student-regulated class design. Preliminary interviews...

Abstract Background: Commonplace biodiversity labs in introductory undergraduate biology typically emphasize declarative knowledge. We contend that shifting these labs to emphasize evolution, higher-order cognition, and science reasoning would benefit student learning. Four factors that likely make evolution-based higher-order learning goals diffic...

We examined the effects of documenting observations with digital imaging versus hand drawing in inquiry-based college biodiversity labs. Plant biodiversity labs were divided into two treatments, digital imaging (N = 221) and hand drawing (N = 238). Graduate-student teaching assistants (N = 24) taught one class in each treatment. Assessments reveale...

We examined how different styles of written feedback by graduate-student teaching assistants (GTAs) in college intro biology lab (USA) influenced student achievement and related the different styles to time efficiency. We quantified GTA feedback on formative lab reports and student achievement on two different types of assessments, a quiz in 2010 a...

We compared learning cycle and expository formats for teaching about plant biodiversity in an inquiry-oriented university biology lab class (n = 465). Both formats had preparatory lab activities, a hands-on lab, and a postlab with reflection and argumentation. Learning was assessed with a lab report, a practical quiz in lab, and a multiple-choice e...

Background: Changes in lab style can lead to differences in learning. Two inquiry-oriented lab styles are guided inquiry (GI) and problem-based (PB). Students’ attitudes towards lab are important to consider when choosing between GI and PB styles during curriculum design. Purpose: We examined the degree to which lab experiences are explained by a G...

Variations in science lab design can differentially impact student learning. Quantification of these differential impacts can be used in modeling – an approach we term “optimal lab design.” In this study we estimated relative influences of six characteristics of lab design on students’ attitudes toward science labs in three different first-year col...

We examined science inquiry, technology, and content in laboratory curricula of first-semester, general biology at six randomly selected community colleges in Colorado, USA. We derived a seven-point scale to assess science inquiry. For each exercise, we recorded the technology used, the biological principle examined, and whether the lab was derived...

I examined how secondary metabolites in trees influenced food selection of beavers, whether selection patterns were consistent with recent theories of plant-defense investment, and whether a chemical extract could be used as a feeding deterrent. I used cafeteria-style experiments to examine beaver food preferences for six species, quaking aspen, wi...

We developed deterministic models to generate predictions for three hypotheses: beavers (Castor canadensis) select food on the basis of (1) maximization of energy return, (2) minimization of predation risk, or (3) minimization of the ratio of predation risk to energy return. To test predictions, beavers were provided with a choice of two sets of qu...

The growth-rate hypothesis outlined by Coley et al. is based on a model which predicts that investment of resources in anti-herbivore defenses by plants should increase as intrinsic growth rate decreases. This prediction is based on a model which assumes a > f (a = constant relating defense investment to reduction in growth, fP = constant determini...

Stands of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) previously cut by beavers (Castor canadensis) consist mainly of root sprouts exhibiting juvenile morphological charac- teristics. Feeding experiments showed that beavers avoided these sprouts when normal sprouts and branches were present, and an unidentified compound which has not previously been report...

At a newly occupied pond, beavers preferentially felled aspen smaller than 7.5 cm in diameter and selected against larger size classes. After one year of cutting, 10% of the aspen had been cut and 14% of the living aspen exhibited the juvenile growth form. A phenolic compound which may act as a deterrent to beavers was found in low concentrations i...