The purpose of this two-part study is to examine how to improve introductory level non-majors biology courses to improve student attitude and learning gains in the sciences. The first part of this study examines the collective effect of three different pedagogies (service learning, concept mapping and guest lectures) on student attitude and learning gains in a freshman, non-majors biology course. Two classes, one with the three pedagogies, and one without, were compared. Data were collected from two classes in Fall 2008 (one treatment and one control) and two similar classes replicated in Fall 2009. Learning and attitude gains were measured by a pre and post biology assessment and the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) survey. Our findings indicate that the treatment methods did not improve student learning or attitudes compared to the control group. However, there was a significant increase in variability in the treatment group, indicating that the students exposed to the three pedagogies either had a very positive experience or a negative one, whereas the control group did not have this variability. Thus, the treatment did have a positive effect on some students. Both treatments experienced significant gains from pre to post on the biology assessment and SALG survey. The second part of the study investigated what concepts are considered by students and faculty to be most important to teach in introductory non-majors biology courses. A survey with 17 biology concepts was given to life science professors at BYU and UVU and biology students at BYU. Participants were asked to rank the concepts from most to least important. There were significant differences between professor and student mean rankings for 11 of the 17 biology concepts. This study showed a large discrepancy between what professors want students to learn and what students feel is important. It was particularly noteworthy that students ranked ecology and evolution as least important. This was especially alarming since evolution is considered to be the capstone of all biology and ecology is vital for capturing the "big picture" in biology.

One of the main purposes with the subject of social studies is, according to The Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket), to foster future democratically active citizens and one way to achieve this is to use study visits and bring guests to the social studies education. The purpose of this study was therefore to research teachers’ opportunities and challenges to organize and conducting study visits and guest education. The study was based on three research questions which were related to the types of study visits teachers carried out and what kinds of guests they invite to the classroom and the purpose of these visits, factors that can hinder or in other ways affect study visits and guest education and how teachers perceive students’ attitudes and behaviour during study visits and guest education and their knowledge acquisition in social studies. Eight social studies teachers working at lower and upper secondary schools in Sweden were interviewed though semi-structured interviews. The results showed that the teachers organize study visits and guest education with several purposes and that study visits to the local courthouse, the Swedish Riksdag, local businesses and to the local municipal council were common. Common types of guest education included visits from governmental authorities or other organizations, businesses, and politicians. The results also showed that the teachers were largely affected by factors such as time and school funding to organize study visits and guest education but also by factors such as logistics, lack of control and the pandemic. The teachers believe that students can learn a great deal through study visits and guest education as they have the opportunity to see things first hand, but also that students have a varied ability to ask questions during these occasions and may behave in a non-desirable manner. The discussion section includes result comparisons to previous research and suggestions for future research. / Enligt Skolverket är ett av samhällskunskapens stora uppdrag att fostra framtida demokratiskt aktiva medborgare och ett sätt att göra detta på är att använda studiebesök och gästundervisning i samhällskunskapsundervisningen. Därför var studiens syfte att undersöka lärares möjligheter och utmaningar att arrangera och genomföra studiebesök och gästundervisning utifrån tre frågeställningar. Frågeställningarna är kopplade till vilka typer av studiebesök och gästundervisning lärarna genomför och syftet med dessa, hinder och påverkansfaktorer för att arrangera och genomföra studiebesök och gästundervisning och hur lärare uppfattar elevernas attityder, kunskapsökning och upplevelser av studiebesök och gästundervisning. Åtta verksamma samhällskunskapslärare på gymnasiet och högstadiet intervjuades genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet av de analyserade intervjuerna visade att lärarna genomför studiebesök och gästundervisning med flera syften och att besök till tingsrätten, riksdagen, näringsliv och kommunfullmäktige var vanliga studiebesök. Vanliga gästundervisningar var besök av myndigheter eller andra samhällsaktörer, näringsliv och politiker. Resultatet visade också att lärarna påverkas till stor del av tid och ekonomi för att arrangera och genomföra studiebesök och gästundervisning men också av logistik, brist på kontroll, pandemin och andra påverkansfaktorer. Lärarna berättar att eleverna lär sig mycket genom studiebesök och gästundervisning då de får se saker med egna ögon, men att eleverna också har en varierad förmåga att ställa frågor vid dessa typer av tillfällen och att eleverna kan uppföra sig på ett icke-eftersträvansvärt sätt. I diskussionen diskuteras resultatet kopplat till tidigare forskning och förslag på vidare forskning inom området.