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The Diagnostic Question Cluster (DQC) project integrates education research and faculty development to articulate a model for the effective transformation of introductory biology and ecology teaching. Over three years, faculty members from a wide range of institutions used active teaching and DQCs, a type of concept inventory, as pre- and posttests to assess students' understanding of concepts about energy and matter across biological scales of organization. Surveys of the instructors indicated a substantial use of DQCs and active teaching, and nearly all of those faculty members participating in the research saw significant student gains and a large positive effect size between the pre- andposttests. Important programmatic components included reliable research-based conceptual questions and the associated active-learning exercises; formative examination of preinstruction data, including the students' written answers; a professional society for recruitment, workshops, and dissemination; progressive faculty growth over three years; and cooperative communities of practice. We propose that research-based conceptual inventories can be effective tools in faculty-development programs offered through biology professional societies. INSET: What faculty in the large effect-size category said about.... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the National Research Council's (NRC) report on the scientific principles of education research in experimental biology. It showed that while researchers may disagree on physiological or methodological approaches to education research, they agree about the definition and the quest of good quality education research. Dr. Margaret Eisenhart give a description on the short history of scientific research within federal legislation about education. Dr. Robert L. DeHaan discussed strategies for training future faculty members to implement the scientifically based criteria. Dr. David W. Rodenbaugh and his students tested the hypothesis that the students creating undergraduate physiology exercises increased comprehension and retention.