Publications

Publications

Hott AM, Huether CA, McInerney JD, Christianson C, Fowler R, Bender H, Jenkins J, Wysocki A, Markle G, Karp R. 2002. Genetics Content in Introductory Biology Courses for Non-Science Majors: Theory and Practice. BioScience Vol 52 Num 11: 1024-1035

Hott AM, Rogers W. 2007. The Development and Evaluation of a Genetics Concept Inventory
-Submitted for publication to Genetics Sept. 2007

Master Degree Work

During my MS degree program at the University of Cincinnati, I worked under the guidance of Dr. Carl A. Huether and in conjunction with the American Society of Human Genetics on a thesis in biology education. Three goals were set for that research project:

(1) Develop a list of central concepts that should be included in an introductory biology course for non-science majors,
(2) Determine the degree to which those concepts are currently being taught in those courses, and
(3) Examine the most widely used textbooks to determine the extent to which those concepts are addressed therein.

All three objectives were met and the resulting thesis addressing the current genetics content taught in undergraduate, introductory biology courses for non-science majors can be found electronically here.

The thesis resulted in a single manuscript published in the November 2002 issue of BioScience.

Doctoral Degree Work

During my doctoral degree program at the Ball State University, I worked under the guidance of Dr. William Rogers on a dissertation in biology education. Three goals were set for that research:

(1) Develop a Genetics Concept Inventory (GCI) for non-science majors based on concept recommendations set by the American Society of Human Genetics,
(2) Determine reliability and validity estimates for the Genetics Concept Inventory, and
(3) Determine the change, if any, in students' understandings of genetics concepts as a result of an introductory biology course for non-science majors.

I completed the initial development and evaluation of the Genetics Concept Inventory during the summer of 2006 and have subsequently submitted the first of two publications to the journal Genetics. I expect feedback on that submission at any time. I am currently continuing research on the evaluation of the GCI to include more student participants and a larger variety of introductory biology courses for non-science majors.

Other Published Work

Teaching at Ivy Tech Community College provided me with many challenges, one of which is teaching histology in the introductory Anatomy and Physiology course. Traditionally, the histology section was taught in both lecture and lab portions of the course. During the lab portion, students were expected to be able to identify prepared slides of various tissue types. The only time that students were able to view these slides, was during class and a few selected open lab hours during the day hours. For many of these students, the open lab times were not available to them due to work schedules or familial obligations. This left very little time for students to study these slides. In response to requests by students to make histology more available to them, I developed the DVD Histology: A Student Study Guide. This DVD has a short tutorial that displays slide images of each tissue type, the name of each tissue, and the correct pronunciation. The DVD also includes four practice exams that increase in difficulty by decreasing the time each tissue image appears on the screen. Each has an answer key included at the end of the exam.

I have had very positive feedback from the students thus far. Some students report that almost all of their learning to identify the microscopic view of the tissues included was due to the DVD and little or none attributed to the actual microscope work completed in class. I plan on revising and publishing a second edition of the DVD within the next year. As an instructor, I feel that this product fills the needs of the students quite well and increases the students' ability to identify the tissues.