Jessie Arneson, PhD

Biography

Born and raised in Jamestown, I attended NDSU in Fargo, double majoring in Microbiology and Biotechnology with a Chemistry minor.  I enjoyed my experience as an undergraduate teaching assistant and research assistant, so I entered a dual-PhD program in Biochemistry and STEM Education at NDSU.  I later followed my advisor to and transferred into the Molecular Biosciences program at WSU in Pullman, WA, where I received my PhD in 2018.  While a post-doctoral researcher, I taught several courses in-person and online for WSU before joining the University of Jamestown.  My research has focused on supporting scientific visualization skill development in undergraduate science and designing effective teaching and assessment strategies for biology and biochemistry courses.

Favorite Course to Teach

As an instructor, I love watching students make connections and discoveries during class activities and to see how they develop as a learner and scientist throughout their program.  Because I strive to provide opportunities for students to build scientific skills in all my courses (whether lecture or lab), I do not really have a single favorite course.  I enjoy working with non-majors to build basic science literacy, intro bio students as they follow their curiosity, and advanced students as they put all the pieces together to master complex biological or biochemical concepts.

Selected Creative and Scholarly Works

• Arneson JB, Offerdahl EG (2023). Assessing the load: Effects of visual representation and task features on exam performance in undergraduate molecular life sciences. Research in Science Education
• Woodbury J*, Arneson JB*, Offerdahl EG (2022). Adapting team-based learning for an online biochemistry course. Journal of Chemical Education. (*co-first authors)
• Arneson JB, Woodbury J, Anderson J, Collins LB, Cavagnetto A, Davis WB, Offerdahl EG (2022). Splicing it together: Using primary data to explore RNA splicing and gene expression in large-lecture introductory biology. CourseSource.
• Arneson JB, Woodbury J, Offerdahl EG (2022). Fidelity of implementation (FOI) as a guiding framework for transitioning research-based instructional practices from on-site to online. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education 23(1).
• Offerdahl EG, Arneson JB (2019). Formative assessment to improve student learning in biochemistry. In: Biochemistry Education: From Theory to Practice. American Chemical Society. p. 197-218.
• Arneson JB, Offerdahl EG (2018). Visual literacy in Bloom: Using Bloom’s taxonomy to support visual learning skills. CBE Life Science Education 17(1).
• Offerdahl EG, Arneson JB, Byrne N (2017). Lighten the load: Scaffolding visual literacy in biochemistry and molecular biology. CBE Life Science Education 16(1).

Awards and Grants

• Washington State University School of Molecular Biosciences Teaching Excellence Award (2019)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (2014-2018)
• NDSU STEM Education PhD Research Fellowship (2013-2014)

Professional Memberships and Affiliations

Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER)

American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB)

American Chemical Society (ACS)