A guide to helping intro bio students develop a deeper understanding of key statistical concepts by translating among numeric, graphical, verbal, and symbolic representations.

This module utilizes a user-friendly database exploring data selection, box-and-whisker plot, and correlation analysis. It also guides students on how to make a poster of their data and conclusions.

Students are introduced to concepts of sampling distributions and hypothesis testing using a simulation applet, elementary hypothesis tests, t-tests, and p-values as they compare a given fish population for methylmercury levels (using real and hypothetical data) against real-world mercury standards.

Conquer basic math and statistics used in biology while exploring classroom-ready resources. Concepts include central tendency and variation, spreadsheet skills, graphing, and data analysis with Chi-Square and T-Tests

Students typically find linear regression analysis of data sets in a biology classroom challenging. These activities could be used in a Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, or Statistics course. The collection provides student activity files with Excel instructions and Instructor Activity files with Excel instructions and solutions to problems. Students will be able to perform linear regression analysis, find correlation coefficient, create a scatter plot and find the r-square using MS Excel 365. Students will be able to interpret data sets, describe the relationship between biological variables, and predict the value of an output variable based on the input of an predictor variable.

Students are introduced to concepts of hypothesis testing using elementary hypothesis tests, t-tests, and p-values as they compare a given fish population for methylmercury levels (using real and hypothetical data) against real-world mercury standards.

This is a teaching resource that uses fascinating images and videos of leaf cutter ants foraging in Panama to provide an engaging context for students to learn about mathematics and statistics.

statsTeachR is an open-access, online repository of modular lesson plans, a.k.a. "modules", for teaching statistics using R at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Part of the 2015 SMB Minisymposium: Topics in Biomathematics Education

Topics include measures of average (mean, median, and mode), variability (range and standard deviation), uncertainty (standard error and 95% confidence interval), Chi-square analysis, student t-test, Hardy-Weinberg equation, and frequency calculations.

Generative AIs (e.g., ChatGPT have arrived on college campuses. STEM faculty have begun grappling with this disruptive technology and have responded in a various way from grudging acceptance to heroic efforts to forestall cheating to innovative incorporation. We provide a comprehensive survey of responses and a set of best practices.

As instructors, we continually look for new ways to create equitable learning environments and support learning for all students in our courses. Recently, we have explored ways that we can increase structure to better support students. We have identified four evidence-based elements that we include in our course design and implementation: 1) structured assessments and feedback; 2) structured out-of-class learning; 3) structured class time using inclusive practices; and 4) structured assignments using transparent design. In this essay, we identify some relevant literature to address each of these levels of structure and describe our experiences with implementation at each level to support equitable classroom environments.

Evolutionary trees communicate both the diversity and unity of life, a central and important scientific concept, as highlighted by the Vision and Change undergraduate biology education movement. Evolutionary trees and cladograms are diagrams viewed by biologists as Rosetta Stone-like in how well they convey an enormous amount of information with clarity and precision. However, the majority of undergraduates in introductory biology courses find the non-linear diagram confusing and do not immediately understand the tree-thinking central to interpreting the evolutionary tree’s branching structure. Go Extinct! is an original board game featuring land vertebrates (i.e., amphibians, mammals, birds and reptiles) and it is designed to engage students in reading this evolutionary tree. Go Extinct! won the Society for the Study of Evolution’s Huxley Award for outstanding outreach achievements in recognition for how the gameplay itself incentivizes students to identify clades and common ancestors on a stylized tree. The game can be completed in about 30 minutes, which allows instructors time to give follow-up activity sheets that help students transfer their new ability to read a stylized tree into the ability to read more traditional-looking trees found in textbooks and the literature. Overall, teaching the game, playing the game, and completing the follow-up transfer activity can be completed in a 50-minute section. Each game can serve up to 6 students, which means 3 games can cover a section of 18 students. Go Extinct! provides a fun and effective learning experience that students will remember and may even request to play again.

Primary Image: Biologists play Go Extinct! Students who play Go Extinct! gain a mastery of reading an evolutionary tree or cladogram. The winning strategy depends on identifying common ancestors of animal cards in your hand. Photo taken by the author.

These are resources associated with using Pokemon Go to teach concepts in Ecology.

PhyloCards are educational trading cards that teach people about biodiversity, conservation, and ecosystem relationships. We used this educational tool to explore the Wissahickon Valley's biodiversity in Philadelphia, PA, and to engage our college students in learning more about our local species and environmental issues. This activity aims to teach about native and non-native species, food chains, and the human impact on the local ecosystem. The game integrates core ecological concepts like biodiversity and species interactions while touching on human-environment interactions.