This is a collection of resources from the Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology (TIEE) project site. The site is a few years old and is experiencing some "link rot" - addresses that no longer work. However, there are still some high quality resources here. I wonder if the folks at TIEE would be open to suggestions for updating this collection?

Great list of examples of active learning strategies

Education research study published in PNAS 2014

News Feature from Nature with the subtitle: "Active problem-solving confers a deeper understanding of science than does a standard lecture. But some university lecturers are reluctant to change tack."

American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges. Here they propose standards that mathematics be taught like sciences as a laboratory discipline.

Simulations that  model  prey density with consumption by one predator as well as a population of an insect over time.  

Linked is a really neat .gif graph that shows temperature change over time. It is easy to interpret and helps supplement the phenology module.

Also attached is a supplemental activity (class discussion) that helps illuminate how some entities present real data in a biased fashion to convince the reader of specific views. Students work as a group to bias real data, engage in a class discussion, and find real examples of biased data in social media/current events.

Instructor's Notes:

This TIEE module was implemented over the course of two days in a lab setting for community college students enrolled in a major's biology course. I began with the pre-workshop excel graphing activity by Calinger, had students work on the module without modifications, and ended with my critical analysis supplemental activity attached above.

CBE Life Sci Educ. 2010 Fall; 9(3): 201–211.

doi:  10.1187/cbe.10-03-0040

Mathematical Manipulative Models: In Defense of “Beanbag Biology”

John R. Jungck,* Holly Gaff,† and Anton E. Weisstein‡

This paper discusses a number of experiential tools for improved quantitative understanding in the biology classroom.

You tube video

Explains a study done on calculus students to better understand how to shape their curriculum. 

Explains the ways that Exponential growth models and logistic models depict real world scenarios to students.

A project dedicated to helping students understand science. Explains how various elements of science works and how science is in everyday life. 

Explains how a steady state system stays constant overtime. Also, explains how an equilibrium stays stable overtime. 

Determines the mathematical needs of colleges. Also offers  a curriculum guide. Focuses on two key main points:

• Determining  mathematical needs and priorities their partner disciplines by offering 22 weekend workshops.
• Supporting mathematics departments to develop and offer an engaging  College Algebra courses.

Its a vision to change Biology education through innovative ideas. The organization involved is the American Association for the Advancement in Science. They are searching for the best ways to teach biology.   

I implemented the module as written, with very little modification.  I attached the files I used and shared with students, as well as examples of student posters that were completed as part of the project.

We completed this activity as part of our Earth Day celebration in one 60min lecture period in my Second Semester Majors Introductory Biology Course. The course had 5 sections of 20-24 students each.  We had already completed the HHMI Excel Tutorials and the TIEE Phenology and Climate Change Module in previous labs, so it was possible to complete the full guided activity (minus performing the regression analyses-we just used trend lines and R² values) and have a short discussion in 60 min.

I incorporated the TIEE Phenology Module as part of a 4 lab period Phenology Project in my 2nd semester Majors Introductory Biology Course. The course had 5 sections each with 20-24 students; lab duration is 2 hours per week.

In the 1^st lab I introduced the topic of phenology using the three video clips below and a brief introductory reading. I also introduced my Campus Migratory Bird Phenology Project where student groups collect migratory bird data on campus for 30min a week, for 5 weeks (handout and rubrics provided). Lastly we conducted the HHMI Excel Tutorials 1-3 to learn how to use Excel and how to make bar graphs.
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfAcoDO5u4Y
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpp9NE1i2zM
3. http://climatewisconsin.org/story/phenology

In the 2^nd and 3^rd labs we learned how to make line and scatterplot graphs and how to perform and interpret a linear regression by adding a linear trend line using the posted ppt from James Vance on the Phenology Collections site, and we completed the TIEE activity. After the 3rd lab students were given a homework assignment to graph two given data sets appropriately and to properly interpret the regression output biologically and statistically (assignment, student data and faculty data key provided).

In the 4^th lab (last lab session of the semester) student groups presented a 5-7min oral summary of their 5 Week Campus Migratory Bird Phenology Project to the rest of the class (presentation rubric provided)

I slightly modified the phenology lab for a general education biology course for non-science majors, removing the anomaly plot section to make it a little shorter. The lab (in two parts) was prefaced early in the semester by a short library research assignment and, later, a video from Climate Wisconsin. These briefly introduced the topic of phenology and the value of long-term phenophase data, as well as a variety of questions related to climate change. The lab was also coupled with independent student collection of phenophase data (Project Budburst) for a spring-active species on our campus. Finally, students were shown how to access and compare other data for their species available via the National Phenology Network.

Instructor Notes and Classroom Materials used at Del Mar College.

This module was implemented in a section of BIOL 1407 (BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS II - EVOLUTION, DIVERSITY, STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND ENVIRONMENT)/ Lecture & Lab at Del Mar College, an independent community college. The course is intended for biology majors but may be taken as a science course for the core curriculum requirement.

The section in which this module was implemented was reserved for biology majors because it is part of Del Mar’s participation in the HHMI SEA-PHAGES program (seaphages.org).

This module was implemented in two sections of BIOL 1407 (BIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS II - EVOLUTION, DIVERSITY, STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND ENVIRONMENT)/ Lecture & Lab at Del Mar College, an independent community college. The course is intended for biology majors but may be taken as a science course for the core curriculum requirement.

Grisé’s class was a dual credit course with high school juniors and seniors. Overath’s class was a section reserved for biology majors because it is part of Del Mar’s participation in the HHMI SEA-PHAGES program (seaphages.org).

A link to seven funny yet realistic reasons, why zombies would never be a true problem. 

I used this module at the end of an introductory Principles of Wildlife Management course (the course has no quantitative component).  The module was used to apply wildlife management principles to a real world case study.  The MSWord file has student questions that were modified from the original Guided Version of the module. Changes were made to attempt to make the questions less wordy and to add a question focused on wildlife management. I used it with freshman students who needed guidance with graphing in Excel. The class lecture time is 1hr 15 min, and there is no lab time. 

• Class 1 - Give an introduction to the module and Questions 1-3 were assigned as homework
• Class 2 - Meet in computer lab, review and check for understanding, and do Questions 4-5.    If time allows, start the discussion questions 1-4, otherwise they are assigned for homework. 
• Class 3 - Review the discussion questions.

I adapted this module to a multi-week "research project" for my online, nonmajors Environmental Science course.  It involved LOTS of scaffolding, and taking things very slowly.  Along with these assignments, there were also three graded discussions.  I have posted the guidelines for these discussions below.

Online Graded Discussion 1:

Week 12 Instructions:

1. Let's do a little research.  Using the central question given to you in our Global Climate Change and Phenology Research Project: 

"Have long-term temperatures changed, and if so, how will these temperature changes impact plant and animal phenology, ecological interactions, and, as a result, species diversity?"

find and post at least ONE credible, reliable, objective, and valid resource (scholarly scientific article or webpage from a source that satisfies those adjectives) by 11:59pm Wed night.  In your post, summarize the main points or take home messages from the source you identified.  THEN, read through the other posts and before 11:59pm Sun night, comment on at least one additional post (i.e., a different reference than you posted), with a message that makes a connection between your posted source/reference or asks a meaningful question that facilitates discussion of material presented in that source/reference.

Online Graded Discussion 2:

View the temperature data attached to the Pinned Post.  Find your group's climate division, and compare it to other climate divisions as well as the statewide temperature trends.  

For your first post (by 11:59pm Wed night):

Describe how your group's assigned climate division compares to the other 9 climate divisions AND the statewide temperature data.  What conclusions would you come to based on your group's climate division data alone about temperature change in Ohio?  What conclusions do you come to when you consider all 10 climate divisions and the statewide averages?  

For your second post/reply (by 11:59pm Sun night): Reply to at least one classmate who posted about a DIFFERENT climate division than your group worked with.  Compare and contrast your temperature trends, and consider both their post, as well as your group's climate division, in the context of the statewide averages.  What value do we get by sharing, compiling, and collaborating to answer questions of climate change using more and more data from different areas?

Online Graded Discussion 3:

It's time to wrap up our research project!  

1. For your first post (by 11:59pm Wed night), please post a message describing:

a. one new thing that you learned about or learned to appreciate at a deeper level regarding climate change (and its impact on ecosystems).

b. one thing that you learned or skill you gained about scientific research (data analysis? graphing? working in a group? interpreting data?  something else?).

**You must post your initial message before you will be able to read and respond to other messages in the Discussion Topic.**

2. For your second post/reply (by 11:59pm Sun night):

Read through your classmates' posts and respond to at least ONE of your classmates' posts to extend/deepen the discussion on either the point regarding climate change/phenology OR conducting scientific research and data analysis.  Your comments should include your experiences/thoughts and discuss WHY it is important to understand these concepts and the scientific process in evaluating stories that are presented on the news, radio, newspapers, or online sources (including social media).

I modified the lab report rubric to meet the needs of my course. I didn't care for the long report rubric and the short report didn't have quite enough.