Teaching resources, especially active learning pedagogy, are scarce for toxicology compared to what is available for other disciplines. Ecological and human health risk assessment are important aspects of toxicology and are routinely used by government agencies to regulate the registration and usage of many chemicals. Most traditional toxicology classes do not cover how such risk assessments are carried out in real-world scenarios. We developed this case study to introduce concepts and processes of ecological and human health risk assessment in pesticide registration by the U.S. EPA. In Part 1, dialogues among three college friends introduce organic food, pesticides, and the concept of risk. Part 2 and Part 3 build on Part 1 and focus on ecological risk assessment and human health risk assessment, respectively. At the end of each section, students select appropriate exposure and toxicity endpoints to perform a mini-risk assessment and draw conclusions regarding risk. In Part 4, students examine real pesticide monitoring data in various foods and perform basic data organization and analysis. This case is appropriate for upper-level college students taking toxicology or other environmental science related courses. With modifications, the case study may also be suitable for introductory level environmental and biological science students.

Primary image: Assortment of fruit. This image shows some common fruit and fruit drinks.

The ability to collate information from diverse scientific resources and effectively employ scientific writing is an essential skill for scientists. This lesson describes a semester-long project entitled “Pick Your Poison,” which is designed for use in a one-semester Toxicology course. Students are each assigned to or choose their own individual toxicant as a case study from a pre-selected list of toxicants (poisons) that align with the theme of the course. As content is covered in the course, students complete ten scaffolded, low-stakes writing modules that are shared with groupmates of 4–5 students. Each module covers a major feature of the toxicant, such as chemical features, characteristics of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME), and organ-specific toxicities. Students share their work with their group mates and the instructor, peer review one another’s work, and then edit their original post as appropriate to produce a concise, 3–4 paragraph product. At the end of the course, students compile their writing modules into an article in the format of the Encyclopedia of Toxicology. This project can be adapted to any toxicology course through alteration of the content and number of modules and/or the type of final deliverable. Several evidence-based and inclusive teaching practices are included, such as writing-to-learn, peer review, and low-stakes assessments.

Primary Image: A picture of the online discussions for two of the ten modules.

Could use for visit to k-12

Multicellular biofilms constructed by microbes are key aspects of microbiology with significant implications in various fields, including medicine, environmental science, and biotechnology. While bacteria spend nearly all their lives in biofilms, many students do not study them in detail in a course setting. Consequentially, students have misperceptions that microbes exist as free-living single-cell organisms and cannot understand the biofilm lifestyle accurately. Here, I present a comprehensive and engaging lab lesson plan designed for students to explore the concepts of biofilm lifestyle and compare biofilms to cities using a think-group-share strategy. Students are asked to individually define biofilms and relate them to living in a city, followed by forming small groups, and then discussing them as an entire class. The class will understand the different aspects of biofilms in each step of the life cycle from colonization to dispersal. Subsequently, the students will put their knowledge into practice by completing an activity where they must sort different functional activities into the following steps in the biofilm life cycle: colonization, formation, maturation, and dispersal. This analogy-based activity encourages comparative analysis and fosters long-term learning. I observed that students actively participated in the learning activity, which also cultivated a sense of class community during the sharing session. An end-of-module review activity six weeks later showed that the students could still recall the knowledge learned during the lesson. This lesson activity has several advantages: it is easy for the teacher to implement within 20–30 minutes and convenient for the students to engage with biofilm biology.

Primary Image: Comparison of a biofilm to a city. The biofilm has similar analogies to a city. 

Students evaluate evidence for evolution of Darwin's finches using authentic research data sets collected by Peter and Rosemary Grant.

Case Study for Genetics or Molec Lab

One key to student success in introductory and cell biology courses is a foundational knowledge of cellular respiration. This is a content area in which students often harbor misconceptions that make cellular respiration particularly challenging to teach. Conventional approaches presenting cellular respiration as a complex series of isolated steps creates a situation where students tend to memorize the steps but fail to appreciate the bigger picture of how cells transform and utilize energy. Instructors frequently struggle to find ways to motivate students and encourage deeper learning. The learning goals of this cellular respiration lesson are to understand energy transfer in a biological system, develop data analysis skills, practice hypothesis generation, and appreciate the importance of cellular respiration in everyday life. These goals are achieved by using a case study as the focal point. The case-based lesson is supported with student-centered instructional strategies, such as individual and group activity sheets, in-class group discussions and debate, and in-class clicker questions. This lesson has been implemented at two institutions in large enrollment introductory biology courses and in a smaller upper-division biochemistry course.

One key to student success in introductory and cell biology courses is a foundational knowledge of cellular respiration. This is a content area in which students often harbor misconceptions that make cellular respiration particularly challenging to teach. Conventional approaches presenting cellular respiration as a complex series of isolated steps creates a situation where students tend to memorize the steps but fail to appreciate the bigger picture of how cells transform and utilize energy. Instructors frequently struggle to find ways to motivate students and encourage deeper learning. The learning goals of this cellular respiration lesson are to understand energy transfer in a biological system, develop data analysis skills, practice hypothesis generation, and appreciate the importance of cellular respiration in everyday life. These goals are achieved by using a case study as the focal point. The case-based lesson is supported with student-centered instructional strategies, such as individual and group activity sheets, in-class group discussions and debate, and in-class clicker questions. This lesson has been implemented at two institutions in large enrollment introductory biology courses and in a smaller upper-division biochemistry course.

Developing student creativity and ability to develop a testable hypothesis represents a significant challenge in most laboratory courses. This lesson demonstrates how students use facets of molecular evolution and bioinformatics approaches involving protein sequence alignments (Clustal Omega, Uniprot) and 3D structure visualization (Pymol, JMol, Chimera), along with an analysis of pertinent background literature, to construct a novel hypothesis and develop a research proposal to explore their hypothesis. We have used this approach in a variety of institutional contexts (community college, research intensive university and primarily undergraduate institutions, PUIs ) as the first component in a protein-centric course-embedded undergraduate research experience (CURE) sequence. Built around the enzyme malate dehydrogenase, the sequence illustrates a variety of foundational concepts from the learning framework for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The lesson has three specific learning goals: i) find, use and present relevant primary literature, protein sequences, structures, and analyses resulting from the use of bioinformatics tools, ii) understand the various roles that non-covalent interactions may play in the structure and function of an enzyme. and iii) create/develop a testable and falsifiable hypothesis and propose appropriate experiments to interrogate the hypothesis. For each learning goal, we have developed specific assessment rubrics. Depending on the needs of the course, this approach builds to an in-class student presentation and/or a written research proposal. The module can be extended over several lecture and lab periods. Furthermore, the module lends itself to additional assessments including oral presentation, research proposal writing and the validated pre-post Experimental Design Ability Test (EDAT). Although presented in the context of course-based research on malate dehydrogenase, the approach and materials presented are readily adaptable to any protein of interest.

Primary image: Mind map of the hypothesis development.

Providing undergraduate life-science students with a course-based research experience that utilizes cutting-edge technology, is tractable for students, and is manageable as an instructor is a challenge. Here, I describe a multi-week lesson plan for a laboratory-based course with the goal of editing the genome of budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Students apply knowledge regarding advanced topics such as: CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, DNA repair, genetics, and cloning. The lesson requires students to master skills such as bioinformatics analysis, restriction enzyme digestion, ligation, basic microbiology skills, polymerase chain reaction, and plasmid purification. Instructors are led through the technical aspects of the protocols, as well as the teaching philosophy involved throughout the laboratory experience. As it stands, the laboratory lesson is appropriate for 6-8 weeks of an upper-level undergraduate laboratory course, but may be adapted for shorter stints and students with less experience. Students complete the lesson with a more realistic idea of life science research and report significant learning gains. I anticipate this lesson to provide instructors and students in undergraduate programs with a hands-on, discovery-based learning experience that allows students to cultivate skills essential for success in the life sciences.

This interdisciplinary pedagogical case study focuses on differences between rural and urban coyotes at the levels of organismal and community ecology, including how their gut microbiomes could affect their behaviour. The health and fitness of rural and urban coyote populations vary dramatically with the latter being poor as a result of their consumption of carbohydrate-rich anthropogenic food, compared to a more natural protein-rich diet. This difference is associated with altered gut microbiome composition. The case explores how altered microbiomes can influence behavior changes through the gut-brain axis. Cross talk between the brain and gut microbiome involves multiple physiological systems including the immune, endocrine, and nervous systems. This case showcases the interdisciplinary nature of science by having students explore the connection between these macro and micro-level systems. It is based on a manuscript by Sugden et al. (2020) supporting the existence of distinct gut microbiomes in rural and urban coyotes. Interdisciplinary connection - Immunology+Microbiology+Ecology+Animal Behavior

Use GEOLocate to assign geographic coordinates to natural history collections specimens

Best practices for designing educational modules using biodiversity data

An appreciation of organismal diversity is a requirement for understanding evolution and ecology, and can serve as a source of amazement and wonder that inspires students to enjoy biology. However, biodiversity can be a challenging subject to teach: it often turns into a procession of facts to memorize and a disorienting list of Latin names. To help engage students in this topic, we developed an activity in which each student contributes to a class "biodiversity tour" of strange and intriguing species. Students in our large-enrollment introductory biology course use the Internet to find a species that interests them and that they think will interest their peers. They research their species and complete a worksheet to report their findings. Then they meet in discussion sections of ~32 students (in person or online) where each student gives a brief presentation about their species using a slide they have prepared, producing a lively, crowd-sourced, rapid-fire nature documentary. The performance for their peers motivates students to find the strangest species possible. Students overwhelmingly reported that this activity taught them something new about life on Earth and increased their interest in our planet's species. Many students also reported that this activity caused them to talk to someone about biology outside of the class and increased their personal connection to the natural world, suggesting that it helped them see the relevance of biology to their everyday lives. This simple activity can enrich an introductory biology course of almost any size.

Primary image: Photos of some of the species chosen by students in Fall 2019.

Students predict changes to tadpole morphology and coloration after considering characteristics of the predator species and the prey themselves then test their own hypotheses (typically with t-tests or ANOVA) by collecting novel data via image...

Role-playing activities in the classroom promote students’ critical thinking, research, and communication skills. We present an activity where students debate a current controversy in conservation. In our case study, students debate the topic of wolf reintroduction in California. Each student is assigned a stakeholder role (e.g., rancher, environmental scientist, hunter, or politician) and a position (either pro or con). First, the whole class participates in a vote on the debate topic so as to register pre-debate sentiment. Then, in the first part of the activity (75 minutes or as homework), students prepare arguments with others representing their stakeholder group by reading the primary and secondary literature and answering guided questions. In the second part of the activity (75 minutes), students participate in a live debate divided into three sections: introductory arguments, questions from the jury, and concluding arguments. The whole class then votes again to decide the winner of the debate, leading to a discussion about which factors do and do not lead to changes in understanding and opinion. The interdisciplinary nature of this activity reinforces student knowledge on ecological networks, keystone species, and natural history, as well as introduces the importance of non-scientific stakeholders in conservation. While this case study focuses on the reintroduction of wolves in California, the activity can be adapted to the reintroduction of controversial species in other regions, or used as a framework for any debatable topic in conservation biology.

Primary Image: The reintroduction of the gray wolf Canis lupus is a controversial topic in conservation biology and environmental policy.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is based on deep understanding of systems from observations made over hundreds to thousands of years. This resource connects TEK to modern conservation through media and primary literature interpretation.

Metacognitive approach to improving students ability to read complex science articles.

This project focuses on the use of data analysis problems to introduce students to specific topics in microbiology and to give them practice in the interpretation of figures and tables of data. Each problem is based on a single journal article and includes five to eight multiple-choice questions.

In this activity, students will analyze raw data obtained from an experiment that explores the effect of overexpressing the Ssk protein in order to strengthen the intestinal barrier and prevent bacteria from leaking out of the gut and into the hemolymph, which is the fruit fly equivalent to blood in the circulatory system. Using Excel, students will fit an exponential function to the few known data points and will then interpolate the missing data points and extrapolate a few future data points. They will also learn how they can fit a linear model by transforming the data (applying the logarithmic function) and use that model to estimate the missing data points. This activity involves both statistical analysis and mathematical modeling as well as displaying the usefulness of mathematical models for biological data analysis.

Students use their number sense to make observations and come up with reasonable guesses or explanations for the patterns shown. These are some specifically for microbiology.

A user guide and video instructions for GBIF