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  • Created 19 Oct 2016

Bringing Real Ecological Data into the Classroom: DryadLab on QUBESHub

 

DryadLab is the educational arm of the Dryad Data Repository and features several modules based on real ecological datasets. We will explore a DryadLab (http://datadryad.org/pages/dryadlab) curriculum module, demonstrating the many ways in which the module can be used and customized, based on individual class needs. DryadLab modules may be adapted to a wide range of courses, and include skillsets from basic statistics and graphing to more advanced analysis. We will demonstrate how to use the QUBESHub resources to support student exploration of the module.  Both DryadLab and QUBESHub are open access resources designed to support quantitative biology in the undergraduate classroom.  We will also highlight effective pedagogical approaches to teaching these modules to both introductory and advanced biology students.  

DryadLab modules encourage students to focus on core competencies such as critical thinking and data analysis by promoting an active learning environment. Through the use of authentic ecological data sets, students develop an ability to analyze and represent data to solve a problem, understand the relationship between the data and the hypothesis, cope with missing data, recognize confounding factors, interpret ambiguous results, and come to better understand how scientific knowledge is constructed.