CourseSource: Resources

Teaching Tools and Strategies

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"I Really Enjoy These Annotations:" Examining Primary Biological Literature Using Collaborative Annotation

Critically reading and evaluating claims made in the primary literature are vital skills for the future professional and personal lives of undergraduate students. However, the formal presentation of intricate content in primary research articles...

Courses: Developmental Biology Neurobiology

Stem cellsAdult neurogenesisCRISPR gene editing

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Mapping a Mutation to its Gene: The "Fly Lab" as a Modern Research Experience

Although genetics is an invaluable part of the undergraduate biology curriculum, it can be intimidating to students as well as instructors: Students must reduce their reliance on memorization and dive deep into quantitative analysis, and...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Bioinformatics Genetics Science Process Skills

geneticsbioinformaticsdrosophilachi-square analysiscomplementation mappingmode of inheritancethree-point mapping

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Visits to the writing center and office hours provide students structured reflection and low-stakes feedback on scientific writing in an Introductory Biology course

Effective written communication of scientific concepts is a critical, but difficult skill for undergraduate STEM majors to acquire. Oftentimes, the grades of lab reports are negatively impacted by sentence structure and the failure to adhere to...

Courses: Introductory Biology

scientific writingwater qualityanalysis of results

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Learning to Pipet Correctly by Pipetting Incorrectly?

Beginning undergraduate students in biology need basic laboratory, data analysis, and science process skills to pursue more complex questions in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). To this end, we designed an introductory...

Courses: Introductory Biology Science Process Skills

statisticslaboratorypipetting

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GMC: Genes, Mutations and Cancer - Group Concept Map Development

It has been shown that active learning strategies used in the classroom can increase student learning and retention of information. We generated an active learning exercise that can be used in the classroom to explore the relationship between...

Courses: Cell Biology Genetics Introductory Biology

mutationcancerCell Division

Teaching Tools and Strategies

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A "How-to" Guide For Producing Recorded Interviews

Now that almost every student carries a camera in their pocket, student-created digital media items can be used to supplement curriculum material and as assessment. Although students can easily record interviews, events, and activities on their...

Courses: Introductory Biology

communicationemployabilitygathering data

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Plotting Cranial and Spinal Nerve Pathways in a Human Anatomy Lab

Hands-on experiences with cadavers, animal dissections, or plastic models are effective at improving student learning and attitudes in human anatomy courses. The hands-on experience allows students to visualize and experiment with anatomical...

Courses: Anatomy-Physiology Science Process Skills

human anatomyNervous systemBrainCranial nerveNerveSpinal cordSpinal nerve

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Go Extinct! An Award-Winning Evolution Game That Teaches Tree-Thinking as Students Pursue the Winning Strategy

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...

Courses: Evolution

phylogeneticsnatural historyBiodiversitycladogramCommon ancestorEvolutionary treeLand vertebratesMonophyletic cladeTetrapods

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Using Yeast to Make Scientists: A Six-Week Student-Driven Research Project for the Cell Biology Laboratory

Traditionally-trained undergraduate students often lack an understanding of science as an active process that yields the information presented in their textbooks. One result has been a call for more research experiences built into traditional...

Courses: Cell Biology Science Process Skills

yeastgrowth curvecell proliferationviability

LessonPlus

2015

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The Power of Place: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience Studying Urban Ecology, Local Apple Trees and Disease Susceptibility

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) offered early in an undergraduate student’s career have the potential to include a greater number and diversity of students than one-on-one mentored research. CUREs that use a...

Courses: Ecology Ecology

Disease ecologyurban ecologyUrban food forestsUrban heat islandsGenetic resistance

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Environmental Injustice: When the Grass is Greener on the Other Side

Environmental pollution is a global threat that is especially prevalent in heavily industrialized and urbanized areas. Pollution can be found in many forms, such as natural and synthetic pollutants from natural and anthropogenic processes. These...

Courses: Ecology Ecology Introductory Biology Science Process Skills Toxicology

human healthenvironmental injusticeEnvironmental PollutionSystemic BiasesIdeological AwarenessUrban Ecology and Development

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Student-Generated Analogies for Learning about Information Flow

Using analogies is a standard practice for both teaching and communicating ideas in science. Here we upend the traditional lesson, where the instructor provides a fully constructed analogy and explains it, by having the students develop a complex...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Cell Biology Genetics Introductory Biology

critical thinkingcentral dogmaanalogical reasoning

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An Interrupted Case Study on Urban Prairie Restoration

Engaging students in meaningful discussions can be a challenging task for science instructors, especially in introductory courses. The story-telling approach used in case studies can increase student participation by demonstrating the relevance of...

Courses: Ecology Ecology Introductory Biology Science Process Skills

urban ecologyPrescribed fireEcosystem Servicesecological restorationwoody encroachmentrangeland ecology

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Snail Races: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Learn Invasive Species Ecology

Inquiry-based lessons allow learning that is hands-on and student-driven, fostering engagement and retention of knowledge in any discipline. Here, we use this learning framework to engage students in exploring the effects of biotic and abiotic...

Courses: Ecology Ecology

ecologyenvironmentInvasive SpeciesScience CommunicationScientific InquiryDispersal

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Fatty Acid Induction of Lipid Droplets in Cancer Cells

There is a growing need for the development and communication of cell culture-based laboratory activities specifically designed for undergraduate students. This multi-week laboratory activity allows students to take part in the planning,...

Courses: Cell Biology Science Process Skills

Course based undergraduate researchCell ImagingLive Cell Staining

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Defining and Understanding Pathogenic Disease: An Engaging Activity that Connects Students' Lived Experiences with their Academic Studies

Contagious diseases are unavoidable realities of life. Thus, understanding pathogens and their respective diseases is important in many biological subfields including evolution, ecology, health sciences, microbiology, and others. While all college...

Courses: Ecology Ecology Introductory Biology Microbiology

infectious diseasePathogenspathogenic disease

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How to Find a Gene: Retrieving Information From Gene Databases

A strong understanding of distinct gene components and the ability to retrieve relevant information from gene databases are necessary to answer a diverse set of biological questions. However, often there is a considerable gap between...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Bioinformatics Cell Biology Genetics Introductory Biology

NCBItranscriptiontranslationGene StructureGene databasesEnsembl

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Film as a Powerful Tool for Increasing Awareness of the Importance of Belonging in STEM

People of color in STEM fields can face a variety of challenges with belonging due to structural, cultural, psychological, and institutional barriers. The professional development sessions described in this lesson involved using film as well as...

Courses: Professional Development and Career Planning

steminclusionfilmbelonging

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Learning About Protein Localization: A Lesson for Analyzing Figures in a Scientific Publication

In order to function correctly, proteins must be localized to a specific subcellular location. We have designed this lesson to use data from the primary literature to teach students about the mechanisms cells use to direct proteins to the...

Courses: Cell Biology Science Process Skills

colocalizationimmunofluorescenceProtein localizationsignal sequencessubcellular fractionationwestern blotting

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"Got Algae?" A Sorting Game for Introducing the Weird and Wonderful Diversity of Algae

Algae are a fascinating and diverse organismal group, with global ecological importance, a storied evolutionary history and deep connections to both contemporary and historical human societies. Yet non-experts who teach algal diversity face a lack...

Courses: Ecology Ecology Evolution Plant Biology