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    Undergraduates Learn Evolution Through Teaching Kindergartners About Blind Mexican Cavefish
    The development and implementation of a scientific outreach activity comes with a number of challenges. A successful outreach event must match the sophistication of content to the audience, be engaging, expand the knowledge base for participants,...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    Evolutionecologymorphologysensory biologycave biologycomparative biologyenvironmental differencesregressive lossstructure and function
    Lesson
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    455

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    Is Earth Currently Undergoing a Sixth Mass Extinction?
    The five Phanerozoic mass extinctions were central in shaping biodiversity on Earth today. Due to increasing biodiversity losses, there is debate about whether we are currently undergoing a sixth mass extinction. To help students better understand...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    conservationBiodiversityextinctionMass ExtinctionDeep Time
    Lesson
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    Breaking It Down: What Factors Control Microbial Decomposition Rates?
    Demonstrating and modeling changes in ecosystem processes in the laboratory classroom can be logistically difficult and expensive. This complexity often leaves little time for students to generate and test hypotheses. Yet, we must foster student...

    Courses: EcologyEcology MicrobiologyMicrobiology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    data analysishypothesis testingdata visualizationdata managementMicrobial RespirationDecompostionAbiotic ConditionsResults Communication
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    475

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    A Lesson on Matter and Energy at the Organismal Scale: Linking Patterns and Processes Across Diverse Taxa
    Pathways and transformations of energy and matter (PTEM) are a conceptually challenging but essential component of biological literacy. Curricular gaps about PTEM nevertheless remain; although lessons targeting PTEM at small scales (chemical,...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    plantsenergyAnimalsfungimatterorganismal scale
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    60

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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: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills ToxicologyToxicology

    human healthenvironmental injusticeEnvironmental PollutionSystemic BiasesIdeological AwarenessUrban Ecology and Development
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    491

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    Using Student Perceptions and Cooperative Learning to Unpack Primary Literature on Global Change
    This case describes a three-part assignment in which students discuss key processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system and our increased risk of generating large-scale abrupt or irreversible environmental changes. Here,...

    Courses: EcologyEcology

    global changeAnthropoceneEarth-systemplanetary boundary conceptthresholds
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    Developing Data Literacy Skills and Connecting the Student Experience in the Classroom to the Community Through Biodiversity Projects
    Undergraduate education and long-term science literacy are enhanced by integrating data projects with public datasets and creating analysis summaries. Underutilized public datasets are often generated by community-based or citizen science projects...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Plant BiologyPlant Biology

    species richnessBiodiversitydisturbanceHabitat rangePopulation abundance
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    Ain't No Mountain Pine Enough: A Case Study of How Mountain Pine Beetles are Affecting Ecosystem Processes
    This case study engages students in generating hypotheses and predictions, analyzing and interpreting data, critically evaluating contrasting results in science, and thinking about feedbacks between biota and abiotic ecosystem dynamics. To address...

    Courses: EcologyEcology

    population biologycarbon cyclingSpecies-habitat interactions
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    362

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    Bacteria to Brains in Backyard Coyotes: An Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Case Study
    Our interdisciplinary pedagogical case study explores the differences between rural and urban coyotes at the levels of organismal and community ecology. The focus is on how coyotes’ gut microbiomes could affect their behavior via...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution ImmunologyImmunology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology MicrobiologyMicrobiology

    dietanimal behaviorimmune systemmicrobiomeNervous systemgut-brain axisImmunoReachdysbiosisCoyoteCytokines
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    Integrating Community Ecology Into the Study of Parasites: Exploring the Effect of Host Behavior on Parasite Transmission Rates
    Organismal life cycles are often presented as a set of facts to memorize in undergraduate biology courses. This approach is cognitively demanding for students and fails to convey how central life cycle diversity is in shaping ecological and...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    statisticsspecies interactionsQuantitative reasoninggraphsCommunity EcologyParasitologyfood webs
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    Moths and Frogs and E. coli, Oh My!: Agent-based Modeling of Evolutionary Systems
    In evolution classrooms, introducing and reinforcing the idea of genetic drift and random selection can be challenging, as can be reinforcing appropriate mental models of evolution. Agent-based models offer students the opportunity to conduct a...

    Courses: BioinformaticsBioinformatics EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    modelingEvolutionecologyagent-based modelingGenetic Driftenvironmental scienceNatural Selectioncompetitive coevolutionsimulation modelingevolutionary reasoning
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    Squirreling from Afar: Adapting Squirrel-Net Modules for Remote Teaching and Learning
    The shift from face-to-face instruction to remote teaching and learning has proven to be a challenging endeavor for many reasons, including lack of time, resources, and inspiration. Lab courses, the "hands-on" portion of many curricula,...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    online learningbehavioral ecologyCUREsRemote teachingfield ecologySquirrelSquirrel-Net
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    Debating Conservation: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Introductory Biology Classes
    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...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    Restorationtrophic cascadeecosystem function
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    184

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    Nanoparticles and Shrimp: An Interdisciplinary Lab Series in Chemistry and Biology for Undergraduate Engineering Students
    The parallels between engineering and science are vast, as both disciplines apply theory and inquiry to solve complex problems. In order to prepare students for interdisciplinary careers in STEM, we have developed a lab project in which...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology EcologyEcology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    microscopychemistry applications in biologytoxicity
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    435

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    Using Images of Foraging Leaf-Cutter Ants to Teach Linear Regression
    This lesson offers students a realistic, open-inquiry research experience, even when lab or field research is not possible. We first introduce students to leaf-cutter ants and how they forage. Then we provide images and videos of foraging...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    linear regressionexperimental designPlant-insect interactionsSymbiosisForaging behavior
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    Teaching Biodiversity with Museum Specimens in an Inquiry-Based Lab
    In response to the growth of biology datasets and broad efforts to digitize data, an increasingly important skill for science students is the management and analysis of large datasets. We designed an inquiry-based lab module to introduce students...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    data analysisnatural historyphylogenyBiodiversitymammalsAllen's RuleBergmann's Ruleecogeographymuseum research
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    Out of Your Seat and on Your Feet! An adaptable course-based research project in plant ecology for advanced students
    University capstone projects can offer science students a rich research experience that illustrates the process of doing scientific research, and can also help students better choose future academic and career pathways. While capstone projects are...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Plant BiologyPlant Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    statisticsactive learningecologyinterdisciplinaryplantscommunicating sciencegroup workfield workproces of science
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    320

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    Marsh Madness: Using Video Games and a Case Study to Explore Food Webs and Ecosystem Services in Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve
    As the complexity and interconnectedness of our world increases, we are continually expected to be capable of complex, non-linear thinking in order to successfully tackle and solve the challenges we face in the 21st century. Tackling these...

    Courses: EcologyEcology

    food webssystems thinkingGame Based LearningEcosystem Servicessocio-ecological networks
    Lesson
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    102

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    Learning the Landscape: An Active and Applied Lesson on Landscape Ecology for General Ecology Courses
    Landscape ecology is an important subtopic of ecology. As a field, it is inherently interdisciplinary and provides opportunities to teach not only content, but transferable ecological and geographical skills. Given the broad spectrum of topics in...

    Courses: EcologyEcology

    landscape ecologyspatial scaleecosystem managementHabitat fragmentation
    LessonPlus
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    174

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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: EcologyEcology

    Disease ecologyurban ecologyUrban food forestsUrban heat islandsGenetic resistance