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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
    Lesson
    3288

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    547

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    A Student-Led Hearing on the Use of HeLa Cells in Research
    In this role-playing case study, students will learn about the HeLa cell line and its origins while examining multiple perspectives surrounding the cell line and its uses. The goal of this case study is for students to use guided questions to...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    bioethicsscience policycell culturedebateHeLa cellsinformed consentrole playsocial justice issues
    Lesson
    4332

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    83

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    The Great Petunia Carnage of 2017: A Clicker Case Study Using Petunias to Describe the Effect of Genetic Modification on the Biochemistry of Flower Color and Phenotype in Plants
    In this single class period case study, students examine the difference between genotype and phenotype by studying the mechanisms by which commercially available petunias have been bred to have different phenotypes (flower colors). Students review...

    Courses: GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Plant BiologyPlant Biology

    case studyGenetic ModificationsBiochemistry of Flower ColorGMO regulationsGenotype-Phenotype Connections
    Lesson
    1482

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    158

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    0

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    Infectious Chocolate Joy with a Side of Poissonian Statistics: An activity connecting life science students with subtle physics concepts
    Introductory physics courses are required for many programs in the life sciences, yet traditional curricula fail to help students meaningfully connect physical concepts with biological systems.  In this lesson, we describe an activity taught...

    Courses: BioinformaticsBioinformatics MicrobiologyMicrobiology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    quantitative biologyHIVmultiplicity of infectionPoisson DistributionPhysics for biologists
    Lesson
    996

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    137

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    0

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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 BiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Cell BiologyCell Biology GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    critical thinkingcentral dogmaanalogical reasoning
    Lesson
    2993

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    346

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    A Muscular Dystrophy Case Study Illustrating the Phenotypic Effects of Mutation
    Mutations in genes can lead to a variety of phenotypes, including various human diseases. Students often understand that a particular mutation in a single gene causes a disease phenotype, but it is more challenging to illustrate complex genetic...

    Courses: Developmental BiologyDevelopmental Biology GeneticsGenetics

    mutationProtein Structureethicscentral dogmahuman disease
    Lesson
    2403

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    343

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    0

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    Sex and gender: What does it mean to be female or male?
    This lesson provides three activities to engage non-science major students in a discussion about sex, gender, gender identity, and sex determination. Students prepare for the lesson by reading a short article titled Sex and gender: What is the...

    Courses: Anatomy-PhysiologyAnatomy-Physiology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    gendersex determinationgender identitysex
    Lesson
    3499

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    767

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    2

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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: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution Plant BiologyPlant Biology

    phylogenyBiodiversityphotosynthesisalgaeseaweedmonophyly
    Lesson
    1843

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    424

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    Teaching epidemiology and principles of infectious disease using popular media and the case of Typhoid Mary
    Allied health students often struggle to understand how particular content, such as epidemiology, connects to their future careers. This activity uses the case of Typhoid Mary as a foundation for exploring epidemiology and infectious disease...

    Courses: MicrobiologyMicrobiology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    epidemiologycase studyinfectous diseasepopular mediaTyphoid Mary
    Lesson
    4296

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    1460

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    Evaluating the Quick Fix: Weight Loss Drugs and Cellular Respiration
    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...

    Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Cell BiologyCell Biology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    data analysisCellular RespirationElectron Transport ChainEnergy transformationsMitochondriaOxidative phosphorylationWeight loss drugs24-dinitrophenol (DNP)
    Lesson
    4370

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    1260

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    What is Speciation, How Does It Occur, and Why Is It Important for Conservation?
    Speciation provides a framework for classifying biodiversity on Earth and is a central concept in evolutionary biology. To help undergraduate students learn about speciation, we designed a student-centered lesson that uses active-learning...

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

    EvolutionconservationGenetic DriftSpeciationNatural SelectionBiological species conceptgene flowMorphological species conceptPhylogenetic species concept
    Lesson
    3931

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    454

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    0

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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
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
    1338

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    50

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    Using Constructed Response Questions on High-Stakes Assessments in Large Classes With Limited Support
    Large lecture courses often rely heavily, and sometimes exclusively, on Multiple Choice (MC) exams to assess student learning. Constructed Response (CR) questions, in which students generate their own answers, can provide more insight into student...

    Courses: GeneticsGenetics

    assessmenttestexamLarge classconstructed responseshort answerscoring
    Lesson
    1260

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    92

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    Gender and Classroom Participation: A Case for Quantitative Analysis
    Teaching statistics to students using authentic research is one way to highlight the transferability and value of the material taught in the class. Below we describe an activity in Statistics for Biological and Health Sciences (STAT2510), an...

    Courses: Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    statisticsgenderpopulationProportionSampleEquality
    Lesson
    2553

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    173

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    Forensic Phylogenetics: Implementing Tree-thinking in a Court of Law
    Here we describe an in-class activity developed for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity (BioEE1780) at Cornell University, an introductory course required of all biology majors. This activity offers instructors an engaging and real-life...

    Courses: MicrobiologyMicrobiology

    phylogeneticsTree thinkingparaphyly
    Lesson
    1529

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    305

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    0

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    Promoting Climate Change Literacy for Non-majors: Implementation of an atmospheric carbon dioxide modeling activity as an inquiry-based classroom activity
    Students who are directly involved in scientific activities develop a deeper understanding and appreciation of both scientific knowledge and the scientific process. This understanding is critically important in scientific areas like climate change...

    Courses: Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    modelingExcelquantitativeclimate changeEnvironmental Biologyatmospheric carbon dioxide
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
    5681

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    183

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    0

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    Walkabout: An Easy to Use, Experiential Learning Activity for Applying Abstract Concepts to the Real-World
    Students can have difficulty recognizing examples of course concepts in the real-world. They particularly struggle with phenomena that are ambiguously defined, have mimics, or are hard to distinguish from other phenomena. Students can better...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    data gatheringgreen technologyobservations
    Lesson
    3025

    views

    550

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    0

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    An Original-Design Board Game to Increase Student Comprehension of Cellular Respiration Pathways
    Cellular respiration is a daunting topic for many students in introductory biology courses. Students are challenged at conceptual and factual levels, since instruction covers multiple metabolic pathways occurring across different cellular...

    Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Cell BiologyCell Biology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    GlycolysisCellular RespirationFermentationKrebs CycleOxidative phosphorylationpyruvate oxidation
    Lesson
    1358

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    513

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    0

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    Using Pathway Maps to Link Concepts, Peer Review, Primary Literature Searches and Data Assessment in Large Enrollment Classes: An example from teaching ecosystem ecology
    As with many other complex topics, teaching ecosystem ecology can be particularly difficult in terms of helping students understand the relationships between the various component parts. We addressed this challenge in a general ecology course by...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    energyecosystemNutrientsPathway
    Lesson
    3469

    views

    724

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    0

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    Homologous chromosomes? Exploring human sex chromosomes, sex determination and sex reversal using bioinformatics approaches
    Constructing a robust understanding of homologous chromosomes, sex chromosomes, and the particulate nature of genes is a notoriously difficult task for undergraduate biology students. In this lesson, students expand their knowledge of human...

    Courses: BioinformaticsBioinformatics GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    bioinformaticsautosomehomologous chromosomeshomologous recombinationsex chromosomesex determinationsex reversal mutations