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    Fruit Fly Genetics in a Day: A Guided Exploration to Help Many Large Sections of Beginning Students Uncover the Secrets of Sex-linked Inheritance
    Moving beyond the basic concepts of autosomal Mendelian inheritance to sex-linkage can be difficult for introductory biology students. Although crosses with Drosophila fruit flies have long been a mainstay of genetics units that teach these...

    Courses: GeneticsGenetics

    Lesson
    2408

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    353

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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...
    Lesson
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    Teaching Genetic Linkage and Recombination through Mapping with Molecular Markers
    Most introductory genetics courses cover genetic linkage, a core concept in the CourseSource genetics learning outcome framework. Although it is a classical genetics topic, genetic linkage remains an important concept to understand in order to...
    Lesson
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    1121

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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...
    Lesson
    3473

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    725

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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...
    Lesson
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    288

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    Fragile States: A Case Study Exploring Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Biochemistry Through the Lens of Fragile X Syndrome
    This case aims to strengthen students’ understanding of molecular biology concepts through study of Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). Students begin by learning the cause and phenotypes of FXS and related conditions. Students then apply genetics...
    Lesson
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    495

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    Sex-specific differences in Meiosis: Real-world applications
    In traditional classrooms, students are typically presented with facts that they are asked to memorize and recall during an exam.  The rapid explosion of available scientific facts in recent years has made this model of teaching...
    Lesson
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    1205

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    Why Meiosis Matters: The case of the fatherless snake
    A compelling reason to learn something can make all the difference in students’ motivation to learn it.  Motivation, in turn, is one of the key attitudes that drives learning.  This story presents students with a compelling puzzle of a...
    Lesson
    925

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    275

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    Population Ecology of the Northern Spotted Owl
    The mathematical modeling of populations utilizing field-collected demographic data is an important component of lab curricula in a variety of undergraduate biology lab courses. During the global pandemic brought about by the SARS-CoV-2 virus in...
    Lesson
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    489

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    A Modeling Exercise in Sexual Selection using a Student-Created Bird Species
    Evolution-centered lessons at the undergraduate level can often be jargon-heavy, propagate misconceptions if taught ineffectively, and be uninteresting to students who may not see the relevancy of such concepts. This activity provides a fun and...
    Lesson
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    94

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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...
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    3

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    A Day in the Life of a Plant Breeder: A Role-Playing Game Integrating Plant Breeding Decisions to Downstream Market Outcomes
    Undergraduate genetics courses often have a strong molecular and mathematical focus without an applied framework illustrating downstream impacts of genetic decisions, especially within a plant breeding perspective. Subsequently, content tends to...
    Lesson
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    305

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    Learning Quantitative Genetics: Investigation of Genetic Control for Cold Stress Response in Plants
    Course-embedded undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for students have been shown to increase students’ understanding of the process of science, affirm their scientific identity, and improve retention in STEM fields. Despite many CUREs...

    Courses: GeneticsGenetics

    Lesson
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    66

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    The Science and Ethics of Gene Drives: An Active Learning Lesson in Genetics
    Coursework connecting biology to socially relevant issues and ethical questions can help students think about biology in interdisciplinary terms. Gene drives represent one topic involving both advanced biology concepts and societally relevant...

    Courses: GeneticsGenetics

    Teaching Tools and Strategies
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    272

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    The Pipeline CURE: An Iterative Approach to Introduce All Students to Research Throughout a Biology Curriculum
    Participation in research provides personal and professional benefits for undergraduates. However, some students face institutional barriers that prevent their entry into research, particularly those from underrepresented groups who may stand to...
    Lesson
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    160

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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...
    Lesson
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    513

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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...
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    An undergraduate bioinformatics curriculum that teaches eukaryotic gene structure
    Gene structure, transcription, translation, and alternative splicing are challenging concepts for many undergraduates studying biology. These topics are typically covered in a traditional lecture environment, but students often fail to master and...
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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...
    Lesson
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    How Do Kidneys Make Urine From Blood? Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches to Filtration, Secretion, Reabsorption, and Excretion
    The function of the kidneys is to help maintain a constant internal environment (homeostasis) by regulating the volume and chemical composition of the blood. This regulation occurs via three fundamental processes: filtration, secretion, and...