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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...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    Evolutionfitnesssexual selectionNatural Selectionintersexual selectionmate choice
    Lesson
    5655

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    1168

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    3

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    Meiosis: A Play in Three Acts, Starring DNA Sequence
    Meiosis is well known for being a sticky topic that appears repeatedly in biology curricula. We observe that a typical undergraduate biology major cannot correctly identify haploid and diploid cells or explain how and why chromosomes pair before...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    recombinationmeiosisDNA sequenceCrossingoverchromosome structureHolliday junctionhomology
    Lesson
    3619

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    954

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    Life Is Just a Game: An Active Learning Activity to Teach Life History Evolution
    A novel activity was designed to introduce students to the concepts of natural selection and life history using an active-learning, constructivist format. It consisted of two parts: 1) a brief introduction to the basic mechanism of natural...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution

    Evolutionlife historytrade-offsdiversityNatural Selection
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
    913

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    132

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    Biology from Molecules to Embryos, Interactive Animated Lessons
    Visualizing kinetic processes can be an impediment to student mastery of basic science coursework. To remedy this obstacle, I created an educational program called Biology from Molecules to Embryos© (BioME), which provides 28 animated lessons...

    Courses: Developmental BiologyDevelopmental Biology GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    geneticsBIOMEEmbryologycomputer assisted instructioneducational programeducational videosonline lessonsanimated lessonseducational website
    Lesson
    3995

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    416

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    Using Place-Based Economically Relevant Organisms to Improve Student Understanding of the Roles of Carbon Dioxide, Sunlight, and Nutrients in Photosynthetic Organisms
    Biology students require broad preparation for diverse careers including agriculture, natural resource management, and laboratory research. Concurrent with this need, employers are seeking applicants who have the scientific skills that allow them...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Plant BiologyPlant Biology

    energyphotosynthesisbiomass
    Lesson
    5366

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    1017

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    1

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    An active-learning lesson that targets student understanding of population growth in ecology
    Effective teaching and learning of population ecology requires integration of quantitative literacy skills. To facilitate student learning in population ecology and provide students with the opportunity to develop and apply quantitative skills, we...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    population growthexponential growthlogistic growthpopulation ecologygrowth rateDensityAbundancecarrying capacitylinear growth
    Lesson
    6535

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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...

    Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biology BioinformaticsBioinformatics GeneticsGenetics Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    geneticsbioinformaticsdrosophilachi-square analysiscomplementation mappingmode of inheritancethree-point mapping
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
    2825

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    394

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    0

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    The Flight Physics Concept Inventory: Reliably Evaluating Aerodynamic Lift, Drag and Associated (Naïve) Concepts of Flight in Class and In-Game
    Students often struggle to transfer conceptual understanding from isolated instruction to a coherent mental model. This is especially true for the context of flight physics, fluid dynamics, or the concepts of aerodynamic lift, drag, stall, center...

    Courses: Introductory Physics: Calculus-BasedIntroductory Physics: Calculus-Based

    active learninggamificationmisconceptionsaerodynamicsfluid dynamicsResearch-based assessment instrumentConceptual SurveyPRE-/POST-test
    Lesson
    4110

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    596

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    Splicing it Together: Using Primary Data to Explore RNA Splicing and Gene Expression in Large-Lecture Introductory Biology
    At the heart of scientific ways of knowing is the systematic collection and analysis of data, which is then used to propose an explanation of how the world works. In this two-day module, students in a large-lecture course are immersed in a...

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

    gene regulationtranscriptiongene expressioncentral dogmarepressoralternative splicingmRNA processingActivatorTranscription factors
    Lesson
    1262

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    93

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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
    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...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    demographyCommunity Ecologypopulation ecologyconservation biologylife tables
    Lesson
    3076

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    453

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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
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
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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
    3498

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    853

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    Furry with a chance of evolution: Exploring genetic drift with tuco-tucos
    Genetic drift is an important mechanism of evolution, yet undergraduates often fail to understand how it leads to evolutionary change due in part to its random nature. This lesson plan describes a simulation-based activity that allows students to...

    Courses: EvolutionEvolution

    EvolutionGenetic DriftBottle neckFounder effectRandom evolutionary processes
    Lesson
    379

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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
    Lesson
    1044

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    174

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    To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate
    To vaccinate or not to vaccinate, that is the question. Much of the recent trend in society against vaccination is that the general population does not understand 1) how vaccines work and 2) how one's vaccination status can influence others....

    Courses: Anatomy-PhysiologyAnatomy-Physiology Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology MicrobiologyMicrobiology

    pathogenELISAimmunityantibodyAntigen
    Lesson
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    737

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    A simple way for students to visualize cellular respiration: adapting the board game MousetrapTM to model complexity
    Lecture-based introductory biology courses are typically content-heavy as instructors strive to provide students with foundational knowledge in a broad range of topics.  One topic traditionally covered is cellular respiration, the series of...

    Courses: Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    ATPGlycolysisCellular RespirationElectron Transport ChainKrebs Cycle
    Lesson
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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
    Lesson
    2043

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    370

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    Drawing “Octo-Pines”: Ice-Breaker Active-Learning Activities to Introduce Drawing-to-Learn in Biology
    Drawing has been advocated as a technique to develop visual literacy and observational skills in biology students. To increase student motivation and confidence to draw in our course, we developed an introductory active-learning lesson with a...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution

    Zoologydrawingdrawing-to-learnice breaker
    Lesson
    2280

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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

    data analysisrecombinationplantsquantitative geneticsabiotic stress responsegenetic control of complex traitsinheritance of complex traits