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    An Active Textbook Converts "Vision and Tweak" to Vision and Change
    Multiple reports over more than a century have documented the problems with the way introductory biology has been taught in most colleges and universities. An influential recent report, Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education, has...
    Lesson
    1822

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    374

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    Exploring Primary Scientific Literature through the Lens of the 5 Core Concepts of Biology
    Biology students at the undergraduate level usually excel in knowing biological facts; however, they often struggle with connecting these facts to specific biological principles. In parallel, undergraduate students often struggle to read primary...
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
    1792

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    703

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    "Boost your evolution IQ": An evolution misconceptions game
    Students often enter introductory biology courses with misconceptions about evolution. For example, many students believe that traits arise when a species needs them or that evolutionary processes are goal-oriented. To address these and other...

    Courses: EvolutionEvolution

    Lesson
    1564

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    300

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    Using QIIME to Interpret Environmental Microbial Communities in an Upper Level Metagenomics Course
    Metagenomics is rapidly evolving due to advances in sequencing technologies and bioinformatics, but without proper training to interpret these datasets, student understanding remains limited. Aimed at undergraduate juniors and seniors and graduate...
    Lesson
    1793

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    342

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    Cutthroat trout in Colorado: A case study connecting evolution and conservation
    Evaluation of evidence is a key process skill for the core competencies of applying the process of science and using quantitative reasoning. This case study enables upper-division biology students to practice these skills by applying evolutionary...
    Lesson
    1578

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    350

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    Understanding Protein Domains: A Modular Approach
    An understanding of protein structure, function, and interaction is central to biochemistry. One angle into this topic is to engage students in considering protein domains as modules that develop form and execute function semi-independently. Here,...
    Lesson
    2126

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    665

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    1

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    Sequence Similarity: An inquiry based and "under the hood" approach for incorporating molecular sequence alignment in introductory undergraduate biology courses
    Introductory bioinformatics exercises often walk students through the use of computational tools, but often provide little understanding of what a computational tool does "under the hood." A solid understanding of how a bioinformatics...
    Lesson
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    172

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    Online Information Literacy: Applying the CRAAP Test to Vaccine (Mis)information
    Teaching scientific literacy skills can help combat the propagation of misinformation online. This lesson is intended to give students practice identifying reliable scientific information on the Internet, in the context of vaccine safety. It was...
    Lesson
    2710

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    428

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    An Introduction to Eukaryotic Genome Analysis in Non-model Species for Undergraduates: A tutorial from the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching
    Advances in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology have led to development of many research methods for analyzing genomic data. Students studying biology at the undergraduate level must hone their skills at genomic analysis to participate in...
    Teaching Tools and Strategies
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    1718

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    A 360˚ View of COVID-19
    In March 2020, institutions underwent a massive transition to distance learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With so little time to devise new materials to maximize learning in the new virtual environment, instructors devised a variety of...
    Lesson
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    617

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    Predicting and classifying effects of insertion and deletion mutations on protein coding regions
    Mutations in genes can affect the encoded proteins in multiple ways, and some of these effects are counterintuitive. As for any other knowledge, students must create their own deep understanding of the Central Dogma. Students may not develop this...
    Lesson
    1248

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    65

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    Defining Life: Exploring Creativity, Scientific Discovery, and Biology Core Concepts in a Disciplinary First-Year Seminar
    This unit, Defining Life, engages students in thinking like scientists, applying creativity to science, and learning biology core concepts as they explore the defining characteristics of life. This unit provides an example of a curriculum designed...
    Lesson
    3296

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    642

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    Sorry to Eat and Run: A Lesson Plan for Testing Trade-off in Squirrel Behavior Using Giving Up Densities (GUDs)
    All animals need to find and compete for food, shelter, and mates in order to survive and reproduce. They also need to avoid being eaten by predators. Optimal foraging theory provides a framework to examine the trade-offs individuals make while...
    Lesson
    3072

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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...
    Lesson
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    192

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    It's a bird! It's a plane! It's biomechanics!
    Biomechanics is a discipline that draws from physics and engineering principles to understand the movement and structure of living organisms. It is highly interdisciplinary in nature and can be incorporated into general biology and ecology...
    Lesson
    3159

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    404

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    Honoring the Complexity of Genetics: Exploring the Role of Genes and the Environment Using Real World Examples
    Historically, undergraduate genetics courses have disproportionately focused on the impact of genes on phenotypes, rather than multifactorial concepts which consider how a combination of genes, the environment, and gene-by-environment interactions...
    Lesson
    2873

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    1006

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    Building Trees: Introducing evolutionary concepts by exploring Crassulaceae phylogeny and biogeography
    Teaching evolutionary theory is foundational for all biological sciences and a key aspect of overall science literacy. The conceptual framework for understanding evolution relies on thinking clearly about evolutionary trees (phylogenetics) and how...
    Lesson
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    942

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    Coevolution or not? Crossbills, squirrels and pinecones
    This case reinforces the concept of coevolution as a reciprocal change in genetic structure between or among two or more populations, by having students analyze and interpret data, build a descriptive model of the system, and use data to make...
    Lesson
    3668

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    1005

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    A Quick and Simple Natural Selection Role Play
    Teaching evolution remains a challenging task in biology education. Students enter the classroom with stubborn misconceptions and many traditional examples of the process of evolution may not resonate with students. This short role play activity...
    Lesson
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    CURE-all: Large Scale Implementation of Authentic DNA Barcoding Research into First-Year Biology Curriculum
    Growing calls in science education reform have emphasized wide-scale engagement of first-year undergraduate students in authentic research experiences; however, large course enrollments, inadequate student experience, limited resources and...