CourseSource: Resources

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A first lesson in mathematical modeling for biologists: Rocs

Using a fictitious population of Rocs, a mythical species of giant raptor, students accomplish two broad objectives: 1) they undertake the process of building a first mathematical model of a population, and 2) they begin to develop their...

Courses: Ecology Ecology Introductory Biology Science Process Skills

population ecologypopulation modelingdiscrete generationpopulation management

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1529

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305

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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 Biology Science Process Skills

modelingExcelquantitativeclimate changeEnvironmental Biologyatmospheric carbon dioxide

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3703

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827

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Breaking Bricks: A Hands-On Model of Enzyme Kinetics and Inhibition

Enzyme kinetics and the impacts of inhibitors on the enzyme's maximal velocity and ability to bind substrates are important topics in cell biology and biochemistry. However, these topics can be difficult for students to grasp when instructed...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Cell Biology

kineticsEnzymecompetitive inhibition

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1882

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639

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A Close-Up Look at PCR

The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a fundamental laboratory technique that allows for the amplification of many copies of a desired DNA target sequence. Despite its prevalence, undergraduate students often have poor comprehension about the...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Genetics Introductory Biology Science Process Skills

PCRDNA replication

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2053

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BioVEDA Curriculum: An Approach to Link Conceptual and Quantitative Understanding of Variation During Experimental Design and Data Analysis

When performing a biological investigation, experts constantly cycle between conceptual and quantitative modes of thinking, integrating their understanding in both worlds to make decisions about their work. This cycling and mixing of conceptual...

Courses: Science Process Skills

statisticssample sizeBiological variation

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2688

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Harnessing the Power of the Immune System: Influenza Vaccines

Because most people have been infected by and/or immunized against influenza, students should know how the immune system responds to the infection and how vaccines protect against disease. Vaccines have played an instrumental role in disease...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Immunology Science Process Skills

VaccinesInfluenzaImmunizationVaccine efficacy

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448

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Teaching Advanced Concepts in Regulation of the Lac Operon With Modeling and Simulation

Success in biochemistry and other life science courses requires that students understand important biological concepts. One of these concepts is how gene regulation ensures that homeostasis is maintained in an organism. The lac operon is a...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

gene regulationinducible operonProkaryotic cellPhosphoenolpyruvate transferase system (PTS)

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1482

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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: Bioinformatics Microbiology Science Process Skills

quantitative biologyHIVmultiplicity of infectionPoisson DistributionPhysics for biologists

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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 Biology Bioinformatics Genetics Science Process Skills

geneticsbioinformaticsdrosophilachi-square analysiscomplementation mappingmode of inheritancethree-point mapping

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1651

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244

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Make It Stick: Teaching Gene Targeting with Ribbons and Fasteners

Manipulating gene expression is a commonly used tool to study the effect of a single gene or the hierarchy of gene networks in many different biological disciplines. When working with mice, the most commonly used techniques to manipulate genes...

Courses: Developmental Biology Genetics

mathematical modelhomologous recombinationCre/loxgene targeting

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3023

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It's a Substrate... It's a Protein...No - It's an Enzyme! Teaching Using 3D Serine Protease Physical Modeling Activities to Confront Misconceptions.

Reported misconceptions of enzyme-substrate interactions highlight the necessity for better, targeted instructional tools and assessments. A series of active learning activities with corresponding three-dimensional (3D) physical models were...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Protein StructureEnzymes-Substrate InteractionsNoncovalent InteractionsGeometric ComplementaryElectronicsStereochemistrySerine Proteases

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2561

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641

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Follow the Sulfur: Using Yeast Mutants to Study a Metabolic Pathway

Students are frequently overwhelmed by the complexity of metabolic pathways and they think they have "learned" the pathway when they have memorized the individual reactions. This laboratory lesson helps students to understand the...

Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Genetics Introductory Biology Microbiology Science Process Skills

SelectionyeastMetabolismcysteinemediamethioninemutantPathwaysulfur

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Using Synthetic Biology and pClone Red for Authentic Research on Promoter Function: Introductory Biology (identifying new promoters)

Students often memorize the definition of a transcriptional promoter but fail to fully understand the critical role promoters play in gene expression. This laboratory lesson allows students to conduct original research by identifying and...

Courses: Genetics Introductory Biology Science Process Skills

bacteriasynthetic biologygene regulationtranscriptionstudent researchcentral dogmacloningpromoterreporter gene/protein

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3580

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505

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How Many Squirrels Are in the Shrubs? A Lesson Plan for Comparing Methods for Population Estimation

Estimating the population sizes of animals is a key skill for any student interested in ecology, conservation, or management. However, counting animals in natural habitats is difficult, and the many techniques that exist each rely on assumptions...

Courses: Ecology Ecology Introductory Biology Professional Development and Career Planning Science Process Skills

population ecologywildlife managementpopulation estimationsciuridaeSquirrel-Net

Teaching Tools and Strategies

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In-class peer grading of daily quizzes increases feedback opportunities

Educators are familiar with evidence of the benefit that frequent and immediate feedback provides to our students, regardless of class size. We also often find ourselves in a situation where we do not have enough time planned or TA support...

Courses: Introductory Biology

foundational knowledgegraphical interpretationtechnical terms

Teaching Tools and Strategies

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Making toast: Using analogies to explore concepts in bioinformatics

Contemporary biology is moving towards heavy reliance on computational methods to manage, find patterns, and derive meaning from large-scale data, such as genomic sequences. Biology teachers are increasingly compelled to prepare students with...

Courses: Bioinformatics

bioinformaticsworkflowgenome

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Exploration of the Human Genome by Investigation of Personalized SNPs

Students often shy away from tedious bioinformatics approaches to exploring their genomes. However, in our expanding digital world these skills are some of the most relevant and valuable. To increase students' interest in their own genomes, I...

Courses: Bioinformatics Genetics Science Process Skills

UCSC genome browsersingle nucleotide polymorphismGenome wide association studiesGenomic organization

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Plotting Cranial and Spinal Nerve Pathways in a Human Anatomy Lab

Hands-on experiences with cadavers, animal dissections, or plastic models are effective at improving student learning and attitudes in human anatomy courses. The hands-on experience allows students to visualize and experiment with anatomical...

Courses: Anatomy-Physiology Science Process Skills

human anatomyNervous systemBrainCranial nerveNerveSpinal cordSpinal nerve

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1074

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What do Bone and Silly Putty® have in Common?: A Lesson on Bone Viscoelasticity

Without the use of real-life examples and models, actively instructing and engaging students in complex physiology topics related to bone biomechanics can be challenging. In our large-enrollment Human Physiology & Anatomy courses at the...

Courses: Anatomy-Physiology

structure-functioninjuryAnisotropyHysteresisSkeletal SystemViscoelasticity

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1956

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Modeling the Research Process: Authentic human physiology research in a large non-majors course

Laboratory experiences in large-enrollment introductory science courses often utilize “cookie-cutter style” laboratory experiences due to the relative simplicity of setting up the lab stations, as well as a need to teach students...

Courses: Anatomy-Physiology Introductory Biology Neurobiology Science Process Skills