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    Undergraduates Learn Evolution Through Teaching Kindergartners About Blind Mexican Cavefish
    The development and implementation of a scientific outreach activity comes with a number of challenges. A successful outreach event must match the sophistication of content to the audience, be engaging, expand the knowledge base for participants,...

    Courses: EcologyEcology EvolutionEvolution GeneticsGenetics Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology

    Evolutionecologymorphologysensory biologycave biologycomparative biologyenvironmental differencesregressive lossstructure and function
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    Using a Sequential Interpretation of Data in Envelopes (SIDE) approach to identify a mystery TRP channel
    This lesson sought to engage students in data interpretation and to encourage critical thinking about neurophysiology in the context of temperature sensation. A family of receptors called Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels are activated...

    Courses: Anatomy-PhysiologyAnatomy-Physiology Cell BiologyCell Biology NeurobiologyNeurobiology

    Cell communicationChannel specificity and activationLimitations of tools of Cell BiologyNeuronal Signaling
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    Using a Primary Cell Culture Model to Study the Neural Extracellular Matrix
    The extracellular matrix (ECM) provides structural support to cells, but also has key roles in mediating cell adhesion, cell signaling, and differentiation. While this topic is discussed in the lecture setting, it is not heavily studied in...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology NeurobiologyNeurobiology

    Neural extracellular matrixPerineuronal netPrimary neuronal culture
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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...

    Courses: GeneticsGenetics Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    meiosismitosissex determinationAsexual reproductionParthenogenesis
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    Gotcha! Which fly trap is the best? An introduction to experimental data collection and analysis
    Collecting data from experimental observations is an important component of the scientific process; likewise, the analysis of the data is essential to understanding the observed trends and patterns from any experiment. Allowing students to...

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

    data analysisexperimental designdata collectionfruit fliesfly traps
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    The Leaky Neuron: Understanding synaptic integration using an analogy involving leaky cups
    Students have difficulty understanding synaptic integration in neural circuits, and how spatial and temporal summation combine in a target neuron to reach threshold.  This Lesson uses small cups of water to represent excitatory postsynaptic...

    Courses: NeurobiologyNeurobiology

    neuron physiologyspatial summationsynaptic integrationtemporal summationthreshold
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    A Kinesthetic and Collaborative Activity to Improve Conceptual Understanding of Chemical Equilibrium
    While teaching in large lecture halls, it is challenging even for experienced teachers to hold their students’ attention for the entire class period. Owing to the large enrollment in STEM introductory courses, it is especially crucial to...

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

    collaborationdemonstrationchemistrykinesthetic learningequilibriumhands-on learning
    LessonPlus
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    The Power of Place: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience Studying Urban Ecology, Local Apple Trees and Disease Susceptibility
    Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) offered early in an undergraduate student’s career have the potential to include a greater number and diversity of students than one-on-one mentored research. CUREs that use a...

    Courses: EcologyEcology

    Disease ecologyurban ecologyUrban food forestsUrban heat islandsGenetic resistance
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    Dynamic Daphnia: An inquiry-based research experience in ecology that teaches the scientific process to first-year biologists
    This authentic research experience lesson teaches the core concept of systems and the competencies of quantitative reasoning, communication, and the ability to apply science. The research is student driven, the results are unknown, and the...

    Courses: EcologyEcology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    statisticsecologyscientific methodexperimental designAbiotic and Biotic FactorsDependent and Independent Variables
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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-PhysiologyAnatomy-Physiology

    structure-functioninjuryAnisotropyHysteresisSkeletal SystemViscoelasticity
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    The Developmental Origins of Mythology: A Pandemic-Inspired Innovative Developmental Biology Laboratory Exercise
    From an experiential, hands-on perspective, the Developmental Biology Laboratory is easily amenable to a wide range of undergraduate-friendly experiments. Thus, pivoting to a virtual laboratory during the COVID-19 pandemic required significant...

    Courses: Developmental BiologyDevelopmental Biology

    gastrulationaxis formationlimb developmentchimeramidline
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    From Cre/LoxP to Fate Maps: Inclusive and Equitable Approaches for Engaging Developmental Biology Students in Experimental Design
    Engaging first generation underrepresented minority students in the process of inquiry in developmental biology is important to increase diversity in future graduate STEM education. One important challenge is how we design curricula to foster...

    Courses: Developmental BiologyDevelopmental Biology

    experimental designC. elegansCre/LoxPFate mapheart developmentheart regenerationmousereporter constructzebrafish
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    Three Research-Based Quantitative Reasoning Modules for Introductory Organismal Biology Laboratories
    We have designed three laboratory modules for an introductory organismal biology course with an emphasis on quantitative reasoning and data analysis skills. Module 1 tests for dimorphism in crayfish chelae using a paired statistical design. Module...

    Courses: Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Science Process SkillsScience Process Skills

    allometryplantsAnatomytranspirationdimorphisminvertebrate biologyarthropodsplatyhelminths
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    Garden Variety Mutations: Using Primary Data to Understand the Central Dogma in Large-Lecture Introductory Biology
    The ability to interpret and create an argument from data is a crucial skill for budding scientists, yet one that is seldom practiced in introductory courses. During this argumentation module, students in a large lecture class will work in groups...

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

    mutationtranscriptiongene expressioncentral dogmatranslationgel electrophoresisGenotype/Phenotype
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    A Simple Method for Predicting a Molecule's Biological Properties From Its Polarity
    The distinction between very polar and less polar substances is a foundation of biochemistry, cell biology, and physiology; it surfaces in multiple concept inventories and elaborations of biological core concepts. However, in our experience, most...

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

    Diffusionsolubilitycovalent bondshydrophilichydrophobicpartition coefficientplasma membranepolarity
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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
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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
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    Modeling Strep Throat Detection, Infection, and Spread Using an SIR Model and the Vensim Simulation Software
    The overarching goal of this lesson is to provide students with an opportunity to gain experience making and using biological models. Biological modeling can be used to investigate complex, real-world problems so that predictions can be made about...

    Courses: Cell BiologyCell Biology ImmunologyImmunology Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology MicrobiologyMicrobiology

    infectious diseasebiological modelingSIR model
    Essay
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    Learning Frameworks Aid Goal-oriented Course Design
    As a new instructor it can be hard to know where to begin. Thankfully, CourseSource's learning frameworks (https://www.coursesource.org/courses) shaped my approach to teaching as a first year instructor. The frameworks, which include learning...

    Courses: Introductory BiologyIntroductory Biology Professional Development and Career PlanningProfessional Development and Career Planning

    backward designlearning goalscourse design
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    Tackling "Big Data" with Biology Undergrads: A Simple RNA-seq Data Analysis Tutorial Using Galaxy
    Analyzing high-throughput DNA sequence data is a fundamental skill in modern biology. However, real and perceived barriers such as massive file sizes, substantial computational requirements, and lack of instructor background knowledge can...

    Courses: Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyBiochemistry and Molecular Biology BioinformaticsBioinformatics

    bioinformaticsDNA sequenceRNAseqgene expression