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 characterizing promoters found in prokaryotes. Students start with primary literature, design and clone a short promoter, and test how well their promoter works. This laboratory lesson is an easy way for faculty with limited time and budgets to give their students access to real research in the context of traditional teaching labs that meet once a week for under three hours. The pClone Red Introductory Biology lesson uses synthetic biology methods and makes cloning so simple that we have 100% success rates with first year students. Students use a database to archive their promoter sequences and the performance of the promoter under standard conditions. The database permits synthetic biology researchers around the world to find a promoter that suits their needs and compare relative levels of transcription. The core methodology in this lesson is identical to the core methodology in the companion Genetics Lesson by Eckdahl and Campbell. The methods are reproduced in both lessons for the benefit of readers. The two CourseSource lessons provide the detailed information needed to reproduce the pedagogical research results published in CBE - Life Sciences Education by Campbell et al., 2014.

One of the challenges of teaching Cell Biology is helping students understand important research methods used to study cells.  The goal of understanding cell biology methods is especially challenging in courses without a laboratory component.  When studying cells, determining the location of a protein is important for understanding the protein's cellular function.  In this lesson, upper-division Cell Biology students will learn about two commonly used methods for protein localization: 1) immunoblotting after differential centrifugation, and 2) immunofluorescence microscopy.  They will work in small groups to answer questions in a problem set written in the spirit of Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL).  Students will explore key points of the two methods and then apply their knowledge to the analysis of protein localization data from the primary literature.  Analyzing protein localization data will help students develop the ability to “apply the process of science”, which is one of the Vision and Change core competencies.

In order to function correctly, proteins must be localized to a specific subcellular location. We have designed this lesson to use data from the primary literature to teach students about the mechanisms cells use to direct proteins to the appropriate destinations and about the types of experiments that scientists use to investigate these mechanisms. Exposing undergraduate students to primary literature and experimental science in biology courses can prepare them for the demands of the job market and graduate programs. However, students can struggle when asked to analyze data from publications due to the high cognitive load involved with figure interpretation. We have designed this lesson to help students draw meaningful conclusions from figures in primary literature. To make the figure interpretation process more accessible to students, we use a combination of scaffolding to break down figure interpretation into smaller attainable steps and group work to allow students to combine their knowledge and work collaboratively. In this lesson, student groups are given a subset of figures from a scientific article along with questions that guide them through the process of decoding and interpreting these figures. The students interpret three figures that use different experimental techniques to address the subcellular localization of the TIN2 protein and one figure that determines the locations of the signal sequences in the protein that are critical for the correct localization. Taken together, this lesson helps students understand both how the eukaryotic cell localizes proteins to the correct subcellular localization and how scientists study this question.

Incorporating active learning exercises into large lecture courses is particularly challenging, especially when it comes to examination preparation materials. Traditionally, study guides are used as a tool to guide student learning and review pertinent information. However, instructor produced review guides limit active participation of students in the study process, and the independent reading and review of study materials has previously been shown to fall short of being inclusive for students. Here I describe a tool used in a large introductory biology lecture for the implementation of peer produced study guides. The activity includes in-person peer discussion followed by online peer collaboration to design a study guide of potential exam materials, incorporating the advantages of both active learning and the use of study guides. This format provides a platform for students of diverse learning backgrounds to actively participate in the development and refinement of study materials. I conclude by discussing the assessment, secondary advantages, and adaptability of this tool and teaching strategy.

Primary image: Peer Studying and Online Learning. This image represents the combination of peer collaborative learning and the use of online resources for study. The image is not copyrighted and was downloaded for the copyright free site “Unsplash.”

To use prior to 3D printing module?