BioQUEST News
QUBES Corner
26 open educational resources were published to the QUBES Library in August with 2,806 resources in total. Browse the new resources here.
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Featured Resources
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Helping Students to Metacognitively Read Scientific Literature With Talking to the Text (CourseSource)
In this lesson, students are taught the Talking to the Text method to metacognitively read scientific texts. The Talking to the Text method, which is part of the Reading Apprenticeship approach, enables students to have a metacognitive conversation with a scientific text, annotating it with their own questions, connections to previous knowledge, predictions, and drawings.
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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 (CourseSource)
We describe a gamified lesson (like an ILD—Interactive Lecture Demonstration) addressing flight physics and fluid dynamics naïve concepts collaboratively with the help of our newly developed assessment instrument. We share flight physics and fluid dynamics resources including the FliP-CoIn instrument, supporting materials, a lesson plan, lesson resources, videos, and three Particify™ quizzes.
New QUBES OER Sitewide Search & Browse
We’ve updated our OER search & browse interface to make finding QUBES and partner resources easy! You can find resources via general text search, which will search the resource title, abstract, description, authors, and keywords. The default is for results to be sorted by relevance (based on your text search terms), but you can change this to sort by most recently published, most views, and most downloads. You can also use the faceted QUBES taxonomy to filter your results, with categories like Resource Type, Activity Length, the newly added Software Used, and Inclusive Pedagogy for Life Science Education, to name just a few.
New Group OER Search & Browse
All groups now have an optional Resources page that will show a search & browse similar to the QUBES sitewide search & browse, but prefiltered to show only those resources that are published by your group. By default, this page is active and available to anyone on the internet. You can find this page from within your group by selecting “Resources” from the left-side menu.
Group managers can change the settings for this page from within your group’s settings area to the following viewing permissions: Any HUB Visitor, Registered HUB Users, Group Member Only, and Disabled/Off. It is set to “Any HUB Visitor” by default.
Finally, users are able to submit a resource from the resources page within a group. Any resource submitted from a group’s resources page will automatically be associated with the group and will show up in its search & browse.
Find this information in the Knowledge Base.
Partner News and Opportunities
Nanopore DNA Sequencing CUREs
The Nanopore DNA Sequencing CUREs FMN meets semimonthly on Mondays to discuss faculty ideas and challenges to implementing Oxford Nanopore DNA sequencing in undergraduate biology education and making potential course-based research experiences inclusive. We invite undergraduate educators to join the group for announcements and to participate in the Fall mentoring network. See the QUBES page for exact dates and other opportunities. The Nanopore CURES FMN will run in Fall 2023 and again in Spring 2024. To join, request group membership, and someone from the team will follow up with you. The Nanopore team hopes people will sign up by the end of September but will allow newcomers to join as they find the group!
QB@CC FMN: Math and Biology - A Correlation Made in Heaven Deadline Extended!
Are you interested in adopting modules that cover linear regression using a topic in biology? Apply now to join us for the Fall 2023 QB@CC Faculty Mentoring Network (FMN).
Participants in this FMN will focus on how to use data-driven modules to teach linear regression in undergraduate mathematics and life science courses. Accepted applicants will customize and implement newly designed biology educational modules. While doing this, they will participate in biweekly virtual sessions to collaborate with and support others in the network and receive mentoring.
Applications are due September 30, 2023. Space is limited so apply now!
The Inclusive Ecology Spotlight Webinar Series With The BioGraphI Faculty Mentoring Network
Do you want to highlight counterstereotypical scientists in your classes? And do you want your students to improve their graph interpretation skills? Then look no further than the Biologists and Graph Interpretation (BioGraphI) Faculty Mentoring Network.
Join Inclusive Ecology for the inaugural webinar in our Spotlight Series featuring the leaders of BioGraphI. We'll learn about BioGraphI lesson modules, how you can become a lesson coauthor by contributing your research and personal story, and how to join a mentoring network to learn how to make a BioGraphI lesson. The webinar will be a combination of a presentation and open discussion with the presenters.
When: Monday September 25 from 2-3 pm Eastern (11 am-12 pm Pacific).
Where: Zoom Registration Link
The Inclusive Ecology Spotlight Series is a new webinar series to celebrate and highlight projects promoting justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in ecology. Do you have an idea for a future webinar or want to join our planning committee? Email allyson.salisbury@gmail.com.
Teaching Modules from QB@CC: Tools to Improve Biology Student’s Quantitative Skills Webinar
Join the NABT and QB@CC communities for a special webinar to examine cellular biology content through a quantitatively focused exploration. Using the popular open educational resource (OER) entitled Sizes, Scales, and Specialization: An activity highlighting the diversity in cell types, participants of the webinar will go through portions of the module as learners, observe how to implement various active learning sessions, and then discuss the module with their fellow educators.
When: Wednesday, September 20th, from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (ET) 5:00 PM CT / 3:00 PM MT / 2:00 PM PT
Where: Zoom Registration Link
COMAP: 10 Interesting Math Modeling Modules to Try Today
As part of the expansive collection of resources COMAP provides to the math community, they have a series of math modeling modules designed for teaching mathematics through real-world phenomena. There are many modules available on their website, but they compiled a sample of 10 diverse modules you might want to try in the classroom with your students.
These math modeling modules are free to download and use in classrooms. Find them here.
ASK BIO Network Workshops
What makes a good question? Writing good test questions for students is a daunting task that biology faculty typically do in isolation. An NSF funded network has been developed to help support faculty through this process and provide guidance and peer-review to help work in community to improve life sciences assessment. They are excited to offer a series of upcoming workshops as part of the Assessment Skills in Biology (ASK BIO) network. These leveled workshops provide information, guidance, and dedicated time to improve and develop your assessment items. For more information visit their website.
2023 Upcoming Workshops
- Level One: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 1:00-4:00 pm CST
- Level Two: Thursday, September 28, 2023 2:00 - 5:00 pm CST
- Level Two: Wednesday, October 4, 2023 1:00 - 4:00 pm CST
- Level Three: Thursday, October 12, 2023 2:00 - 6:00 pm CST
- Level Three: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 1:00-5:00 pm CST
Not sure which level to attend? Check out their leveling assessment to help guide you.
Let them know you are interested in one or more of our upcoming workshops by submitting this quick form.
Inclusive Teaching Course from HHMI 
Hhmi Biointeractive and SEAS (Science Education And Society) program recently launched a FREE course on 'Inclusive Teaching'. More than anything, this course asks participants amidst the haste to slow down, pause and reflect on what being human-centered in teaching looks like. They brought together visual art, music, education theory, spoken word and storytelling in ways that they believe support a deep and safe reflection process. Take at your own pace or consider forming a community of allies. Built for 9th grade to higher education teachers, but in reality, it's for anyone who seeks to think more deeply about how our shared humanity is fundamental to education. Visit here to learn more and register.
CBE -- LSE Special Issue - Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Justice in Biology Education
Call for Research Papers
To bring attention to Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Justice in biology education, CBE – Life Sciences Education (LSE; http://www.lifescied.org/) will publish a special issue in 2024 highlighting research articles, essays, and features that offer new insights into these topics. As a team of LSE Special Issue Guest Editors, we are passionate and enthusiastic about engaging the LSE community in deepening our collective understanding of Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Justice. A key goal of this special issue is to elevate research that investigates the unique experiences, assets, and resilience of communities impacted by systemic oppression in ways that intentionally marginalize them within the life sciences, biology education and other research, and STEM education. An additional goal of this special issue is to bring the theoretical frameworks, anti-deficit perspectives, methodological approaches, and critical lenses from fields such as higher education, race and resistance studies, gender and sexuality studies, disability justice, and other disciplines to biology education research and to the LSE readership. We welcome authors at all phases of their career, in a variety of professional positions and institutional contexts, and from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Visit here to find more information, and submission deadlines.
