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    Go Extinct! An Award-Winning Evolution Game That Teaches Tree-Thinking as Students Pursue the Winning Strategy
    Evolutionary trees communicate both the diversity and unity of life, a central and important scientific concept, as highlighted by the Vision and Change undergraduate biology education movement....

    Keywords: phylogeneticsnatural historyBiodiversitycladogramCommon ancestorEvolutionary treeLand vertebratesMonophyletic cladeTetrapods

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    Breaking It Down: What Factors Control Microbial Decomposition Rates?
    Demonstrating and modeling changes in ecosystem processes in the laboratory classroom can be logistically difficult and expensive. This complexity often leaves little time for students to generate...

    Keywords: data analysishypothesis testingdata visualizationdata managementMicrobial RespirationDecompostionAbiotic ConditionsResults Communication

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    Bringing Pasteur Back to Life: Studying the Biochemistry of Yeast Fermentation Through Discussion Groups and an At-Home Lab
    This hands-on, student-centered biochemistry lesson introduces beginner biochemistry students to the techniques of effectively reading and discussing primary literature, identifying fundamental...

    Keywords: primary literatureexperimentationyeastMetabolismFermentationRespirationequilibrium

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    Debating Conservation: Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Introductory Biology Classes
    Role-playing activities in the classroom promote students’ critical thinking, research, and communication skills. We present an activity where students debate a current controversy in...

    Keywords: Restorationtrophic cascadeecosystem function

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    Isolation and Functional Analysis of a Pancreatic Enzyme in an Introductory Student Lab
    Structure and function are correlated at all levels of biology. This topic is typically addressed early in an undergraduate class in general or molecular biology before students have gained much...

    Keywords: Protein StructureproteaseEnzymechemical bondscatalysissolubility

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    Escape Zoom!: Reviewing Introductory Evolution Content Using an Escape Room Format
    Reviewing and integrating key concepts and learning goals at the end of a biology course can be overwhelming to students and instructors alike. Often end-of-term review sessions in preparation for...

    Keywords: Evolutionartificial selectionSpeciationextinctionsexual selectionphylogenetic treesmechanisms of evolution

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    A Fun Introductory Command Line Lesson: Next Generation Sequencing Quality Analysis with Emoji!
    Radical innovations in DNA sequencing technology over the past decade have created an increased need for computational bioinformatics analyses in the 21st century STEM workforce. Recent...

    Keywords: bioinformaticsgenomicscodingJupyter notebookcommand lineCyVersescriptingnext generation sequencing analysis

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    Nanoparticles and Shrimp: An Interdisciplinary Lab Series in Chemistry and Biology for Undergraduate Engineering Students
    The parallels between engineering and science are vast, as both disciplines apply theory and inquiry to solve complex problems. In order to prepare students for interdisciplinary careers in STEM,...

    Keywords: microscopychemistry applications in biologytoxicity

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    Integrating Manipulatives and Animations to Visualize Holliday Junctions
    The complex molecular architecture of Holliday junctions is often challenging for undergraduate biochemistry students to conceptualize. In particular, they have difficulty translating from...

    Keywords: dna structureDNA damageDNA recombinationGene crossoverHolliday junction

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    Differential Gene Expression during Xenopus laevis Development
    In Developmental Biology classes, students are challenged with understanding how differential gene expression guides embryonic development. It can be difficult for students to realize that genes...

    Keywords: gene expressionXenopusearly developmentembryofertilizationin situ hybridization

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    The Case of the Missing Strawberries: RFLP analysis
    While solving the fictional mystery of the missing strawberries, students are engaged in a guided-inquiry lesson featuring small-group and class discussions, hands-on activities, and laboratory...

    Keywords: process of scienceDNAforensicsgel electrophoresisMolecular genotypingRestriction endonucleaseRestriction enzymeRestriction fragment length polymorphismRFLP

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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...

    Keywords: data analysishypothesis testingexperimental designphysiology

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    Does it pose a threat? Investigating the impact of Bt corn on monarch butterflies
    Aspiring scientists know that a hallmark of science is that experiments are repeatable and testable.  However, students do not often get opportunities to explore the replicability of...

    Keywords: ecologyCommunity EcologyBt cornGenetic modificationMonarch butterflies

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    A Momentum-First Approach to Newton’s Second Law
    Students frequently struggle with seeing the connection between forces and motion in introductory physics. This lesson is part of a combined momentum and kinematics unit that first teaches...

    Keywords: group workMomentumNewton's Laws

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    SEAS CURE: Exploring Coral Biology Across Scales
    Complex biological concepts (like symbiosis and coral biology) that span multiple scales and cross disciplinary boundaries are often difficult for students to understand. This complexity is...

    Keywords: microscopyAnatomySymbiosisMetabolismbleachinginvertebratedinoflagellate

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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...

    Keywords: kineticsEnzymecompetitive inhibition

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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...

    Keywords: structure-functioninjuryAnisotropyHysteresisSkeletal SystemViscoelasticity

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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...

    Keywords: Evolutionecologymorphologysensory biologycave biologycomparative biologyenvironmental differencesregressive lossstructure and function

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    Helping Students to Overcome STUMPS: Scientific terms undermined by meanings peripheral to science
    Many terms and phrases that are ubiquitous in everyday use have very different meanings in science. As a result, biology students often hold prior conceptions that are difficult to change. In this...

    Keywords: Evolutionfitnessprocess of sciencetree of lifemetacognitionlanguagemisconceptionsTerminologyTheory

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    An Interactive Protocol for In-Classroom DNA Extraction
    Using commonly available materials, this tool allows students to extract DNA, exploring DNA chemistry and the principles of experimental design and execution. We take a “Choose Your Own...

    Keywords: geneticsDNAbiochemical structure and function

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