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    Drawing flowcharts of lab protocols helps students prepare for biology labs
    With the publishing of the Vision and Change report, we know it is best practice to include authentic research experiences in our undergraduate science lab classes. One big challenge in teaching...

    Keywords: laboratorymolecular biologyUndergraduateprotocolflowchart

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    Visits to the writing center and office hours provide students structured reflection and low-stakes feedback on scientific writing in an Introductory Biology course
    Effective written communication of scientific concepts is a critical, but difficult skill for undergraduate STEM majors to acquire. Oftentimes, the grades of lab reports are negatively impacted by...

    Keywords: scientific writingwater qualityanalysis of results

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    The Inside and Outside the Body
    The Inside and Outside the Body activity helps students develop a conceptual understanding of anatomical barriers such as skin and mucus membranes that separate internal cells and fluids from the...

    Keywords: structureAnatomybarriers

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    A Team-Based Approach to Course Development Involving Undergraduate Researchers
    Development of an undergraduate laboratory course can be a challenge, because of the need to balance both logistical and pedagogical considerations. We piloted a team-based approach to developing...

    Keywords: student researchcourse development

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    Dilution and Pipetting Lesson Using Food Dyes
    In this lesson students learn how to use micropipettors to accurately measure small volumes of liquids and perform dilutions using food dyes. Students dilute four food dyes at 10X concentration to...

    Keywords: dilutionCalculationLab SkillsMicropipetting

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    Air Quality Data Mining: Mining the US EPA AirData website for student-led evaluation of air quality issues
    Air pollution directly affects human health endpoints including growth, respiratory processes, cardiovascular health, fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and cancer. Therefore, the distribution of air...

    Keywords: data miningenvironmental justiceair qualityairpollutionspatial reasoning

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    Science “Fails”: A Bank of Historical Examples for Learning From Failure in Science
    Learning from failure is critically important to the processes of scientific inquiry, discovery, and invention. However, students are not routinely taught how to reflect on, learn from, and...

    Keywords: metacognitionScience process skillsLearning from failurepower and privilegestudent wellbeing

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    Converting a Face-to-Face Lab to Online: An Example of Process and Outcomes for a CRISPR-Based Molecular Biology Lab
    The COVID-19 pandemic created a need to convert in-person laboratory courses into an online format in a short amount of time. For this reason, we converted our face-to-face molecular biology lab...

    Keywords: mutationtranscriptioncrisprtranslation

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    Using Student Perceptions and Cooperative Learning to Unpack Primary Literature on Global Change
    This case describes a three-part assignment in which students discuss key processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the Earth system and our increased risk of generating large-scale...

    Keywords: global changeAnthropoceneEarth-systemplanetary boundary conceptthresholds

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    A Journal Club Project to Promote Interpreting and Presenting Information From the Primary Scientific Literature
    Many undergraduate students receive little guidance on how to critically read, interpret data within, or present information from the primary scientific literature before they begin senior...

    Keywords: primary literaturejournal clubScience CommunicationfeedbackPeer reviewgroup workOral presentationProcess skillsPeer evaluationDevelopmental neurobiology

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    Transitioning Two-Stage Exams to an Online Class
    Students often find biology courses to be very difficult and isolating, particularly if they identify as part of a group that has been historically excluded from STEM. Some of this anxiety and...

    Keywords: lower division STEMupper division STEM

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    Animal Behaviour Case Study Lessons in Communication, Migration, and Parental Care Using the Jigsaw Approach
    Animal behaviour courses integrate concepts across biological disciplines and are particularly well suited for collaborative, student-focused teaching...

    Keywords: case studycommunicationprimary literatureanimal behaviorjigsawParental CaremigrationAnimal BehaviourProximate mechanisms

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    Designing an Asynchronous, Self-Led Aquatic Ecology Field Trip
    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing need to teach students online, aquatic scientists are looking for ways to give students field experiences virtually. Asynchronous, self-led field trips...

    Keywords: observationecosystem structureexploration

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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...

    Keywords: mathematical modelhomologous recombinationCre/loxgene targeting

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    Investigating the Function of a Transport Protein: Where is ABCB6 Located in Human Cells?
    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...

    Keywords: ABC transporter familyDifferential centrifugationImmunoblottingImmunofluorescence assayProtein localizationPurifying organellesSDS-PAGE

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    An Active Textbook Converts "Vision and Tweak" to Vision and Change
    Multiple reports over more than a century have documented the problems with the way introductory biology has been taught in most colleges and universities. An influential recent report, Vision and...

    Keywords: Vision and Changeactive learningintroductory biologyFlipped classroomUndergraduatecore competenciescore conceptsactive textbookcurriculum reform

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    Why do Some People Inherit a Predisposition to Cancer? A small group activity on cancer genetics
    Before undergraduate students take a genetics course they generally know cancer has a genetic basis and involves the proliferation of cells; however, many are uncertain about why only a subset of...

    Keywords: cancerInheritance patternsProbability calculationProto-oncogeneTumor Suppressor Gene

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    Using Gamification to Teach Undergraduate Students about Scientific Writing
    Despite its importance, scientific writing is often deprioritized in undergraduate biology classes. Reasons include assumed prior knowledge, lack of class time, tedious grading, and the complexity...

    Keywords: gamificationscientific writingE-LearningInstant FeedbackInteractive LearningReading Scientific PapersVIdeo/computer game

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    The Great Petunia Carnage of 2017: A Clicker Case Study Using Petunias to Describe the Effect of Genetic Modification on the Biochemistry of Flower Color and Phenotype in Plants
    In this single class period case study, students examine the difference between genotype and phenotype by studying the mechanisms by which commercially available petunias have been bred to have...

    Keywords: case studyGenetic ModificationsBiochemistry of Flower ColorGMO regulationsGenotype-Phenotype Connections

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    An Open Source, Collaborative Electronic Notebook for Undergraduate Laboratory Classes
    To overcome many of the limitations of the paper laboratory notebook (PLN), we developed an electronic laboratory notebook (e-LN) for the Dynamic Genome course at the University of California. The...

    Keywords: data collectionData annotationNotebook Skills

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