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    Mice, Acorns, and Lyme Disease: a Case Study to Teach the Ecology of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
    Ebola, Zika, the recall of contaminated lettuce - these are just a few recent outbreaks making headlines. Students should be able to connect what they learn in their biology courses to explain...

    Keywords: epidemiologyEcological changeInfectious disease ecologyReservoirsTransmission cycle

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    A Close-Up Look at PCR
    The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a fundamental laboratory technique that allows for the amplification of many copies of a desired DNA target sequence. Despite its prevalence, undergraduate...

    Keywords: PCRDNA replication

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    Active Learning: Developing Self-Directed Learners Through Strong Intellectual Engagement
    When they were students, many current science instructors learned through traditional lectures. This mode of passive knowledge transmission has been shown to be less effective for student learning...

    Keywords: active learningmetacognitionconstructivism

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    A clicker-based case study that untangles student thinking about the processes in the central dogma
    The central dogma of biology is a foundational concept that provides a scaffold to understand how genetic information flows in biological systems. Despite its importance, undergraduate students...

    Keywords: mutationtranscriptionphenotypecentral dogmatranslationDNA replication

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    Knowing your own: A classroom case study using the scientific method to investigate how birds learn to recognize their offspring
    Understanding the scientific method provides students with a necessary foundation for careers in science-related fields. Moreover, students can apply scientific inquiry skills in many aspects of...

    Keywords: scientific methodNatural Selectionbrood parasitism

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    Using computational molecular modeling software to demonstrate how DNA mutations cause phenotypes
    Students require a deep understanding of the central dogma before they can understand complex topics such as evolution and biochemical disorders. However, getting undergraduate biology students to...

    Keywords: Protein Structurecomputational modelingcentral dogmaplant leaf structurePhenotype/Genotype

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    Authentic Ecological Inquiries Using BearCam Archives
    Learning through authentic scientific inquiries is essential for understanding the nature and process of science and for developing critical thinking and communication skills. It is logistically...

    Keywords: behaviorinterspecific interactionsPeer reviewauthentic inquiryintra-specific interactions

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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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    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...

    Keywords: allometryplantsAnatomytranspirationdimorphisminvertebrate biologyarthropodsplatyhelminths

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    Design Your Own Flow Cytometry Experiment: A Four-Week Inquiry Laboratory
    Due to its importance to the field, flow cytometry should be one of the hallmark methods a student learns in the lab portion of an undergraduate immunology course. Flow cytometry is a classic lab...

    Keywords: Immunologyexperimental designFlow cytometryMice

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    BioVEDA Curriculum: An Approach to Link Conceptual and Quantitative Understanding of Variation During Experimental Design and Data Analysis
    When performing a biological investigation, experts constantly cycle between conceptual and quantitative modes of thinking, integrating their understanding in both worlds to make decisions about...

    Keywords: statisticssample sizeBiological variation

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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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    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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    CRISPR/Cas9 in yeast: a multi-week laboratory exercise for undergraduate students
    Providing undergraduate life-science students with a course-based research experience that utilizes cutting-edge technology, is tractable for students, and is manageable as an instructor is a...

    Keywords: bioinformaticsPCRphenotypingCRISPR/Cas9gene editingcloningGenotypingRestriction enzyme

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    An active-learning lesson that targets student understanding of population growth in ecology
    Effective teaching and learning of population ecology requires integration of quantitative literacy skills. To facilitate student learning in population ecology and provide students with the...

    Keywords: population growthexponential growthlogistic growthpopulation ecologygrowth rateDensityAbundancecarrying capacitylinear growth

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    Using Yeast to Make Scientists: A Six-Week Student-Driven Research Project for the Cell Biology Laboratory
    Traditionally-trained undergraduate students often lack an understanding of science as an active process that yields the information presented in their textbooks. One result has been a call for...

    Keywords: yeastgrowth curvecell proliferationviability

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    Antibiotic Resistance Genes Detection in Environmental Samples
    Our aim is to provide an authentic research experience for undergraduate students in a variety of biology courses through collaboration between a four-year university and a community college. This...

    Keywords: geneticsenvironmentmicrobiologyUndergraduateantibiotic-resistancePCRgel electrophoresisauthentic inquiry

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    Predicting and classifying effects of insertion and deletion mutations on protein coding regions
    Mutations in genes can affect the encoded proteins in multiple ways, and some of these effects are counterintuitive. As for any other knowledge, students must create their own deep understanding of...

    Keywords: mutationcentral dogmatranslationframeshift

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    Teaching Genetic Linkage and Recombination through Mapping with Molecular Markers
    Most introductory genetics courses cover genetic linkage, a core concept in the CourseSource genetics learning outcome framework. Although it is a classical genetics topic, genetic linkage remains...

    Keywords: meiosisphenotypegel electrophoresismicrosatellitesBanding PatternGenetic linkageInheritanceMolecular MarkersPhysical Linkage

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    A Kinesthetic Modeling Activity to Teach PCR Fundamentals
    Most molecular biology and biological sciences students understand that the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is used to amplify DNA. However, we have found that some students experience conceptual...

    Keywords: PCR

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