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    What is Speciation, How Does It Occur, and Why Is It Important for Conservation?
    Speciation provides a framework for classifying biodiversity on Earth and is a central concept in evolutionary biology. To help undergraduate students learn about speciation, we designed a...

    Keywords: EvolutionconservationGenetic DriftSpeciationNatural SelectionBiological species conceptgene flowMorphological species conceptPhylogenetic species concept

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    My Dog IS My Homework: Exploring Canine Genetics to Understand Genotype-Phenotype Relationships
    To facilitate understanding of the fundamental genetic concept of the genotype-phenotype relationship in our introductory biology students, we designed an engaging multi-week series of related...

    Keywords: gel electrophoresissequence analysiscanine geneticsdeoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)dog coat morphologygenotype and phenotypemutationsPolymerase chain reaction (PCR)single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)

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    Chilling in the Cold: Using Thermal Acclimation to Demonstrate Phenotypic Plasticity in Animals
    The lesson plan described here provides students hands-on, scientific experiences that relate to the globally important issue of climate change and its impacts on animals. Students use the...

    Keywords: scientific methodclimate changephenotypic plasticityfruit fliesaccclimationcold tolerancethink-pair-share

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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 Immunocytochemistry and Fluorescence Microscopy Imaging to Explore the Mechanism of Action of Anti-Cancer Drugs on the Cell Cycle
    Understanding and visualizing the cell cycle and mitosis is an essential concept of cell biology. This multi-week lab module has students investigate the mechanism of action of anti-cancer drugs...

    Keywords: fluorescence microscopymitosisCell StructureCell ImagingImmunocytochemistryQuantitative microscopySTEM skills

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    Vitamin C for Colds? Writing LETTERS to Synthesize and Communicate Results from Multiple Studies
    Interpreting experimental results is a key part of evidence-based reasoning. However, it is challenging for students to synthesize data from multiple sources to reach their own conclusions. As...

    Keywords: pre-healthphysiologyScience Communicationscientific literacyScientific Processconventional wisdomscientific methods

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    Teaching Biodiversity with Museum Specimens in an Inquiry-Based Lab
    In response to the growth of biology datasets and broad efforts to digitize data, an increasingly important skill for science students is the management and analysis of large datasets. We designed...

    Keywords: data analysisnatural historyphylogenyBiodiversitymammalsAllen's RuleBergmann's Ruleecogeographymuseum research

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    Science Behind the Lesson: It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Biomechanics!
    Active flight is a specialized mode of movement found in insects, birds, and mammals. The anatomy, morphology, physiology, and ecology of flying taxa has changed over evolutionary time. Researchers...

    Keywords: EvolutionecologybatphysiologyAnatomybiomechanicsbirdFlightinsect

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    Fruit Fly Genetics in a Day: A Guided Exploration to Help Many Large Sections of Beginning Students Uncover the Secrets of Sex-linked Inheritance
    Moving beyond the basic concepts of autosomal Mendelian inheritance to sex-linkage can be difficult for introductory biology students. Although crosses with Drosophila fruit flies have long been a...

    Keywords: Mendelian Geneticsfruit fly biologysex-linked inheritance

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    The Avocado Lab: An Inquiry-Driven Exploration of an Enzymatic Browning Reaction
    Typical biochemistry labs exploring basic enzyme activity rely on costly, time-consuming protein purification and rarely explore enzyme function in situ. Further, complex purification procedures...

    Keywords: enzymescontrolsenzyme inhibition

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    DNA Detective: Genotype to Phenotype. A Bioinformatics Workshop for Middle School to College.
    Advances in high-throughput techniques have resulted in a rising demand for scientists with basic bioinformatics skills as well as workshops and curricula that teach students bioinformatics...

    Keywords: geneticsbioinformaticsDNAgenotypephenotypegenegene annotation

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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 Science Behind the ACTN3 Polymorphism
    A common polymorphism in the alpha-actinin-3 (ACTN3) gene results in the lack of ACTN3 protein expression in fast twitch muscle fibers in ~16% of the human population (1). This genetic change has...

    Keywords: protein structure and functionhuman genetic variationskeletal muscle physiology

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    The ACTN3 Polymorphism: Applications in Genetics and Physiology Teaching Laboratories
    Inquiry-based undergraduate laboratories provide the opportunity to engage students in a research experience that improves scientific thinking, but such activities can be difficult to develop and...

    Keywords: protein structure and functionhuman genetic variationmuscle physiology

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    Training future faculty in 30 minutes a week: A modular framework to provide just-in-time professional development to graduate teaching assistants
    Despite increasing recognition of the need to train the teaching assistants (TAs) teaching the majority of STEM lab sections, very few programs report offering sustained teaching professional...

    Keywords: professional developmentTA TrainingTeaching Assistants

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    A Short Laboratory Module to Help Infuse Metacognition during an Introductory Course-based Research Experience
    A core competency identified in Vision and Change for undergraduate biology students is the Ability to Apply the Process of Science. Here, we describe a three-week laboratory module for students in...

    Keywords: metacognitiongene expressionScientific ProcessExperimenal DesignHypothesis Generationmodel organisms

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    Furry with a chance of evolution: Exploring genetic drift with tuco-tucos
    Genetic drift is an important mechanism of evolution, yet undergraduates often fail to understand how it leads to evolutionary change due in part to its random nature. This lesson plan describes a...

    Keywords: EvolutionGenetic DriftBottle neckFounder effectRandom evolutionary processes

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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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    Tackling "Big Data" with Biology Undergrads: A Simple RNA-seq Data Analysis Tutorial Using Galaxy
    Analyzing high-throughput DNA sequence data is a fundamental skill in modern biology. However, real and perceived barriers such as massive file sizes, substantial computational requirements, and...

    Keywords: bioinformaticsDNA sequenceRNAseqgene expression

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    Quantifying and Visualizing Campus Tree Phenology
    Large enrollment courses present a challenge for instructors who want to engage students in authentic science practices that fit the recommendations of Vision & Change. Our lesson provides a...

    Keywords: ecologyBiodiversityphenologyplant biology

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