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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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    A class activity on classification
    Within the sciences, we are often talking of phylogenetic classification; hominin and non-human primate phylogenetic trees are often introduced in a course in biological anthropology. Students are...

    Keywords: hands-onphylogeny and classification

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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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    The Tactile Clade Race
    This adaptation of the Vertebrate Clade Race provides a tactile approach to introduce basic tree reading skills for evolutionary phylogenies. Using a Universal Design for Learning informed...

    Keywords: phylogeneticsevolutionary biologytree readingvertebratesaccessibility for students with disabilities or impairmentsvisual impairment

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    Bioinformatics is a BLAST: Engaging First-Year Biology Students on Campus Biodiversity Using DNA Barcoding
    In order to introduce students to the concept of molecular diversity, we developed a short, engaging online lesson using basic bioinformatics techniques. Students were introduced to basic...

    Keywords: geneticsorganismal biologybioinformaticstaxonomyDNA Barcodingspecies concepts

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    Making Change Sustainable: Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Sciences Education (NIBLSE) Meeting Review
    The purpose of the meeting described in this review was to decide how best to ensure the sustainability of the Network for Integrating Bioinformatics into Life Science Education (NIBLSE; pronounced...

    Keywords: meetingsustainabilityfmnNIBLSEincubator

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    Is Earth Currently Undergoing a Sixth Mass Extinction?
    The five Phanerozoic mass extinctions were central in shaping biodiversity on Earth today. Due to increasing biodiversity losses, there is debate about whether we are currently undergoing a sixth...

    Keywords: conservationBiodiversityextinctionMass ExtinctionDeep Time

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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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    Studying phylogeny by producing phylogenetic trees of primates using morphological and molecular characteristics.
    An assignment constructing phylogenetic trees using shared, derived morphological traits and molecular differences among 18 primate species and two outlier species has been developed. Skull and...
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    Cladistic Analysis Lesson Using Bats
    Phylogenetic analysis can be a challenging concept to grasp for undergraduate biology students. This cladistic analysis lesson utilizes the amazingly diverse Order Chiroptera as a model to...

    Keywords: batsphylogeny and classificationVertebrate Morphologycladistic analysisbat evolution

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    The Importance of Street Trees and Urban Avifauna: A lesson exploring the relationship between urban forest and foraging birds
    This module examines the relationship between street trees, urban avifauna, and socioeconomic gradients in the highly urbanized county of Los Angeles, California. Using edited data from a published...

    Keywords: conservationBiodiversityurbanizationGeneralized linear modelsavifaunaurban forestsocioeconomicsstreet treesnegative binomial regression

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    6-021-AcornsRodentsSnakes-ModelingScenario
    Students are given the opportunity to build a three tropic level model in which snakes eat rodents, rodents eat acorns, and acorns grow and occasionally mast.

    Keywords: predationforestsnakesrodentsacornstrophic levelmasting

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    Home sweet home for warblers: Graphing and Analysis using R
    This resource expands on the Data Nugget "Trees and bushes, Home Sweet Home for Warblers". The analyses and graphing is done in R and there are questions that ask about the management implications.

    Keywords: graphingCommunity Ecologydata interpretationR software

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    Using Open-Source Bioinformatics and Visualization Tools to Explore the Structure and Function of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein
    The relationship between protein structure and function is a foundational concept in undergraduate biochemistry. We find this theme is best presented with assignments that encourage exploration and...

    Keywords: bioinformaticsmolecular modelingCOVID19protein structure and functionUCSF ChimeraSARS-CoV-2 spike proteinACE2 receptor

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    A Classroom Intervention to Reduce Confirmation Bias
    STEM students are often unable to recognize cognitive bias in their own disciplines, and simply describing cognitive bias to students has shown to be insufficient to improve critical thinking....

    Keywords: biasprocess of sciencemetacognitionConfirmation BiasCognitive Bias

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    Coloring and Keying Great Lakes Trees
    In this set of activities, you will use the Michigan Trees Coloring book to learn and practice plant identification. You will also simulate some of the steps of specimen preparation by keying an d...

    Keywords: BiodiversitytaxonomyHerbarianatural history education

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    Applying phylogenetic tree building in MEGA X to forensic applications for identifying unknown specimens
    This exercise is designed to guide a learner through the construction of phylogenetic trees as a means of addressing research questions in forensic science such as the identification of previously...

    Keywords: taxonomyBioinformatics and GenomicsDNA Barcodinginvertebrate phylogeneticsforensic entomology

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    Interpreting the Pseudocot Phylogeny
    Students use physical characteristics, genetics, and a fossil record of hypothetical flowering plants to develop fundamental phylogenetic tree-building skills.
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    Tree Biomass and Phenology
    This lesson centers around understanding the connection of tree biomass and phenology with climate change. It uses both swirl and LearnR lessons in the R programming language to help students make...
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    A 360˚ View of COVID-19
    In March 2020, institutions underwent a massive transition to distance learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With so little time to devise new materials to maximize learning in the new...

    Keywords: geneticsImmunologyBiochemistrybioinformaticsmolecular evolutionpublic healthvirusCOVID19

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