You are here: Home / Resources / Browse Resources

Open. Adaptable. Free.

Resources created by our members and partners.

The QUBES platform hosts hundreds of teaching materials, reference materials, and cloud-based software free to use and adapt using open Creative Commons licenses.

Text Search:
Applied Filters
    Developing Data Literacy Skills and Connecting the Student Experience in the Classroom to the Community Through Biodiversity Projects
    Undergraduate education and long-term science literacy are enhanced by integrating data projects with public datasets and creating analysis summaries. Underutilized public datasets are often...

    Keywords: species richnessBiodiversitydisturbanceHabitat rangePopulation abundance

    2580

    views

    487

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Teaching students to read, interpret, and write about scientific research: A press release assignment in a large, lower-division class
    A central skill in any science discipline is the ability to read, understand, and discuss the primary literature of the discipline. However, teaching this skill presents unique challenges within...

    Keywords: cell biologyScience Communicationscientific literacyGraduate Teaching Assistant Professional DevelopmentBiological LiteracyPrimary ResearchWriting Skills

    1980

    views

    412

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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

    643

    views

    110

    downloads

    1

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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

    1015

    views

    132

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    The Leaky Neuron: Understanding synaptic integration using an analogy involving leaky cups
    Students have difficulty understanding synaptic integration in neural circuits, and how spatial and temporal summation combine in a target neuron to reach threshold.  This Lesson uses small...

    Keywords: neuron physiologyspatial summationsynaptic integrationtemporal summationthreshold

    2364

    views

    254

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    SCIENCE/Fiction: Modular Template for Class Design
    We present a modular scaffold for designing an introductory seminar using speculative fiction and science papers to welcome university undergraduates to the biology major. A list of twelve possible...

    Keywords: geneticscell biologyneurosciencesystems biologyScience Fiction

    1502

    views

    297

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Translating Co-Translational Translocation
    Understanding the process of proteins targeting to specific locations within a cell is a fundamental part of cell biology. Synthesis of proteins by co-translational translocation, which also...

    Keywords: Topologyco-translational translocationendoplasmic reticulumprotease protection assaysecretory proteinssignal sequencetransmembrane proteins

    2189

    views

    390

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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

    1232

    views

    348

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Data, Distributions, and Hypotheses: Exploring Diversity and Disturbance in the Tallgrass Prairie
    Proper hypothesis generation, data handling, graphing, and communication are essential skills that undergraduate majors in biology are expected to master. However, students rarely get hands-on...

    Keywords: Quantitative reasoningRestoration EcologyScience process skillstall grass prairie ecosystem

    1283

    views

    375

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Using Constructed Response Questions on High-Stakes Assessments in Large Classes With Limited Support
    Large lecture courses often rely heavily, and sometimes exclusively, on Multiple Choice (MC) exams to assess student learning. Constructed Response (CR) questions, in which students generate their...

    Keywords: assessmenttestexamLarge classconstructed responseshort answerscoring

    1054

    views

    18

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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

    4410

    views

    377

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    A Quick and Simple Natural Selection Role Play
    Teaching evolution remains a challenging task in biology education. Students enter the classroom with stubborn misconceptions and many traditional examples of the process of evolution may not...

    Keywords: EvolutionfitnessNatural Selectionheritability

    3361

    views

    932

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Modeling Strep Throat Detection, Infection, and Spread Using an SIR Model and the Vensim Simulation Software
    The overarching goal of this lesson is to provide students with an opportunity to gain experience making and using biological models. Biological modeling can be used to investigate complex,...

    Keywords: infectious diseasebiological modelingSIR model

    1405

    views

    200

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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

    530

    views

    105

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    A simple way for students to visualize cellular respiration: adapting the board game MousetrapTM to model complexity
    Lecture-based introductory biology courses are typically content-heavy as instructors strive to provide students with foundational knowledge in a broad range of topics.  One topic...

    Keywords: ATPGlycolysisCellular RespirationElectron Transport ChainKrebs Cycle

    4264

    views

    655

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    In-class peer grading of daily quizzes increases feedback opportunities
    Educators are familiar with evidence of the benefit that frequent and immediate feedback provides to our students, regardless of class size. We also often find ourselves in a situation where we do...

    Keywords: foundational knowledgegraphical interpretationtechnical terms

    917

    views

    97

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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

    4119

    views

    719

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    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)

    3512

    views

    1179

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Inexpensive Cell Migration Inquiry Lab using Zebrafish
    Cell migration is an important and interesting topic that has the potential to engage students in cell biology by its intrinsically active nature. However, most ways to investigate cell migration...

    Keywords: CytoskeletonCell migrationmodel organisms

    1672

    views

    168

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Using Raw Sequence Data to Analyze Tumor Suppressor Mutations
    Learning to identify DNA sequence variants from raw sequencing data (electropherograms) is a basic molecular biology skill with applications to basic research and clinical practice. Yet learning to...

    Keywords: bioinformaticsmutationDNAgenomic visualizationparts of a geneclinical consequencesraw data

    255

    views

    18

    downloads

    0

    comments

    0

    adaptations

    Close

    Home

    Search