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    Strategies for developing a science communicator through authentic science writing assignments
    To prepare biology undergraduates to be able to read and evaluate the primary literature, it is beneficial to teach students how to write documents in the style of professional science style...

    Keywords: communicationPeer reviewscience writing

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    Cell Signaling Pathways - a Case Study Approach
    Signaling and gene expression are fundamental to cell biology and developmental biology. Although these topics are highly interrelated, they typically appear in separate units in a course. We use a...

    Keywords: signal transductiongene expressionCell communicationgenetic disordersregulation of enzyme activity

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    The Lecture-Free Classroom: Teaching students backward design and Bloom's Taxonomy to create their own learning environment
    We describe Presentation Enhanced Learning (PEL), a flexible, lecture-free, field-tested teaching format to promote problem-based, active learning in upper-division or graduate biological sciences...

    Keywords: active learningbackward designProblem based learningBloom's Taxonomy

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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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    Exploration of the Human Genome by Investigation of Personalized SNPs
    Students often shy away from tedious bioinformatics approaches to exploring their genomes. However, in our expanding digital world these skills are some of the most relevant and valuable. To...

    Keywords: UCSC genome browsersingle nucleotide polymorphismGenome wide association studiesGenomic organization

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    Infectious Chocolate Joy with a Side of Poissonian Statistics: An activity connecting life science students with subtle physics concepts
    Introductory physics courses are required for many programs in the life sciences, yet traditional curricula fail to help students meaningfully connect physical concepts with biological...

    Keywords: quantitative biologyHIVmultiplicity of infectionPoisson DistributionPhysics for biologists

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    Using Undergraduate Molecular Biology Labs to Discover Targets of miRNAs in Humans
    Incorporating authentic research experiences into undergraduate labs, while shown to be particularly effective at engaging and retaining students in STEM majors, can be difficult to accomplish...

    Keywords: gene regulationmicroRNAsgene expression

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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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    Homologous chromosomes? Exploring human sex chromosomes, sex determination and sex reversal using bioinformatics approaches
    Constructing a robust understanding of homologous chromosomes, sex chromosomes, and the particulate nature of genes is a notoriously difficult task for undergraduate biology students. In this...

    Keywords: bioinformaticsautosomehomologous chromosomeshomologous recombinationsex chromosomesex determinationsex reversal mutations

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    Why Meiosis Matters: The case of the fatherless snake
    A compelling reason to learn something can make all the difference in students’ motivation to learn it.  Motivation, in turn, is one of the key attitudes that drives learning.  This story...

    Keywords: meiosismitosissex determinationAsexual reproductionParthenogenesis

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    Learning the Landscape: An Active and Applied Lesson on Landscape Ecology for General Ecology Courses
    Landscape ecology is an important subtopic of ecology. As a field, it is inherently interdisciplinary and provides opportunities to teach not only content, but transferable ecological and...

    Keywords: landscape ecologyspatial scaleecosystem managementHabitat fragmentation

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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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    Bacteria to Brains in Backyard Coyotes: An Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Case Study
    Our interdisciplinary pedagogical case study explores the differences between rural and urban coyotes at the levels of organismal and community ecology. The focus is on how coyotes’ gut...

    Keywords: dietanimal behaviorimmune systemmicrobiomeNervous systemgut-brain axisImmunoReachdysbiosisCoyoteCytokines

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    Integrating Community Ecology Into the Study of Parasites: Exploring the Effect of Host Behavior on Parasite Transmission Rates
    Organismal life cycles are often presented as a set of facts to memorize in undergraduate biology courses. This approach is cognitively demanding for students and fails to convey how central life...

    Keywords: statisticsspecies interactionsQuantitative reasoninggraphsCommunity EcologyParasitologyfood webs

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    Student-Driven Design-and-Improve Modules to Explore the Effect of Plant Bioactive Compounds in Three Model Organisms
    Engaging and supporting introductory level students in authentic research experiences during required coursework is challenging. Plant bioactive compounds attract students' natural curiosity as...

    Keywords: statisticsLabCUREInquiryresearch skillscaterpillardaphniadrugsscience process

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    The Comics Project: Synthesizing and Communicating Science with Comics
    Students, especially non-science majors, often see science as abstracted from their daily lives. Moreover, students often struggle to translate scientific concepts into everyday language in order...

    Keywords: communicating scienceScience & Societycomics

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    Marsh Madness: Using Video Games and a Case Study to Explore Food Webs and Ecosystem Services in Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve
    As the complexity and interconnectedness of our world increases, we are continually expected to be capable of complex, non-linear thinking in order to successfully tackle and solve the challenges...

    Keywords: food webssystems thinkingGame Based LearningEcosystem Servicessocio-ecological networks

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    Understanding the Importance of Microtubules in Normal Cell Division: Chemotherapy Connection
    In introductory courses, students learn about microtubules as important structures but may not engage in a hands-on experience to localize microtubules themselves or to learn about their connection...

    Keywords: cancerCell DivisionimmunofluorescenceMicrotubulesAntibodies

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    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

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    Biology from Molecules to Embryos, Interactive Animated Lessons
    Visualizing kinetic processes can be an impediment to student mastery of basic science coursework. To remedy this obstacle, I created an educational program called Biology from Molecules to...

    Keywords: geneticsBIOMEEmbryologycomputer assisted instructioneducational programeducational videosonline lessonsanimated lessonseducational website

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