This article has data that can be adopted for graphing skills activity.

Ratios and proportions are foundational to student understanding across multiple topics in mathematics and science. In mathematics, they are central to developing concepts and skills related to slope, constant rate of change, and similar figures, which are all fundamental to algebraic concepts and skills.

Dougherty, B., Pedrotty Bryant,  D., Bryant, B., Shin, M. 2016,  Teaching Exceptional Children Vol 94(2):96-105, DOI: 10.1177/0040059916674897

Welcome to the MathBench Biology Modules! These modules introduce students (and anyone else who's interested) to the mathematical underpinnings of what they learn in introductory biology courses.

"Fully funded by the National Science Foundation, STATS4STEM provides a collection of learning, assessment, tutoring, data, and computing resources for statistics educators and their students." They also have R tutorials for running stats in R that may be of use while developing teaching modules. 

Job Details

Title:

Instructor - Biology

Job Category:

Faculty

College Name:

Somerset Community College

Campus Location:

Somerset, KY

Department:

Mathematics & Natural Sciences

Summary:

In addition to submitting an online application, please upload the following in PDF format: cover letter, resume or curriculum vitae, transcripts for all college coursework, copies of all current and unexpired certifications/licensures, and three current letters of recommendation dated within one year.

Kentucky State Law requires state and national pre-employment background checks as a condition of employment. 

Benefits include: medical insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, paid vacation, long-term disability, paid holidays, and 403(b) retirement plan. 

Duties:

Work collaboratively with students, faculty, and staff to ensure the educational needs of the individual learner are met.  Empower students to be fully engaged in the learning environment, promoting growth and educational development. Provide leadership to support the operation and success of courses in the division.
The position will focus primarily on Microbiology and/or Anatomy and Physiology courses in addition to teaching introductory biology courses. Must be flexible in teaching daytime and evening on any/all campuses, and through various delivery methodologies.

The case "A Curious Display" references some images of fruits and vegetables before humans began to change them through normal means of plant breeding, and includes links to some research articles on these.  

This is a unit with several different lessons.  If begins with labelling, includes a useful overview power point on what a GMO is (does not go through the technology), has a second power point on GMO facts and fiction and many resources.  A nice set of sheets that organize critical thinking activities related to GMOs. 

This page has links to a great deal of information on careers in agriculture, most of which employ technicians of various kinds in the lab, field or market.   It leads to many other resources, such as the magazine Agro World which also has information on careers using technical backgrounds

A nice website to explore on soil science.  Designed for K-12 but could easily be upped in complexity.  Several lesson topics.  When you click one, it opens up to more lessons on that topic!  Check out Soil Conservation as one directly related to the case A Curious Display

Using readily available materials, students can see DNA that they extract from strawberries.  Strawberries have eight sets of chromosomes, making the DNA very plentiful.  Frozen strawberries and 70-90% isopropyl alchohol, salt and colorless dish detergent are used.  To make this an inquiry lab, students could modify the given recipe to see what affects how much DNA can be extracted.  

Background: Scientists use a technique called gel electrophoresis to look at a DNA fingerprint.  The DNA separates into bands and these bands form different lengths.  Every organism, with the exception of identical twins, has a different DNA fingerprint.

Goal: To understand how DNA is separated into a fingerprint by using a chromatography activity to simulate gel electrophoresis.

Learning Objectives: Students will…

• Follow directions to complete a gel electrophoresis simulation
• Use a color-separation technique to separate individual colors from two sample solution
• Use the results of the separation to infer whether the sample solutions are identical or not

Students will be presented with information, in the classroom, for developing effective search terms related to the topic of their assignment (GMO, in this case). Then, students can complete the Websource evaluation worksheet - either as a classroom activity or as a homework.

Activity

Choose how you would like to engage your students in the subject of GMO’s and how that is related to protein production in organisms.  We do not suggest that you give them this entire list!  You should choose the resources that will best fit your students and your learning outcomes for your course. In our session we will consider how you might fit in these items with your curricular goals and to make the learning process accessible for your students, with a focus on the science of GMO’s and not on the controversy of GMO’s.

Teach the concepts of the central dogma of biology with a hands on activity of building cute creatures (bug babies) from candy!  Participants will practice transcribing DNA into RNA from a template, and then use the RNA sequence to build amino acids. Using a “protein decoder” will allow for translation of RNA into specific traits.  Bug babies will then be built using marshmallows and other household supplies; demonstrating firsthand how the alteration of a few nucleotides can result in very different organismal phenotypes.

Students construct paper recombinant plasmids to simulate the methods genetic engineers use to create modified bacteria. They learn what role enzymes, DNA and genes play in the modification of organisms. For the particular model they work on, they isolate a plant herbicide resistant gene and combine it with a bacteria's gene sequence (plasmid DNA) to engineer crops' resistance to herbicide Roundup.

Use the Case Analysis Sheet as a scaffold for students when they begin a new case study (or read a newspaper article). This sheet  will help students generate questions and reflect on what they already know about the topics in a case, as well as identify types of resources to use as they learn more.