Using Calibrated Peer Review (CPR)
to Improve Student Communication Skills
Todd Nickle
If you ask any faculty member about what one skill students should develop, literacy (especially writing) occurs more often than not. Students often haven't had sufficient practice writing, and find clear communication difficult. This mini‑workshop will outline how I've incorporated the CPR program (presented ABLE 2003 by Norris Armstrong) to give students practice opportunities to develop their own lab (in a manner similar to Kevin Piers' Peer‑review format). Our teaching method has students using Jan Pechenik's "A Short Guide to Writing About Biology" which sometimes overwhelms students due to its length. CPR models writing styles (both good and bad) and has students evaluate features of writing. Additionally, CPR gives students a chance to face the challenges of grading the work of others (which has a very desirable side effect; the grading does not fall solely on the shoulders of the instructor!). CPR has proven to be an effective addition to our laboratory curriculum. You can access CPR at http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/

Beachcomber Ecology:
The Shannon-Weiner Species Diversity Index
Kathleen Nolan and Jill E. Callahan
Participants will be provided with seashells collected from various beaches along the Atlantic coast. These collections of “organisms” that have washed up on a beach represent a subset of what is naturally found on the sea floor, and will be used as our sample “community”. Participants will count numbers of organisms (shells), and will key them out to species with shell guides. They will ascertain the species richness and species diversity of each collection. The Shannon-Weiner species diversity index is a simple calculation that takes into consideration both species richness and the proportion that each species makes up of the whole. This exercise has been used successfully with high school through college students in an attempt to teach ecological principles such as species richness, range, and species diversity. The shells preserve well and can be used from year to year. Students can also study intraspecific variation based on size and color.

Implementing Inquiry Based Learning
in a General Microbiology Laboratory
Candace L. Walker, Arthur L. Buikema Jr. and Ann M. Stevens
In recent years there has been an increased interest in inquiry-based learning, also known as experiential learning or problem based learning, as a more appropriate model of teaching science. The purpose of this study was to incorporate inquiry-based learning in a college sophomore General Microbiology Laboratory. The goal of this course is to give students an introduction to basic techniques and procedures necessary for the study of microorganisms. Students enrolled in the course come from majors that range across the life science spectrum and have completed two semesters of Principles of Biology Laboratory. One of the more challenging concepts that the students have difficulty with is serial dilutions. What is the alternative method? To look at the effect of an alternative way to approach serial dilutions, classes were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a comparison group. The experimental group was taught the concept of serial dilutions using an inquiry-based learning approach whereas the comparison group was taught using traditional teaching methods. During the spring semester, the study involved approximately 350 students. Preliminary analysis of the data indicated that the experimental group and comparison groups had similar mean scores as evaluated with a pre-quiz, mid-quiz, and post-quiz. However, the experimental group had a 16% increase in the number of students receiving perfect scores on the quiz.

Inexpensive Apparatus for Measuring Respiration
and Photosynthesis Based on CO2
Paul Willing
This workshop presents a modification of a previous ABLE workshop* which involved a comparison of the metabolic rates of an ectotherm (lizard) and an endotherm (mouse) at various temperatures. They sampled gases over time from closed containers containing the organisms. In our modification of this lab exercise, students monitor respiration continuously in a closed, circulating system, using a CO2 sensor, an analog to digital interface (Lab Pro**), and a laptop computer running Logger Pro software**. Students are able to work in groups of 3 because each setup is relatively inexpensive. CO2 sensors are usually based on infra red light absorption and tend to be expensive, ranging from $1000 on up. However, Vernier** has a CO2 sensor for about $250 which has a sensitivity of + 20 ppm, which is quite adequate for educational use. With some modifications, this sensor can be built into a closed, circulating, system to accurately monitor respiration of a single cricket in as little as 5-10 minutes. By simply switching chambers, the same apparatus and software can be used to monitor photosynthesis in a subsequent lab exercise.

Session 2: 9:30-10:30 AM

What Do Students Really Know When They Enter College?
Arthur L. Buikema, Jr., Mary. A. Schaeffer and C. M. Webb
When students began to state that they had already done our introductory laboratories in high school we studied what students really know when they enter college and what impact our laboratory exercises had on their understanding of biology. Students were given a multiple choice test on the first day of the semester on facts we think they should know when they matriculated. We also tested them again one week after each specific laboratory exercise and again at the end of the each semester. We found that most student scores were usually less than 50% at the beginning. A post test after the laboratory exercise yielded significant increases in scores, and while their scores dropped somewhat by the end of the semester, student scores were still significantly higher at the end of the semester. We also asked students about the proportion of overlap with their high school laboratory exercises and the degree of overlap was typically below 50%. When asked about the value of each exercise and whether it was a good learning experience, more than 70-80% of the students replied in the affirmative. However, one laboratory exercise did not fair well. This was mitosis and meiosis. In response to student criticisms of this exercise, we instituted another exercise that started with very little to no terminology to engage student thinking about meiosis and we will share that exercise at the conference.

Quantitative Investigations of Hatching in Brine Shrimp Cysts
Charlie Drewes
WA novel method permits easy and precise determination of percent hatching in diapause ‘eggs’ of North American brine shrimp, Artemia franciscana. Small numbers of dry eggs (actually encysted, gastrula-stage embryos in animated suspension) are literally painted onto a small, adhesive patch on the floor of a Petri dish. This permits exact counting of cysts and subsequent viewing in a single focal-plane underwater. Daily counts of emerged nauplius larvae are quickly and easily made, either in the lab classroom or dorm room settings. The method reliably yields hatching curves that exceed 85% in control groups. In experimental ‘treatment’ groups, students may investigate effects of a myriad of environmental variables (e.g., heat, light, cold, salinity, radiation, low oxygen, re-hydration, or pollutants) on hatching success. Attendees take home free samples of all materials and supplies.

Accessible Laboratory Environments for Teaching Biology
Christy Horn, William Glider, Beth Whitaker*, Katherine Kalisek and Adam Langan
This workshop will describe a classroom development project that provides a fully inclusive and accessible environment for all students including students with disabilities. Science curriculum has many highly visual and interactive components that create barriers to the full participation of disabled students. New technologies in the teaching of biology and in the accommodation of students with disabilities have become available to allow us to create learning spaces that will enhance student-teacher and student-student interaction and support multiple modes of learning. We will describe a number of accommodation strategies that we have developed over the last ten years to enhance learning for all disability groups focusing on the use of technology as a means to accommodate individual learning challenges.

Using Customized Tools and Databases for Teaching
Bioinformatics in Lower-level Biology Courses
Melody Neumann* and Nicholas Provart
The developing field of Bioinformatics has revolutionized modern cell and molecular biology, both in the research lab and classroom. It is important that students receive an introduction to the theory of Bioinformatics, the use of bioinformatics tools as a means of addressing biological questions, and the critical analysis of output from these tools. Our second year Biology students (>1500) expressed frustration with the use of publicly available bioinformatics tools and databases since these can be quite complicated, and frequently assume fairly sophisticated computing skills as well as an understanding of complex statistical theory or computational algorithms. This computer mini-workshop will demonstrate exercises where students were able to develop a basic understanding of the field of Bioinformatics and practice using bioinformatics tools and customized databases to solve real biological problems. Simplified bioinformatics tools containing the key features of common tools (eg. Blast and ClustalW) will also be demonstrated. There will also be an opportunity for workshop participants to discuss pedagogical and logistical issues surrounding the implementation and improvement of Bioinformatics computer labs, particularly for introductory courses.

The Beautiful Moldy World All Around Us
Karen Romanyk
Mycological material and techniques to use for class demonstration and student projects in a biology/botany course. We will relate fungi to it’s function as a decomposer with emphasis on the lytic enzymes produced by the fungi and then emphasis the classical characteristics of the groups represented by our selected decomposers. We will also look at 3 types of isolation experiments; the use of moist chambers, selective plates and baiting to introduce the students to the cryptogamic fungal diversity of various substrates. This introduces the students to various technical skills, observation skills, and fungal diversity.

Session 3: 2:00-3:00 PM

Using National Public Radio to Jump Start Research Projects
in Environmental Biology
Ruth E. Beattie
During the past three semesters, the presenter has used National Public Radio (NPR) programs to stimulate / jump-start student interest in current environmental issues in a non-majors human ecology course. The goals of this presentation are: (a) to describe how NPR programs are used in student research projects; (b) to discuss the logistics of implementing student research projects in a large-enrollment lecture-only course, and (c) to discuss the evaluation of this activity in terms of enhancing the academic experiences of non-science majors.

Using the Slime Mold Physarum polycephalum
in Independent Student Research
Janice Bonner
This mini-workshop will introduce the acellular slime mold Physarum polycephalum as an ideal organism for use in independent research for first-year biology students. There are many challenges to incorporating independent research in introductory biology courses: students don’t yet have sufficient conceptual understanding to conduct the research, the experimental organisms pose maintenance problems, necessary equipment is expensive, and there is not enough room to accommodate numerous experimental set-ups. Physarum polycephalum addresses all of these problems. First, students do not need detailed background information to understand the organism. Its life cycle includes several distinct stages that can easily be distinguished. The slime mold can be induced to move from one stage to another by manipulation of the nutrition source and light. Second, Physarum is easily grown on 2% non-nutrient agar, fed oatmeal flakes, and kept at room temperature. Third, students can often design their own experimental apparatus from PVC pipe and plastic storage containers. Fourth, the entire experiment of a research team can be stored in a single laboratory drawer or medium-sized box. At College of Notre Dame of Maryland, first-semester biology students conduct semester-long research projects involving Physarum. At the end of the semester, students present their results in a formal symposium presentation and in a written report. Because this same organism has been used by first-semester students for many years, its use has become a "rite of passage" for students in the department, linking students within the major. Over the semesters, especially innovative or well-written reports have been collected and “published” in the department’s Journal of Physarum Research. As students read these articles and others accessed through the library’s data base, they are introduced to the importance of studying the literature. In the spring semester, first-year students are invited to continue their project as independent research. Students have taken the results of this extended research to various undergraduate research symposiums.

Using Lab Reports to Achieve Specific Learning Goals
in a Wide Range of Laboratory Settings
Miriam Ferzli and Michael Carter
By incorporating lab reports into various types of laboratory investigations, we can offer students the opportunity to become involved with the process of science—learning how to ask scientific questions, explain them, defend them, and communicate findings. Usually, lab reports are assigned when students conduct hypothesis-driven lab experiments; however, there are different types of lab reports that respond to different learning situations in the lab. Lab reports can lend themselves well to “descriptive labs”—labs based on observation, such as microscope labs or dissections, or labs centered on learning laboratory procedures. The descriptive lab report is a response to a lab that doesn’t lend itself to making a hypothesis. Instead of hypotheses, students ask questions before and during the lab, write down observations, make drawings, explain scientific concepts, and discuss what they learned. Lab reports also fit in well with learning situations in which students are asked to design their own lab experiments. This type of lab report focuses on a problem and experimental design formulated by the student. It is a good preparation for learning how to write research proposals and scientific papers. Another scenario that calls for a specific type of lab report is a lab course in which students write a “partial lab report,” writing only one or more sections of the report at a time, building a lab report gradually over a term. In this workshop, we’ll explore these different types of lab reports and how to incorporate them into your lab courses with the help of LabWrite, a free online tutorial that addresses lab report writing for a variety of laboratory formats. The goal of the workshop is to help biology lab instructors become more aware of the kinds of learning they can promote by increasing the opportunities for lab report writing in all lab investigations, especially those traditionally not thought of as suitable for lab report writing. Workshop participants will get a hands-on experience with LabWrite as they explore multiple types of laboratory reports in the context of various kinds of lab experiences.

Developing Research Opportunities of Undergraduate Students
Maggie Haag
One of the best methods to engage students in inquiry-based learning is to provide them with opportunities to participate in current research. While most undergraduate programs afford this opportunity to their majors, it is often done as a culmination of their degree/program in their fourth year. Current studies show that earlier exposure to scientific research may do much to both attract and retain students in undergraduate programs. This workshop will present a number of models of providing research opportunities for undergraduate students at all stages of their career. The main aim of the workshop will be to foster a discussion about some of these models, what works and what does not.

ABLE 2005 conference program