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Abstracts
for Major Workshops
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back to ABLE 2004 conference program
Wednesday
Workshops
1
– Horticulture and Bonzai
Joe Baker
This
lab is targeted toward introductory botany students. By introducing
the techniques of bonzai students learn about comparative
plant anatomy and regulation of plant growth. This laboratory
could also be used in advanced horticulture or introductory
biology courses.
2
– Temperature Receptors
Charlie Drewes
This workshop emphasizes the sensory biology of human touch and
temperature reception. Participants will investigate both
quantitative and qualitative aspects of touch-sensory functions
in human skin, including determination of regional variation
in two-point discrimination and calculation of the average
error in localization. Values will be compared to Weber’s
original data. In addition, novel materials and methods for
directly investigating the organization and function of cold
sensory reception in human skin will be introduced. These
methods permit: (a) estimation of sensory field size for single
cold-sensory nerve fibers, (b) demonstration of the discontinuous
(mosaic) distribution of cold-sensory fibers in a patch of
human skin, and (c) estimation of the density of cold-sensitive
fibers per unit area in a skin patch. Conceptual understanding
of tactile and thermoreceptor functions will be reinforced
through use of tangible models illustrating the underlying
neuroanatomy of peripheral sensory components
3
– Bioenergetics of Roaches
Sheryl Shanholtzer
This laboratory exercise is used as a collaborative ecology research
project in the second course for majors. The exercise measures
energy flow through hissing cockroaches. The labs runs over
5 lab periods: week one set up takes the first 1.5 hours of
a lab; the following 3-hour lab is used to measure respiration
and take weight measurements; in the next two labs about 20
minutes are needed to weight food, collect feces, and clean
cages; and finally in lab 5 the final data collection and
analysis takes about 1.5 hours.
4
– Hardy-Weinberg Model Applied
to a Mixed Population of Bar and Wild-type Drosophila
Andrea Bixler and Fred Schnee
Unlike most population genetics labs, which involve simulations with
beans or beads, this lab provides an opportunity to study
a population of living organisms. Using Bar and wild-type
Drosophila, students compare allele and genotype
frequencies to Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Because the Bar
mutation in Drosophila is sex-linked and incompletely
dominant, students can determine the exact genotype of a fly
from its phenotype. Data are then evaluated to determine which
(if any) of the five assumptions have been violated. This
real-data approach to Hardy-Weinberg enables instructor and
student to discover and correct misunderstandings of the model.
5
– Incorporating Original
Genomics Research into Genetics and Molecular Biology Courses
Brad Goodner and Kathy Wheeler
There is no doubt that genomics and bioinformatics have revolutionized
biology over the past few years. However, their impact on
education has lagged, and a new revolution is possible in
the undergraduate curriculum. Based on a collaboration that
led to finishing the Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58
genome (Goodner et al., Science 294:2237-2416), we
have incorporated genomics and functional genomics research
throughout our genetics and molecular & cellular biology
courses using A. tumefaciens and other bacteria.
In our workshop, we will (1) show how we accomplish the typical
skill development goals in a genetics or molecular biology
course while accomplishing novel research, (2) overview the
actual research we have incorporated into our genetics and
molecular & cellular biology courses, (3) lead brainstorming
sessions on using our system directly, applying it to other
organisms, or applying the general theme of research within
a course to other questions, and (4) propose a consortium
idea of shared genomics resources that could be used by many
courses at different institutions while allowing for customization
for each course.
6
– Labwrite: Extensive Web-based
Instruction for Helping College Students Write Lab Reports
and Learn Science.
Miriam Ferzli, Michael Carter,
Eric Wiebe, & Trina Allen
LabWrite, funded by the National Science Foundation, is a structured
set of online materials developed as an alternative to the
typical lab report instruction. LabWrite provides extensive
resources designed to lead college students through the entire
lab experience, beginning with questions that help students
to comprehend the essential elements of the lab before they
start the procedure and ending with advice for improving their
performance on the next lab report. The primary goal of LabWrite
is to better enable students to take advantage of the potential
that writing lab reports offers for learning science. In a
control-group study of students in the biological sciences,
those using LabWrite demonstrated significantly greater understanding
of the science of the labs and a greater ability to apply
formal scientific reasoning to the labs than students receiving
the typical instruction in writing lab reports.
This workshop is an introduction to using LabWrite. By the
end of the workshop, participants will have all the information
and materials they need to incorporate LabWrite in their lab
classes (LabWrite is fully accessible on the Web and costs
nothing to use). During the session we will review the background
and development of LabWrite including studies of LabWrite
in the biological sciences, provide an overview of the website
and hands-on activities using the site, and offer suggestions
on how to incorporate the LabWrite materials effectively in
lab classes.
7
– A Field Trip for Applied
Population Biology: Mark/recapture of White-footed Mice in
a Local Woodlot
John Cummings
We will take participants in the field to a local woodlot that
has been extensively used for a long-term study of White-footed
mice, Peromyscus leucopus. Participants will walk
an established live-trapping trap line and will collect data
for any captured animal. Because this population is under
continuous monitoring, estimations of the population size
will be made by both the Lincoln-Peterson and Jolly methods.
Thursday
Workshops
8
– Western Blots
Ted and Tucker Gurney
Western
blots are used in many aspects of cell biology research, diagnostic
medicine, and even forensics. We demonstrate this important
technique by measuring expression of SV40 large T antigen
and the cellular tumor suppressor protein p53. A p53 induction
experiment using UV light and Western blots is described.
Students grow tissue culture cells and make crude extracts
with a nonionic detergent. The extracts are electrophoresed
in SDS-polyacrylamide gels which are electroblotted to nitrocellulose.
The blots are probed with anti-T or anti-p53 mouse monoclonal
antibodies from hybridoma cultures students grow themselves.
The probes are revealed using a commercial horseradish peroxidase
conjugated anti-mouse IgG and detection by Luminol chemiluminescence
and x-ray film.
9
– “Conversion Immersion”:
Working Together to Create Investigative Labs
Mariëlle Hoefnagels and Mark
Walvoord
Participants
will work together in small groups to generate ideas for modifying
traditional (“cookbook”) labs to a more investigative
format. We will contact the participants in advance and have
them submit a summary of the traditional lab (or labs) that
they would like to modify. We will categorize the labs by
topic in advance. On the day of the workshop, we will divide
the participants into small groups and assign each group a
lab or set of related labs. Participants will spend about
half of the workshop working in their small groups, brainstorming
and summarizing their ideas for making the labs more investigative.
For the remainder of the workshop, each group will report
its ideas to the rest of the workshop participants.
10
– Systematics: Morphological
and Molecular Phylogenies
Dan Johnson
This
two–part lab introduces students to basic methods used
for reconstructing evolutionary relationships between groups
of organisms. It is designed for freshman pre–majors,
but more complex homework assignments would make it appropriate
for advanced majors as well. Each part can be completed in
one week, and they may be integrated as one unit, or separated
into 2 standalone exercises.
The
printed background material explains basic principles and
terminology of phylogenetic analysis. In Part 1, students
use shared, derived morphological features to map out a phylogenetic
tree for a group of fictional organisms. For homework, they
apply these skills by determining the evolutionary relationships
within 1 of 4 living groups: selected rodents, Scaraboid beetles,
Fagales (oaks, birches, myrtles, beeches and walnuts), or
Caryophyalles (a very diverse plant group containing carnations,
pokeweeds, and cacti!).
In Part 2, students learn to use BioWorkbench, a suite of free
bioinformatics tools hosted by the San Diego Supercomputing
Center. They retrieve and align amino acid sequences of insulin
from several species of rodents, then use the alignment to
generate a phylogenetic tree for the group. For homework,
the students complete a molecular phylogenetic analysis on
their own for one of several groups: Cetaceans (the whales),
Caryophyalles, Fagales, or Haplorhini (the great apes). We
supply an outline of essential information, but students are
on their own to retrieve and align the amino acid or nucleotide
sequences, and create the phylogenetic tree.
In the workshop we will work through the basic procedures for
each week. As time allows we will discuss how students (and
scientists) can use phylogenetic analysis to answer questions
in ecology and other areas of biology. In addition to the
lab exercises I will supply participants with copies of all
the student handouts we use for the two homework assignments,
and a set of instructor’s preparatory and teaching notes.
11A – The Kankapot Creek
Coast Guard: Public Service Through Water Quality Monitoring
of a Stressed Stream
Joy Perry
Morning
workshop:
The University of Wisconsin – Fox Valley Biology Department
is carrying out a longterm project in which students gather
water quality data on an impaired stream near our campus.
The data will eventually be used to help formulate a restoration
plan for the stream. Participants in this field-based workshop
will follow the procedures our introductory students use and
assess habitat quality, chemical and physical parameters,
and benthic macroinvertebrate diversity of a stream near the
Bowling Green campus. Most data collection will be completed
in the field using relatively simple – but informative
– techniques. Some waders and boots will be provided,
but participants should be generally prepared for in-stream
work. Sources and modifications of equipment will be discussed,
as well as possible linkages to state-based volunteer water
quality monitoring programs.
11B – Water
Quality Monitoring for Fun and (Educational) Profit
Joy Perry
Afternoon
workshop:
Water quality monitoring activities can support student inquiry
into ecological concepts and pollution issues, as well as
offer insight into integrating field and lab work and provide
a basis for service projects. This lab-based workshop will
provide participants with protocols to assess streams for
habitat quality, chemical and physical integrity, and ability
to support a diverse macroinvertebrate community. We will
review needed equipment and supplies, and discuss articulation
with volunteer water quality monitoring programs established
in many states. This workshop will also offer ideas for more
advanced extensions of this activity, and will include practice
in more precise identification of macroinvertebrates to allow
use of several biotic indices as indicators of water quality.
Registration priority given to those attending “The
Kankapot Creek Coast Guard” workshop.
12
– Photosynthetic Strategies
and Their Consequences for Plant Community Structure
Greg Murray, Kathy Winnett-Murray
and Lori Hertel
F or
plants, light is often a limiting resource – most plants can
be stimulated to higher photosynthetic rates and higher growth
rates by increasing the amount of light they receive. At the
same time, many plants are well-adapted to living in low-light
environments, like the shaded understory of a forest. In this
lab, students test some working hypotheses about the photosynthetic
responses of representative pioneer and primary forest tree
species that might account for the successional patterns observed
in the forest. Specifically, these hypotheses are: a) Light
intensity in treefall gaps exceeds that in adjacent forest
understory. b) Pioneer species have faster photosynthetic
rates than do primary forest species under gap light conditions.
c) Primary forest species have faster photosynthetic rates
than do pioneer species under forest understory light conditions.
d) Growth rates of pioneer species exceed those of primary
forest species in gaps. e) Growth rates of primary forest
species exceed those of pioneer species in forest understory.
Students
collect data on light intensity in gap and understory patches
with light ceptometers that are sensitive only to the wavelengths
(400-700 nanometers) used for photosynthesis, on growth rates
of representative pioneer and primary species over the previous
year by measuring the increase in shoot length, and on photosynthetic
rates of representative species under gap and understory light
conditions using a portable photosynthesis system (Li-Cor
Portable 6400).
13
– Alternative Strategies
to the Use of Vertebrates for Physiology Undergraduate Laboratories
Flora Watson and Charlotte Omotto
The
use of vertebrate animals has been a staple of physiology
labs. Yet, there are good reasons to find alternatives to
the use of vertebrates when possible. The first reason being
the cost of the specimens and secondly the concerns dealing
with procedures on the animals. This major workshop explores
alternatives in four separate experiments. One explores thermoregulation
without using animals at all! Another investigates actomyosin
function and membrane excitation using giant algal cells.
Finally, the use of insects is exemplified in the investigation
of taste receptors and digestion. This workshop will explore
the importance of providing good background information to
the vertebrate processes and connecting the alternative experimental
system to homologous physiological processes in vertebrates.
Students can then appreciate the commonality in biological
processes and the importance of underlying physiological principles.
14
– Allometry: Size and its
Consequences or: “Why aren’t there 20 foot
tall ants?”
Susan Schenk
Body
size is linked to the shape, physiology, anatomy, and ecology
of an organism. This exercise explains how to determine the
allometric (power) relationship between two variables, and
begins by examining the relationship between surface area
and volume for a set of beakers and a set of graduated cylinders.
Students use the data to determine if either set is isometric,
and if not, how they differ. Each group then takes a set of
measurements for celery and determines relationships between
length and width, length and area, and length and weight for
leaves of different ages. Finally, each group measures the
sizes in a set of small to large woodlice as well as the time
taken for each one to stop moving when chilled (the woodlice
are not injured). Relationships are determined between length
and width, length and weight, and weight and cooling time.
Students try to explain any changes in shape (or cooling time)
as size increases for all of the data sets, and use the information
to discuss the relationship of shape to heating and cooling
and to metabolic rate. Finally, they explain, in allometric
terms, why 20 foot tall ants are unlikely. This lab can be
completed in well under 3 hours and is simple and inexpensive
to set up. It does, however, require the students to make
graphs, so a set of homework exercises that teaches students
how to use Excel is included.
Friday Morning
Workshops
(These workshops will only be offered once)
15
– Case It! Case Study Learning:
An Update
Mark Bergland and Kern Klyczek
Case
It! is an NSF-sponsored project to promote collaborative case-based
learning in biology education worldwide. This workshop will
update information presented at ABLE in 1999 (Lincoln, Nebraska),
and will give workshop participants an opportunity to use
the latest version of the Case IT software simulation (DNA
gel electrophoresis, Southern blotting, and PCR), as well
as a beta version of the new ELISA/western blotting simulation
begin developed with support from the CCLI program of NSF.
Participants will use these open-ended molecular biology computer
simulations to analyze case studies involving genetic and
infections diseases of humans and domestic animals, then discuss
results with their peers at other institutions via web-based
“poster sessions”. Workshop participants will
use Case It software to gather background information and
analyze DNA and protein sequences, then create web-page posters
and discuss them via a web editor / conferencing system at
the Case It! web site (http://www.uwrf.edu/caseit/caseit.html).
16
– Using Microbial Eukaryotes
for Laboratory Instruction and Student Inquiry
Donna Bozzone
I
will present the care and feeding, and handling instructions
for two microbial eukaryotes Tetrahymena and Physarum.
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn/reinforce
culturing techniques for each of these organisms as well as
do detailed observations of them. For each organism, I will
provide information and a hands-on example of an introductory
lab I have done as well as an exercise /experiment done in
an upper division course.
17
– A “Toolbox”
for Working with Living Invertebrates
Charlie Drewes
The
objective of this workshop is to promote more successful collection,
culture, handling, viewing, and classroom investigation of
living invertebrates by using the ‘right tool for the
right job.’ The workshop will offer: (a) ideas for building
and using novel, inexpensive tools for efficient collection
of a wide variety of living invertebrates in the field, and
(b) new approaches, materials, and tools for improved handling
and viewing of living invertebrates in the laboratory. Central
themes of the workshop will be minimizing distress to organisms
and reducing frustration for students and instructors. Among
the array of featured “gadgets and gizmos” that
participants will assemble and use are: (1) Handy-Dandy
‘FleXacto’ Invertebrate Detachment Tool,
(2) Pour-Person’s Plankton Net, (3) Stretch
Pipets, (4) Mini-Widgets: Flexible Tactile Probes,
(5) ‘Foamie’ Foam-well Slides, (6) Microrulers,
(7) Many-View Mini-Box, (8) invertebrate food and
food shakers, and (9) ultra-bright light-emitting diodes (LEDS)
for phototaxis, phototropism, and auxiliary illumination.
Participants will take home many samples of raw materials
and assembled tools.
18 –Competition Within and
Between Species of Parasitoid Wasps
Judy A. Guinan, Christopher W.
Beck, Lawrence S. Blumer, and Robert W. Matthews
Although
competition plays a significant role in the shaping of biological
communities, it is sometimes difficult to demonstrate the
complexities of competitive interactions to students in an
introductory biology class. This exercise is an investigation
into the effects of competition for resources on reproductive
output within and between two species of parasitoid wasps.
Students design an experiment in which females are placed
on a host, alone, with conspecific competitors, or with interspecific
competitors. In a subsequent lab, the students gather data
on the number of offspring produced by females under each
condition and discuss the implications of the results. For
more advanced students, information is also included on using
the appropriate statistical analyses to compare the impacts
of interspecific vs. intraspecific competition.
19
– Caenorhabditis elegans
(The Worm!) to Teach Genetics and Developmental Biology
Jennifer Knight
C.
elegans is an easy to work with model organism ideal
for teaching genetics and developmental biology at any level.
In this workshop, participants will learn the basics of identifying
and using worms in the undergraduate lab setting (including
worm handling, physical characteristics of worms, how to set
up crosses, etc). In addition, specific techniques and experiments
will be demonstrated for carrying out hypothesis-driven experiments
with the students (including using GFP transgenic worms, epistasis
tests, and RNAi). Protocols, lists of reagents, and resources
will all be provided.
20
– Introduction to Mark-Recapture
Census Methods Using the Seed Beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus
Alexander E. Olvido and Lawrence S. Blumer
Population
size, or the abundance of organisms in a study site, is the
most fundamental of the primary demographic statistics. Here,
we present a laboratory that introduces college undergraduates
to mark-recapture methods that estimate population size. Students
will apply a simple mark-recapture method to estimate population
size in cultures of a seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus.
After completing this study, students not only will have rudimentary
knowledge of statistical methods, e.g. standard deviation
and 95% confidence limits, but will also know how to obtain
reliable estimates of population size.
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