Mini Workshops were 45-minute sessions delivered on Friday, June 17th covering topics ranging from wet lab techniques to discussions on pedagogical research and practice. View the abstracts below; at the conference, attendees dropped-into the ones of their choice.
8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m., Mini-workshop Concurrent Sessions I
Stepping outside the classroom: A different approach to estimating populations (Gemma Bartha)
Population Ecology is often covered in introductory Biology labs. Mark-recapture techniques used to estimate population size are usually investigated in labs by students counting different colored beans. This mini-workshop will demonstrate how you can engage your students through a two-part exercise originally developed at Eckerd College to investigate mark and recapture. The first part of the lab requires an outdoor space, where students participate in a playground tag-like activity. The objective is to supply a hands on approach of mark-recapture by delegating one student as the “researcher” and the rest of the students as “fish.” Students learn methods of “marking” animals, “releasing” them back into the population and then recapturing animals through a game of tag where “researchers” try to catch the “fish.” Mark-recapture theory, methods and assumptions are reinforced and discussed back in the lab. Students then mathematically calculate an estimated abundance from the data collection. The second part of the exercise continues back in the lab, where students try to conduct mark-recapture estimates using photographs of animals with identifying markings (i.e. tags, coloration patterns, and/or distinguishing features). The original lab used photographs of naturally occurring marks on bottlenose dolphin dorsal fins, but was adapted for a variety of different datasets. This mini-workshop is intended to present a diverse method of teaching your students population ecology while not only engaging them but also enforcing the importance of proper data collection and statistical analysis.
DNA Sequencing Research Projects for Summer Programs or Undergraduate Courses (Julie Emerson)
This mini workshop will provide an overview of four DNA sequencing research projects, which have been developed for use in the two-week Summer Teachers’ Workshop – Biology in the Genomic Age – at Amherst College. Each team of six to eight members presents the results of their research study with a group Power Point presentation on the final day of the teachers’ workshop. The projects are also suitable for undergraduate laboratory courses in genetics, genomics, molecular biology or evolution, and the projects can be tailored to fit into a weekly lab meeting framework. One research project samples the microbial diversity of various sites, while the other projects examine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with three different human phenotypes: lactase persistence, variation in hair color and skin pigmentation, and sensitivity to the bitter compound phenylthiocarbamide (PTC). After providing an overview of the four research projects, the mini workshop will illustrate specific aspects of the projects using examples from the PTC project. Mini workshop participants will self-test for their PTC sensitivity, then analyze sample DNA sequence chromatograms to search for correlations between PTC taste sensitivity and three different SNPs in the PTC taste receptor gene.
Consensus building on environmental issues: Marine Protected Areas as a case study (Sarah Kolesar and Courtney Richmond)
We will demonstrate an activity appropriate for any class where environmental issues are covered. Workshop attendants will participate in the activity, which is easily tailored to address various environmental controversies and student groups. The activity’s primary goals are for students to build critical thinking skills solving real-world problems, and to appreciate the complexity of creating environmental policy given the often-difficult communication between scientists, policymakers, resource managers, and the general public. We focus on the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a case study, and students assume the identities of 4 different groups of individuals with interests in access, or the prevention of access, to natural resources within the MPA. In these roles, students negotiate the terms of use for an MPA using the information provided, including background material on marine reserve design and resource use, and an information packet containing an overview of the MPA with maps of the proposed reserve area, lists of endangered species and species-of-interest within the region, prohibited and potentially restricted activities, and a list of unique features in subdivisions of the potential MPA (ex. spawning areas, interesting dive sites, varying water depths). Groups individually outline their preferences for resource use within the proposed MPA, followed by an open discussion led by the policymakers, to determine policy within the reserve. The activity is followed with a reflective essay summarizing students’ thoughts on the process and outcome; excerpts from these essays reveal students’ perceptions about the exercise, environmental issues, and consensus building.
Yet another digital fruit fly lab – but with an emphasis on the genetic experiment (Todd Nickle and David Bird)
There are a host of computer simulations to help students grapple with the intellectual challenge of genetics using realistic data. This may be desirable because of the high cost in both time and money in running an actual fly lab. This presentation will outline how the instructors of a second-year genetics course have integrated “fruit fly breeding” as a group project using a hypothetical organism, Suminospauci combibo. Rather than simply provide crossing data, this project is designed to provide a task to students as a central focus in order to meet and analyze the data from mutant “flies” that demonstrate Mendelian inheritance with sex-linkage and epistasis. Students are guided through “best practices” of laboratory notebook keeping and learning to use appropriate genetic terminology as they interact with each other and with instructors. The presenter will discuss how this project addresses group interaction and peer instruction as well as scheduling challenges and how they were overcome.
Making Cell Structure and Function Interactive and Interesting (Sarah Salm and Jessica Goldstein)
Do you teach Cell Structure and Function? Do your students spend the laboratory session labeling cell pictures in the manual? Do they draw random spots and blobs that they think represent the cells they think they see on a slide? Do they copy the cell pictures right out of the book without looking at a slide? Do they struggle with understanding the relative size of components measured in the metric system? If so, attend this workshop. In this adapted version of the cell lab, you will use agar blocks and colored dye to understand the relationship between surface area and volume. You will go on to create different types of cells on the bench, measuring the relative sizes of the cells and their organelles. We will end with a group discussion about practical ways you can modify and implement this lab for your specific course.
Case-Based Strategies for Enhancing Student Interest and Understanding of Cellular Respiration (Michele Shuster)
Cellular respiration is a challenging topic for introductory biology students to understand. The underlying foundational concepts of redox and thermodynamics rely on a chemistry background, and many students get lost in the details, losing sight of the physiological importance (and elegance) of cellular respiration. By adding a variety of relevant and engaging “stories” (case-based instruction) to supplement and reinforce lectures, student performance on cellular respiration exam questions has increased. The cases to be discussed include a case of uranium bioremediation (anaerobic respiration in action), brown fat (thermogenesis through uncoupling of the PMF from ATP synthesis) and poisoned firefighters (were they poisoned by carbon monoxide or hydrogen cyanide and can you recommend the appropriate treatment?). Participants will experience cases from the student perspective. Just like in our classrooms, discussion and active participation are encouraged.
11:00 a.m. – 11:50 a.m., Mini-workshop Concurrent Sessions II
Runaway Sexual Selection Simulation Game (Lawerence Blumer, Marlene Zuk, and Brian Gray)
Sexual selection was proposed by Charles Darwin as a special form of selection that could result from either competition between members of one sex for the opposite sex (typically male-male competition) or selective mate choice by one sex for the opposite sex (typically female choice). The process by which female choice may yield the elaborate modification of male traits, such as bright male colors or large display morphology, that are attractive to females has appropriately been called runaway selection. Runaway selection occurs because female choice may induce rapid and extreme directional evolutionary change in male traits. We will present an easily conducted simulation game that makes the dynamics of runaway selection clear and can improve student understanding of this important evolutionary process. The role of random mutation in the process of evolution by sexual selection and the factors that set limits on runaway selection also will be introduced in the simulation.
The far-reaching benefits and structure of a future faculty teacher training program (Elizabeth Hobson)
Two common shortfalls in undergraduate biological education are the absence of formal training of future biology professors in teaching methods and the lack of incorporation of active learning components in content-rich large enrollment biology lecture courses. Both issues can be addressed through a graduate student teacher training program, such as the New Mexico State University / Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scientific Teaching Program. This program was designed to train graduate and postdoctoral students in scientific teaching methods suitable for use in undergraduate biology courses. The program pairs student teachers with faculty teaching mentors to team-teach an undergraduate course. Teaching fellows benefit from the opportunity to design and implement lecture materials and activities and teaching mentors benefit from sharing the teaching load and are introduced to the scientific teaching method. This program provides a two-way exchange of ideas and experience and the collaborative teaching efforts promote innovative incorporation of teaching methods into existing course frameworks. Programs such as the Scientific Teaching Fellowship can be an effective way of 1) training graduate students and preparing them for future teaching at the undergraduate level, 2) revising courses through collaborative effort, and 3) incorporating current pedagogical techniques into lecture classes to promote learning. This presentation summarizes the Scientific Teaching Program at NMSU and details experiences of a Scientific Teaching Fellow in the classroom. An inquiry-based activity developed within this program will be presented and time will be allotted for discussion of similar programs.
May the Fastest Larva Win!: The Use of Fruit Larvae for Evolution and Food Preference Experiments (Kathleen Nolan, Kevin Kim, and Clement Kairouz)
An experiment was conducted by students in the St. Francis College Biological Evolution course in which they “raced” fruit fly larvae on petri dishes to determine which were the fastest. The “fast” and “slow” larvae were placed in separate vials, and were allowed to breed. The larvae in the next generation were then raced again. This was repeated for a third generation, in an attempt to see if speed could be selected for. The number of adults was also counted. Subsequent student experiments included varying the type of food provided. In this mini-workshop, participants will “race” wild-type fruit fly larvae on a petri dish to see which type of sugar or sugar substitute they prefer. We will discuss results from previous experiments and explore other options with this model of experiment.
An authentic undergraduate research experience that combines genome annotation and functional genomics (Lori Scott and Angela Ghrist)
Genome analysis is on the forefront of genetic research. It has implications for advances in basic research, medicine, agriculture, justice, and the environmental and archaeological fields. One strategy to study genomes is called genome annotation, which is subdivided into three stages: 1) using computer technology (a.k.a. bioinformatics) to predict functional elements within an organism’s genome; 2) using computer technology to predict the biological function of those elements; and 3) providing evidence from benchtop research to support the functional predictions (a.k.a. functional genomics). The “Interpret-a-Genome” Education Program developed by the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI) offers microbial genome sequence data to colleges and universities for use in authentic research in genome annotation. In addition, the DOE JGI offers training in the use of their bioinformatics platform called IMG-ACT. The microbes in the Interpret-a-Genome program are unusual and from sparsely investigated parts of the tree of life, so the likelihood of exciting discoveries and variations on the classical pathways is high. More information about this program can be found at http://img-act.jgi-psf.org/user/login. In this mini workshop, participants will: 1) use a sampling of the bioinformatics tools within IMG-ACT to annotate a putative gene from the Meiothermus ruber genome, which is the adopted organism of the Meiothermus ruber Genome Annotation Project; and 2) receive information about the JGI-sponsored IMG-ACT training workshop and the opportunity to apply for travel grants from the NSF-funded Microbial Genome Annotation Network.
Development of cheaper, easier and quicker molecular methods with computer software, DNAStar, to aid in determining bacterial identification for classroom application (Troy Skwor)
In a world where words like E. coli are used more frequently during mass media discussion, it is important to attempt to keep at the cutting-edge for collegiate pedagogy. Typically, most microbiology laboratories perform physiologic tests to aid in differentiating and identifying bacterial isolates. With molecular techniques becoming more routine within the research community, it is advantageous to integrate molecular techniques and computer analysis to replace or support previous physiologic identification. In this mini-workshop, you will briefly learn about how to integrate common molecular techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), agarose gel electrophoresis with computer software (free for education purposes), DNASTAR, and NCBI Pubmed to acquire bacterial sequence to aid in identifying your known or unknown bacteria. This mini-workshop will discuss how you can incorporate these techniques using cheap, quick and effective methodologies that have been optimized for the execution and understanding of an introductory or advanced microbiology course. The workshop will also discuss some different applications of these molecular techniques with DNASTAR software, such as identifying potential human pathogens in water, as well as an open discussion for other microbial uses. Attendees to the workshop will receive a handout briefly discussing the molecular techniques and instructions for the software. During the workshop you will have the opportunity to perform the computer-based portion of the lab using DNAStar and Pubmed to aid in indentifying your unknown bacterium.
Human Genetics with Mustard: use of DNA markers for paternity testing in rapid-cycling Brassica rapa (Fast Plants type) (Douglas Wendell)
In this lab, students use DNA markers to resolve a paternity dispute resulting when a female has mated with two males and produced a child. Although the data are of the same type as used in human paternity testing, the subjects are rapid cycling Brassica rapa (a.k.a. Fast Plants). Students pollinate a plant (Mother) with a mixture of pollen from two other plants (Possible Fathers). Later they sow the resulting seeds to produce the Child. The students collect leaf tissue from all plants to purify DNA and then use PCR and gel electrophoresis to determine the plants’ genotype for polymorphic DNA markers (VNTR). The students analyze their marker data for evidence for and against paternity. The DNA markers are polymorphic within the strains of plants that we use. As a result, the parents used are genetically diverse and therefore each group of students in the lab has a unique experiment. This is a significant difference between our lab exercise and commercial kits. Students learn to trace the inheritance of alleles from parents to offspring and determine what information they can and can’t get from their data. Mini workshop participants will learn about the (1) the DNA markers that we have developed for Fast Plants, (2) the methods we have developed to make DNA marker analysis possible in an introductory Biology lab, and (3) participate in the data analysis that students perform.
1:30 p.m. – 2:20 p.m. Mini-workshop Concurrent Sessions III
Integrating Laboratory Research Experiences in the Biology Curriculum (Carrie Doonan)
At Carnegie Mellon, one goal of our biology curriculum is to provide some type of research experience for every undergraduate during the freshman year. The purpose of the laboratory experience is to create interest in research and to improve problem solving, analytical and reasoning skills that can be further developed in our upper level biology laboratory courses. In addition, the research experience will also prepare students for working in research labs and biology courses beyond modern biology. To achieve this goal, we have designed and implemented courses that provide research experiences at various levels and duration. These courses include: 1) the Cellular Response to The Environment Mini Course which provides a multifaceted view of the cell with the opportunity for new discovery through microscopic imaging of a cell’s response to environmental changes; 2) the SRI (Summer Research Institute) experience which provides an intensive summer research experience in molecular biology and biochemistry; 3) the Phage Genomics Research Course which provides an introduction to biological investigation through a research project in bacteriophage genomics; and 4) How Biological Experiments Work—A project course which provides an understanding of the nuts and bolts of biological experimentation using various techniques. This will workshop will provide a description of the goals of these various courses, and provide information on how to adapt and implement them in the biology curriculum.
Using scientific process (as defined by the Inquiry Wheel) to guide multi-session inquiry-based laboratory experiences in the biology major (Stephanie Fuhr, Lori Scott, Kristen Douglas, Jason Koontz, and Dara Wegman-Geedey)
also offered in session IV
As scientists and science instructors we all appreciate the value of understanding scientific process and the challenges and triumphs inherent in this widely accepted approach to knowledge acquisition and problem-solving. Furthermore, we all recognize the vital importance of having our students engage in all aspects of our scientific way of knowing the natural world. However, as instructors in the laboratory setting, we continue to struggle with balancing learning objectives among course content, laboratory techniques, and inquiry skills with respect to scientific process. In this workshop, we will discuss how our biology department at Augustana College has adopted the Inquiry Wheel as a more authentic model for scientific process (Reiff, Harwood, and Phillipson, 2002) and how we have incorporated knowledge and experience of scientific process developmentally throughout our curriculum in the biology major. Additionally, we will look at the multi-session lab experience as a methodology for modeling scientific process in an introductory cell biology course.
Molecular biology in real time: tricks and tips for turbo-charging and student-proofing standard protocols (Michael Keller)
In the Life Sciences Program at the University of Maryland we have made a concerted effort to develop and incorporate “cutting-edge” scientific experiences for our undergraduates at all levels. Students in our introductory molecular and cellular biology course for science majors are given the opportunity to work with technologies that are central to modern research labs. During two three-week lab modules students get hands-on experience with polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of proteins (PAGE), bacterial transformation, plasmid mini-preps, PCR and DNA electrophoresis. Traditional protocols for some of these procedures take to much time to accomplish in a single lab period, use hazardous chemicals, and/or are to complicated/delicate for novices to complete successfully. In this session we will discuss ways to make PCR, DNA minipreps, and gel electrophoresis faster, simpler, and safer for students. An example from our introductory labs will be presented where we perform colony PCR, complete a plasmid miniprep, and look at the results on an agarose gel all within a single 3 hour lab period, without ethidium bromide or UV light. While we talk we will see how fast we can run an agarose gel without melting it!
Online collaboration tools as method to increase data flexibility, sample size and quality for field based guided inquiry labs (Saewan Koh)
Several major challenges can constrain the operation of a field based ecology lab. Travel time from campus to the field site limit the number of hours each lab section can realistically spend gathering data. Trade offs are often made between sample size and the number of variables collected. Reductions in either can reduce the quality of the experience for the student. A lower sample size means data cannot undergo formal statistical analyses while reducing the number of variables collected can reduce the variety or the scope of hypotheses that students are able to form within the context of a guided inquiry lab. We used Google Docs and Google Maps to support a Terrestrial Ecology Lab in a forested river valley. Each lab section comprised of 20 students collected 15 abiotic variables and 15 biotic measurements in two plots. Data from each of the lab sections were entered into a shared database. Sharing data meant that each lab section could spend time to properly sample fewer plots but still pursue interesting ecological questions using the overall database. The redundancy built into the shared data meant that the loss of data from several lab sections rained or snowed out, or those that incorrectly sampled, did not affect the overall quality of the shared database. During this workshop participants will set up a shared document, enter data, and learn how to control access to the document. We will also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of using shared data within the context of an inquiry based lab.
Using a Google Sites wiki to support and inform the biology class and lab (Ravindra Malik and Keith W. Hamon)
Wikis are collaborative websites that can provide several advantages for the biology classroom. As an online space, a biology class wiki helps students engage each other, the class content, and the instructor in a medium that they are most comfortable with. Wikis help flip a classroom by shifting the transfer of course content from the classroom to the Internet, reserving the classroom for instructor-aided and guided activities that are more exciting than lectures. Wikis organize a classroom, providing one, continuously accessible location for all class content and work. By their nature, wikis are collaborative, and therefore, they are ideal for student collaborations, brainstorming, note-taking, and project-based learning. As web-based documents, wikis encourage students to create multi-media documents that use text, image, sound, hyperlinks, and video to communicate. Finally, wikis are easy. The presenters will create a class wiki for the audience during the presentation.
Preparing Graduate Students to Teach Introductory Biology as Inquiry: The Use of Inquiry Caselets to Solve Teaching Dilemmas (Kristen Miller)
Current calls for science education teaching reform at the higher education level promote the use of inquiry-based science experiences in the classroom in order to achieve greater science literacy and a stronger understanding of basic concepts and processes of the nature of science (NSES, NRC, 1996). Problems faced by those who wish to implement this reform, however, lie in the lack of teaching preparation and professional development materials available, especially those which are pedagogically-specific and geared toward college-level science instruction (Tanner & Allen, 2006). In K-12 education, case discussions are an effective professional learning strategy in any discipline; they provide reflection-on-action experiences that help develop awareness of active practitioners. This mini-workshop will present the development and use of caselets, an abbreviated form of case discussions, with college-level biology laboratory instructors. Caselets introduce teaching dilemmas that typically occur when teaching science as inquiry in laboratory environments; their abbreviated form allows them to be part of the limited instructional preparation time often given to these teachers. Mini-workshop time will be spent reviewing sample caselets, discussing benefits of their use in laboratory environments, discussing teaching dilemmas common to teaching science as inquiry in laboratory settings, and brainstorming additional caselet topics.
3:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m., Mini-workshop Concurrent Sessions IV
pH Detective: The Case of the Acidic Analgesic (Isabelle Barrette-Ng and Barbara Olson)
Teaching acid-base chemistry in introductory biochemistry courses in a manner that is relevant to biological systems is often a struggle. Most students have encountered the concepts of acid-base chemistry in introductory chemistry courses, but many have trouble applying these concepts to biological problems. To overcome this pedagogical challenge, a case study was developed to help students better appreciate the centrality and relevance of acid-base chemistry in biology. This case study explores how concepts of acid-base chemistry and biological buffers can be used in a real-life scenario to help physicians in emergency departments determine the type of analgesic consumed in cases of accidental poisoning. The workshop will allow participants to work through an interactive and inquiry-based laboratory exercise that is similar to the full version presented to the ~500 students in an introductory biochemistry course taught at the second-year undergraduate level. Participants will measure the pH values of different unknown tablets using pH paper and monitor the change in pH after adding a small amount of sodium bicarbonate. Based on these simple tests, participants, like the students in the class, will use their understanding of acid-base concepts to deduce the identity of the unknown analgesic. An interactive pH Ruler Java Applet will also be used to help participants gain a deeper and more quantitative understanding of acid-base concepts. Following the interactive portion of the workshop, we will discuss our experience with practically implementing this case study in a large, introductory biochemistry course and look forward to discussing with workshop participants the strengths and limitations of this case study.
Hands-on Molecular Biology Research in the Laboratory (Immo Hansen, Angus Dawe, and Donovan Bailey)
In conjunction with an HHMI funded Undergraduate Research Scholars Program we developed an intensive molecular biology research lab designed to introduce students to lab standards, widely used molecular biology techniques, and bioinformatics analyses within the context of two seven week experiments. The biodiversity component of the course involved the design of 18S rDNA specific PCR primers and the extraction of microbial DNA from environmental samples (e.g., river sludge, soil samples, animal stool samples). Students then used PCR to amplify the diversity of 18S sequences present in their environmental extract and applied ligation, bacterial transformation, DNA sequencing, and phylogenetics to place sequences recovered from the experiment in the context of the tree-of-life. The second half of the course involved a reverse genetics experiment where students identified genes of interest in the published genome sequence of the Northern house mosquito and subsequently cloned partial cDNAs of these genes. The students then used RNAi-mediated gene silencing to study the function of these proteins in a mosquito bioassay. Student activities also involved developing and presenting short lectures on various molecular biology techniques. These experiences provide undergraduate scholars with hands-on knowledge in experimental design, data gathering and documentation, and data analysis.
Evidence-Based Laboratory Assignment: Assessment of Student Learning as participant in an actual research experiment (Animal Behavior: “The Preference of the Fruit Fly, Drosophila sp., for Different Types of Ripe Fruits”) (Luis Guerra)
Introductory science classes are the door, facilitating student‘s interest in the sciences and scientific research. The goal in science education should include the development of students’ scientific thinking skills and the predisposition to use these skills and values in decision-making. This laboratory assignment is designed to engage the interest of non-science majors as well as science majors in an introductory level general biology lab. This laboratory is based on animal behavior. Students in the class are divided into groups of five or six to facilitate cooperative learning through collaborative work and discussion. Students are presented with a problem: What are preferences of the fruit fly given different types of fruits. This lab also permits students, with the help of the professor, to use an appropriate statistical design to test their hypothesis. Student will prepare a rearing chamber for fruit flies and individual rearing chambers where the infected fruits will be placed. The students will also prepare graphs showing the emergence of the fruit flies for each of the different fruit selected. An ANOV will be conducted on the number of flies that emerged from each different fruit using the days as repetitions. This experiment will not be time consuming, as the students will be required to check the emergence of flies on a daily basis for no more than 5 days. The experiment will be conducted for approximately two weeks. (5 days for the preparation and 5 days for taking the data on the emergence of the flies).
CANCELED: Integration of modern bioinformatics tools to teach primer design in a general introductory biology course (Jennifer Holzman and Alexander Escobar)
Using scientific process (as defined by the Inquiry Wheel) to guide multi-session inquiry-based laboratory experiences in the biology major (Stephanie Fuhr, Lori Scott, Kristen Douglas, Jason Koontz, and Dara Wegman-Geedey)
also offered in session IIII
As scientists and science instructors we all appreciate the value of understanding scientific process and the challenges and triumphs inherent in this widely accepted approach to knowledge acquisition and problem-solving. Furthermore, we all recognize the vital importance of having our students engage in all aspects of our scientific way of knowing the natural world. However, as instructors in the laboratory setting, we continue to struggle with balancing learning objectives among course content, laboratory techniques, and inquiry skills with respect to scientific process. In this workshop, we will discuss how our biology department at Augustana College has adopted the Inquiry Wheel as a more authentic model for scientific process (Reiff, Harwood, and Phillipson, 2002) and how we have incorporated knowledge and experience of scientific process developmentally throughout our curriculum in the biology major. Additionally, we will look at the multi-session lab experience as a methodology for modeling scientific process in an introductory cell biology course.
Use of Learning Objects as Lab Simulations in Biology (Michael Kolitsky)
Learning objects have been described as being like Lego blocks with the ability to be used independently as a stand-alone learning experience or linked to other learning objects for a customized teaching and learning tool. This presentation will permit attendees to explore several free learning object labs designed to (1) study natural selection using a virtual Galapagos Island recreated in Second Life where students enter as avatar field scientists, (2) play a digital game designed so that students can “experience” natural selection by playing the role of a bird in competition with other birds for an increasingly limited seed supply, (3) capture a student’s reaction time when driving a car is simulated and having to stop when a deer jumps out in front of the car under several conditions such as driving normally or when texting or using a cell phone and (4) explore energy flow through an ecosystem using a Stella-generated simulation of a classic Silver Springs model in which energy from the sun captured by plants, passes into herbivores which are then eaten by carnivores with all energy eventually flowing through the decomposers following death. In the last model, the ecosystem can be followed over several years and at different levels of light intensity reaching the earth to simulate what might happen to the ecosystem after an asteroid impact. Attendees are encouraged to bring laptops, which can then be utilized during the session to explore the appropriateness of these four learning objects for their own labs.
Extraordinary Claims: An Innovative Approach to Engage Student Interest and Enhance Critical Thinking Skills in General Education Science Courses (Lori Rose, Marcus Gillespie, Todd Primm, Matthew Rowe, and Li-Jen Shannon)
Most university degrees require completion of at least two general education science courses. Yet, 93% of American adults, including 78% of college graduates, remain scientifically illiterate. This suggests current core-curriculum science instruction fails the American public. Valuable resources are spent emphasizing soon forgotten vocabulary and seemingly disconnected facts of scientific disciplines. Tragically, the broader significance of those facts related to the nature and logic of scientific reasoning is routinely ignored. Students remain fundamentally unable to value and understand empiricism or apply critical thinking skills. Thus, they are susceptible to bogus, often harmful pseudoscientific claims. Clearly, new approaches to teaching science are sorely needed, approaches focusing less on “memorization” and more on “science as a way of knowing.” To meet this need, we developed, as the centerpiece of Sam Houston State’s QEP/SACS reaccreditation, the Foundations of Science (FoS) course. FoS engages students by focusing on extraordinary claims such as alien abductions, Bigfoot, alternative medicines, and the current pop-culture controversy regarding vaccinations. Students are empowered to evaluate such claims using logic and knowledge from multiple scientific disciplines. Our presentation introduces rationale for the course, topics covered, and pedagogy, which includes case studies and cooperative learning in closely coordinated lab and lecture components. FoS effectiveness has been assessed using a critical thinking exam developed by TTU/NSF and an internally developed exam, both implemented in a pre- vs. post-course design using non-FoS general education science courses as the control. Results demonstrate highly significant improvements in students’ critical thinking skills associated with our new approach.