Mini Workshops are 50-minute, drop-in sessions that were held on Friday, June 26, 2015. Topics ranged from wet lab techniques to discussions on pedagogical research and practice. Abstracts are posted below, sorted by time of presentation, and those that were a part of this year’s “Writing in Biology Labs” theme are labeled with an asterisk*.
SESSION I: 8:30 – 9:20am
Practice makes perfect: Clickers as a tool for student writing and feedback*
Chen, Liane and Barker, Megan
The development of strong writing skills requires repeated cycles of practice and feedback. Due to time and resource constraints of large classes, the feedback piece is often most difficult to achieve. One general approach for providing feedback to students in these settings is peer instruction, using a personal response system (such as i<Clicker). This tool improves student engagement in large classes by allowing all students to attempt answers, and giving feedback to the room about student knowledge. However, clicker problems are limited to multiple choice questions, which are a challenging format for developing higher order thinking skills such as synthesis and evaluation of written work. Here, I discuss how clickers may be combined with open-ended questions, by providing students with practice and evaluation of their own writing. In this strategy, the question posed in class requires a written explanation or a diagram to illustrate a concept, and representative student answers are selected while circulating the class. Students vote on what they perceive to be the best answers, prompting a discussion about best practices in communication. Instructor feedback is centered around evaluation of the written statement, prompting students to improve their own writing. In this workshop, participants will design and evaluate this type of question, discuss logistical classroom approaches, and practice facilitating feedback to best support student learning.
Journal Clubs in Labs – The Prose and Cons*
Oran, Alp
No, that is not a typo. Prose is meant to be a double-entendre. Integrating science article discussions (Journal Clubs) in class is a great way to showcase and teach science writing to students in a lab that requires formal written reports (for example). That being said, how to execute and assess student learning through Journal Clubs can be a challenge and what works in one context may not work in another. In this mini-workshop, participants will have an opportunity to take part in a mini-Journal Club exercise that showcases not just the content but, for this year’s ABLE theme, the writing style of the typical peer-reviewed science paper. Different article discussion methodologies will be presented along with student feedback and perspectives. Interestingly, students’ perceptions of Journal Clubs do not match their measured level of performance.
Taking the Lab Notebook to A New Level*
Jennings, Dianne
Whether you are in the lab or out, a lab notebook can be an essential part of the learning experience. It can provide a unique opportunity in which students practice writing skills while documenting scientific observations. However, the use of a traditional paper lab book can be limiting as there is little opportunity for students to collaborate and get feedback from each other. We will explore a “lab notebook” created in WordPress that allowed students to practice their scientific writing skills in different ways, interact with their peers and share their knowledge with the general public.
Construction of a Phloem Sap Pressure-Flow Model Rodriguez
Altermann, Susanne
The study of plant physiology offers opportunities for students to apply principles of osmosis. We will observe a working two-cell pressure-flow model of phloem sap transport, and then build our own models from materials available in the laboratory. We will use trial and error to get our models to work well enough to cause overflow of one of the beakers. Discussion questions will guide us in our understanding of pressure-flow as we build our models. Workshop participants will gain confidence in the construction of customized equipment, in applying the concept of osmosis, and in understanding source-to-sink flow of carbohydrate-rich phloem sap. This activity can be modified for both introductory and advanced levels.
Isolation and identification of endophytic fungi: the uninvited and unnoticed guests
Rodriquez Estrada, Alma
Endophytic fungi are fungi that grow in association with plants without causing any disease symptoms. In fact, these organisms might exert beneficial effects to the plant host. The workshop “endophytic fungi: the uninvited and unnoticed guests” relates to a semester long project where students carry on an individual investigation involving the isolation and identification of endophytic fungi from plant samples. In this mini-workshop I will demonstrate techniques such as surface sterilization, preparation of wet-mount from fungal cultures, the use of keys to identify filamentous fungi based on microscopic characters and a brief introduction about molecular identification of fungi. This project has been implemented in a mycology course with the purpose of teaching and/or reinforcing concepts related to morphology of filamentous fungi, fungal diversity and fungal ecology. Likewise, this project exposes students to scientific inquiry and supports the development of problem solving and organizational skills. Although this project has been implemented in a mycology course, it could easily be adapted to courses such as general biology, biology of cells, biology of organisms or microbiology.
Reflective Learning with End-of-Lab Presentations on iPads
Hoefnagels, Mariëlle and Walvoord, Mark
Presenting results at the end of a lab class period can enhance student understanding of the material and provide a chance for just-in-time assessment by the instructor. When students know they will have to present their lab procedures, results, and conclusions in front of their instructor and peers, they are more likely to reflect on what they’re doing, ask questions about content they don’t understand, and think about ways to communicate their findings. During presentations, the instructor can immediately identify and correct misconceptions, as compared to evaluating a lab report later; grading is much quicker, too. With some training and a rubric of required components, students can use iPads to videotape, photograph, and/or draw the lab procedures, then convey experimental results and conclusions in one concise, presentable format. During the workshop, attendees will learn to use mobile apps that we’ve found to be useful, perform a quick sample “phylogenetic tree” activity, and make their own on-the-fly presentations.
Engaging assessment – more than just a test
Purdy, Susan and Petersen, Christine
Traditional examination-type, end-of-semester tests are seen by educators as a necessary part of the education process. We need to assess what the student knows and if they have met the learning outcomes for the course, providing the basis for assigning the final grade (summative assessment). There is another purpose for assessment- to assist in learning itself (formative assessment). The Instructor can gain valuable insight into the student’s strengths and difficulties in mastering a topic/skill/concept and make adjustments to their teaching. It can allow the student to assess their own learning: what they still need to master and what adjustments they need to make to reach their learning goals (metacognition). By using a variety of assessment tools that are engaging, and also encourage the development of skills higher up in Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, such as evaluation, synthesis and analysis, we can emulate the competencies that our students will need in the modern day world. In this hands-on workshop we will describe and then practice some of the different types of assessment tools that we have used to engage students in the lecture and the lab in first year biology, and then we will discuss their impacts.
A student-friendly tool for phylogenetic analysis
Bettis, Tania; Povich, Joshua; Mau, Tamara; and Huelsenbeck, John
The desire to engage introductory biology students in phylogenetic analysis using real data and current research methods can be inhibited by the complexity and multitude of command line-driven programs typically used for these analyses. We have developed a graphical user interface (GUI) that combines the components of phylogenetic analysis into one student-friendly application, RevBayes. In this hands-on demonstration, participants will address evolutionary questions regarding the relationships among primates using actual data. They will begin by making observations of primate skeletons from an interactive online database (eSkeletons.org) and then evaluate hypotheses about evolutionary relationships using RevBayes to generate the most parsimonious phylogenetic trees. They will identify where relationships are well-resolved and where additional lines of evidence are needed. Molecular data from GenBank is then added to give an increasingly clear hypothesis about relationships within the group. RevBayes allows students to focus on the central concepts of phylogenetic analysis and interpretation by simplifying the interface with sophisticated analytical tools.
Guiding Education through Novel Investigation (GENI): Facilitating authentic research in the teaching lab
Tenlen, Jenny and Murphy, Kimberly
Student participation in authentic, original research has been demonstrated to enhance their engagement in biology courses, and to improve their processing and critical thinking skills. The GENI-ACT program (http://www.geni-science.org/) facilitates learning in undergraduate science classrooms through shared authentic research projects focused on molecular, cellular and developmental biology, genetics, genomics and biochemistry. The results generated in this program are intended for publication in peer reviewed literature or scientific databases. The program has two components. First, the Guided Education through Novel Investigation (GENI) tool supports collaborative research projects by providing objectives, protocols, data collection, and physical resources. Users may join existing projects, or create a new project. Second, the Annotation Collaboration Tool (ACT) provides bioinformatics tools and access to hundreds of bacterial genomes to facilitate diverse computational investigations. In this session, we will introduce the GENI-ACT program and provide examples of research projects that are applicable to diverse levels of students and disciplines. We will share our assessment results that show significant gains in student learning, engagement, scientific literacy, scientific process and broad-based problem solving across multiple institutions. During the session, participants will discuss the benefits and challenges of adding authentic research to the classroom, and methods of assessing the value.
Reaching Out to Reach Up – An Outreach Model for Honors Biology
Collins, Julia
In this session, I will describe an outreach model for honors programs, which we recently piloted in our Introductory Biology 151 course. I will share student products from our Fall semester, supply a model syllabus for the program (which could be modified to suit different course structures), and lead a conversation about outreach opportunities in our various campus communities. In our honors program, we collaborated with the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery (WID), an interdisciplinary institution on the UW Madison campus. Our students each developed an interactive activity based on a topic covered in 151 and presented it at “Saturday Science” at the WID, a science-fair style gathering for elementary and middle school students and their parents. Throughout the semester, we provided coaching in backward design, basic pedagogy, and peer feedback. The response from our students was enthusiastic – two even asked that we repeat the process in the second semester of Intro Bio, 152. One student commented that, “This type of honors project should be done every year, it is such an amazing way to integrate what we learn in the classroom with real life actions. It is truly rewarding.” I look forward to sharing this model with the ABLE community.
Integrating STEM Laboratory Instruction at the Introductory Level – Opportunities and Challenges
McGee, Gregory and Abrams, Neal
Introductory courses offer unique challenges for STEM educators to engage students who often view these courses simply as prerequisite or general education requirements. Even students who are pursuing STEM majors frequently struggle to see how introductory courses relate to their anticipated professions or apply to the “real world.” Lower-division coursework tends to be compartmentalized with limited purposeful linkages in content and skills across disciplines. Although interdisciplinary linkages are eventually made in upper-division courses and synthesis experiences, these courses are sequenced at risk of missing opportunities to improve student engagement and reinforce important content and skills development during initial exposure. We have taken a novel approach to integrate laboratory investigations between our General Biology and General Chemistry courses in an attempt to build a contextual framework for synthesizing knowledge across disciplines, develop proficiency in laboratory skills, and improve attitudes toward science. During this mini-workshop participants will explore and discuss their perceptions of the challenges and benefits of integrating lower-division laboratory instruction among STEM disciplines, and we will share our experiences with integrating our particular laboratory courses during the last three years. For example at the beginning of their first semester, students used Chemistry laboratory to practice using balances, glassware and probes to inform a field ecology investigation for their General Biology lab. Later students applied new solution preparation skills to prepare experimental nutrient solutions to investigate bacterial growth under equal molar concentrations of different forms of inorganic nitrogen. In a longitudinal investigation spanning both semesters, students explored parallels between electron release by plant pigments (from blackberries) to create electrical currents in mini-solar cells, to the detection of reducing capacity by intact chloroplasts using dye-coupled reactions. Students then used column chromatography to isolate and collect plant pigments in order to create a composite light absorption spectrum that then informed a controlled experiment on the effect of light quality on photosynthesis.
Group Testing to Enhance Collaborative Learning
Spilios, Kathryn and Lipton, Paul
Several introductory science courses at Boston University use an easy to implement two-stage collaborative exam format to 1) Use the exam as a learning experience, 2) incentivize and reward small group work, and 3) mitigate post-exam anxiety that trails students as they fret over correct answers. Modeled on the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT), students first answer questions individually, then answer the same questions in small groups. Because students are highly motivated during exams, permission to discuss the material yields intense focus and engagement that helps to solidify understanding and encourage team work. This model may be adapted to classes of any size, level, or format. Participants will learn how these collaborative tests are used and see video clips of the process. Participants will then complete group assessment and we will end with a brainstorming session on how this technique can be applied to various learning situations.
SESSION II: 11:00 – 11:50am
“Rising Stakes” Collaborative Writing and Peer Feedback Projects: Tools, Tactics, & Tricks*
Johnson, Dan
We use semester-long “rising stakes” writing projects in lecture and lab courses both. Like other team-based instructional methods, this approach relies on peer pressure to motivate students. It also is a more authentic way of assessing learning. In the low-stakes phase, teams of 2-3 students write pieces for a larger collaborative project involving the entire class. Peers provide structured feedback and suggestions for improvement, and the original team makes changes as needed. In the high-stakes phase, students must use the resource they created to complete part of the final course examination. Workshop participants will learn how we organize a semester-long collaborative project, our approach to assessment, and specific rubrics used. We will demonstrate tools we use to manage the process, and give participants an opportunity to try them out. Closing discussion will focus on identifying specific implementation challenges participants expect, and brainstorming solutions. (A summary of the discussion will be included in the final published chapter.)
Torturing our students: can we teach lab reports better?*
Mewhort, Randi; Elliott, Christina; and Davies, Kathy
We have worked with lab reports starting in first year and have suffered, along with our students, through several iterations of trying to build a better method for teaching scientific writing. Our two courses that have a significant component of writing in the lab include both major and non-major students, and are in different disciplines (introduction to cell biology and introductory ecology). We have developed some scaffolding strategies within and between first and second year that have improved our confidence in helping our students learn the format and content of lab reports. Our assignments in first year give students the opportunity to practice individual sections of a lab report with a focus on academic integrity. We have found smaller assignments are less overwhelming for students and allow for more instructor feedback. In our second year ecology lab, we use group work to accomplish a bigger project focusing on hypothesis formation and data analysis. Qualitatively, we have seen improved student feedback from both courses supporting the strategies that we have implemented. We would like to have a more detailed discussion on what we have done and hear what has worked for others.
iPads as a Tool in Environmental Science Laboratories
Shanholtzer, Sheryl
I would like to demonstrate our methods of iPad use in an environmental science lab to be followed by a discussion. Last year, a major workshop presentation was given that looked at using iPads in lab, but the approach was somewhat different. iPads provide a powerful tool to simplify laboratory exercises, replace computers, and engage students. Since 2012, their usefulness in our lab has continued to improve. At first, each student was loaned an iPad for the semester, however, this limited the number of students served to one section. Since then, we have kept 24 dedicated iPads in the laboratory room for use during lab only, allowing use by multiple sections. These are configured to provide support during lab with apps to aid in math, mapping, plant and animal ID, and calculation of energy content of foods. In addition, the iPads are used to access the web, with bookmarks organized to be quickly available for web sites used in the course. Documents and videos are loaded. This semester, in order to make further improvements, student feedback about their experience is being sought from six sections in pre and post course surveys.
Quick, Safe, and Simple Silver Staining for Ciliates and Other Protists
Waggoner, Ben; Newman, Taylor; and Tarbutton, Taylor
Ciliated protists (Ciliophora) are perhaps the most complex single-celled eukaryotes, and they are abundant and diverse in most aquatic habitats. In ciliates, the basal bodies are arranged in precise, species-specific patterns that are maintained from one generation to the next. Ciliate basal bodies (known as kinetids) take up silver and stain strongly when exposed to silver compounds. So does the ciliate “silverline system,” made up of the edges of the flattened alveolar sacs just underneath the plasma membrane. The arrangement of kinetids and silverlines are often critical for identifying and describing ciliate species. Several techniques exist for silver-staining ciliates, but most are time-consuming and technically difficult, and most also require highly toxic reagents. We present a simple, quick, inexpensive, and relatively safe silver stain technique that can be used to demonstrate the arrangement of cilia and silverlines, revealing the remarkable complexity of ciliates. The method works well with some other protist taxa as well. Our procedure can easily be integrated into a project-based unit on protist diversity. It can also be used as a component of engaging inquiry-driven labs for secondary and post-secondary students.
Bacterial Biofilm Quantification: Using a Crystal Violet Assay with Multiple Applications
Callahan, Jill
Biofilms are communities of adherent surface-associated bacteria existing in an extracellular matrix. Within such protective communities, bacterial species are more resistant to antimicrobial agents than their planktonic counterparts, resulting in higher levels of virulence and chronic infection. Further, it is estimated that 60 – 80 % of all bacterial infections are caused by biofilms. Such infections include cystic fibrosis, oral plaque, chronic wounds, and osteomyelitis. Staphylococcus aureus is a hearty biofilm former that is has been linked to many infections and it frequently exhibits antibiotic resistance. In this hands-on wet lab exercise, mini-workshop participants will be introduced to the crystal violet quantitative biofilm assay, using the model organism Staphylococcus aureus. Further, we will demonstrate the importance of this tool in assessing potential anti-biofilm agents, a common interest of biology research students. This is a highly adaptable protocol, and methods of tailoring this procedure to a variety of species, anti-biofilm treatment test agents, and budgets will be addressed.
Assessing Cardiovascular Health & Stress Management Techniques Using Novel and Accessible Mobile Apps in a Laboratory Setting
Taverna, Franco and Dias, Alistair
The library of mobile apps to collect data and assess individual fitness levels and cognitive abilities is growing at an exponential rate. Students are already independently using these apps on a regular basis so why not take advantage of what they already know how to use! This workshop will describe the use of simple mobile apps such as Polar Beat to evaluate cardiovascular fitness and stress related physiological markers. More specifically, we will discuss and highlight the ability to generate simple heart rate and/or heart rate variability datasets using mobile apps that students can use to assess the effectiveness of different lifestyle interventions. The datasets allow the measurement of maximum oxygen uptake during exercise (i.e. the Astrand Physical Test), the ability to recover after strenuous exercise, the ability to control the acute stress response, and the correlation between the level of stress and cognitive performance. Workshop attendees will participate in demonstrations and the workup of real-time data to simulate the student laboratory experience. Finally, we will provide insight into how these simple but powerful experiments can be implemented into existing health, fitness or physiology based curricula.
Canceled An introduction to Learning Catalyics for the active-learning classroom: uses for lecture, student peer review, quizzes, and team-based assessments
Curtis, Anthony
Participants will sign up for a Learning Catalytics account (free), and use it for the demonstration of several learner-centered methods for lecture and lab settings. Think-pair-share, one-minute writes, collaborative learning, and individual responses allow students many ways to learn using this program. The methods shared will allow students to use their smart phones and other wifi-capable devices to interact with each other and their instructors including asynchronously, synchronously, in class, and online. The methods shared will allow instructors to measure student understanding in real time, and provide opportunity to correct misunderstandings immediately. Further, I will share the results of ongoing research using these methods related to overall student performance and learning outcome assessment.
Making it R.E.I.L.: Progress reports on developing research lab modules
Spell, Rachelle; Beck, Christopher; Blumer, Lawrence; Guinan, Judy; Miller, Kristen; Vondrasek, Joanna; and Winnett-Murray, Kathy
Faculty interested in learning how to incorporate their research into laboratory courses will hear from REIL Biology faculty teams who are developing such experiences. The goal of these efforts is to meet the challenge of both the Vision and Change and the Engage to Excel reports to give all students authentic research experiences through laboratory courses. Reports from faculty who are developing such lab courses will disseminate the critical background and sample development plans so that other faculty can create their own course-based research experiences. Furthermore, feedback from mini-workshop attendees will serve to improve curriculum development plans of the presenting faculty teams. This workshop is sponsored by the Research Experiences in Introductory Laboratories (REIL) Biology Network, an NSF-funded Research Coordination Network in Undergraduate Biology Education (RCN-UBE). We sponsor institutional teams of a researcher and an education specialist to develop course-based research experiences for introductory laboratory courses at conference-associated workshops. Faculty interested in participating in the REIL-Biology network or applying for future network sponsorship of curriculum development should attend this workshop and see www.rcn.ableweb.org.
Kinesthetic Learning for the College Biology Class Room
Dell, Alison and Ellison, Irina
The traditional pedagogical approach of teaching through lecture is an efficient way to deliver large volumes of content. Unfortunately, high-volume content delivery does not consistently translate into demonstrable increases in student understanding. This is evidenced by a high nationwide drop-out/failure rate from first year biology courses and suggests that educators can do better to reach students of diverse backgrounds and learning styles. However, given the breakneck pace of many introductory biology courses, instructors may feel at a loss as to how to incorporate other forms of learning into their curriculum. This workshop will provide instructors with two teaching modules that can be easily integrated into introductory cell biology or first year biology coursework. In one case, lab work (Wright stain) will be interspersed with periods for students to engage with observation by drawings and discussion. A second exercise, focused on the generation of the resting membrane potential (RMP) will focus on bringing these techniques into the non-lab component of the course.
Educational Videos – Made Easy!
Wong, Frank and Seliga, Angela
Have you ever wanted to implement pre- or post-lecture videos for your classes? Videos are a great way to bring yourself to the students outside of the classroom. If you are interested in learning about some of the dos and don’ts for making educational videos then this workshop is for you. I plan to help reduce the learning curve for making fun and useful videos for science students. Participants will receive some general tips that I wish I had known when I first started creating Organic Chemistry tutorials for my YouTube channel “Orgo Made Easy.” After a quick poll of the participants, the workshop will focus on one area of educational video production in a hands-on activity. We will review a few sample products that participants make to identify other useful tips as well as discuss feedback from students who watch my videos.
Integration of a flipped classroom module with peer-learning laboratory exercises to encourage deeper learning of protein structure
Barrette-Ng, Isabelle and Nickle, Todd
In introductory biochemistry courses, some of the traditional approaches commonly used to teach the basic principles of protein structure can lead to the development of misconceptions. Because it is difficult to convey concepts on three-dimensional structure through textbook readings and traditional lectures, I originally introduced a flipped classroom module that included podcasts, movies and interactive graphics software to a large-enrollment introductory biochemistry class. Although this module seemed effective for teaching some concepts, many students still appeared to have a fragmented and superficial understanding of key principles of protein structure. To rectify this limitation to the flipped classroom module, I introduced peer-learning laboratory exercises in which students carefully studied physical models of α-helices and β-strands, and then applied their knowledge to the structure of various proteins. Participants will be able to work through portions of the peer-learning laboratory exercises, and they will be shown how these exercises fit into the larger module on protein structure in the flipped classroom. They will then be invited to participate in a discussion on how peer-learning laboratory exercises can be designed to create concrete frameworks to organize abstract concepts that are most challenging for learners.
What Effects Can Question Format Have on Our Ability to Assess Student Learning?
Heitz, Jean
This session will present the results of a study on the effectiveness of multiple choice versus multiple true/false question formats in uncovering student understanding and misconceptions. We know it is difficult to assess the effects of teaching modifications on student learning (Hake, 2002). This results in part because any assessment requires agreement on what the key concepts and misconceptions are (Klymkowsky et al. 2003). In addition, we feel that the format of the questions also affects our ability to assess what our students do and don’t understand. To test this, we developed a set of equivalent questions in standard multiple choice format and in multiple true/false format. The multiple true/false format is also known as Type X multiple choice (Bandaranayake et al., 1999). Common student misconceptions were used as distracters. The primary difference between the two formats was that the multiple true/false format required the students to understand whether each of the distracters, on its own, was true or false.Time will be provided for participants to evaluate the results of the study, to try converting some standard multiple choice questions to multiple TF format and to discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of the multiple T/F style of questioning.
SESSION III: 1:30 – 2:20pm
The making of a scientist: hands-on, student driven research projects from concept to publication
Rycroft, Nathan; Atema, Jelle; and Minkoff, David (also offered in Session IV)
After 30 years of development a highly successful course format has emerged in which small teams of students conduct experiments from start to finish. After agreeing on a research project each team develops a short descriptive title that will guide them into a focused set of questions and methods. The process starts with a pre-proposal subjected to thorough review and discussion, followed by a final accepted proposal based on the students’ review of the pertinent scientific literature and on preliminary experiments with student-designed testing apparatus. Each team presents their proposal for class discussion of strengths and weaknesses. The next phase is systematic data-collecting using spreadsheets and simple statistical analysis. The final products consist of a scientific paper, a short press release, and a poster for class presentation and discussion. Along with their research project, students get instruction on the principles of the relevant subject matter such as fluid dynamics, animal behavior and sensing. Grading is based on both teamwork and individual performance. This course is often the first time students conduct a complete scientific experiment (of their own design) without a pre-set outcome. This encourages the students’ sense of “ownership” and responsibility for the project and stimulates originality, careful observation, and problem solving. Depending on the particular circumstances, the instructor can allow the students to choose a test animal, a test question, a test approach, etc.
In the workshop we will follow this course progression with an abbreviated animal behavior example: hermit crab odor choice. We will make up a title and a hypothesis based on information about the animal in its natural environment. In a simple two-choice flume we will present the animals with different odors. Examples of recent student projects (papers, posters and press releases) will be available.
Rubric Roulette – designing assignments and rubrics to fit your learning objectives and time constraints*
Hester, Laurel
How can you best leverage your writing assignments to serve your course goals? This mini-workshop will present a selection of learning objectives, writing assignments and assignment rubrics used in a non-majors general education course, a majors introductory course, a mixed-majors upper level course and an upper-level majors course. Can you match the objectives, writing assignments, rubrics and course level? Discussion will center on how assignments and rubrics might vary depending on your learning objectives and classroom and grading time constraints. Assignments presented in this workshop will include literature review papers, lab reports and shorter writing assignments. Some include 1st and second submissions with peer review or self-assessment. Discussion of assignment structure and rubric effectiveness will include the advantages and disadvantages of multiple submissions, peer feedback and simple vs. detailed grading rubrics. Participants are encouraged to bring their own assignments and rubrics to the workshop for discussion and/or sharing.
Beyond the Lab Report: Using Non-scientific Genres to Facilitate and Assess First-Year Student Learning*
Hogan, Elizabeth; McGee, Gregory; and Abrams, Neal
Many of our first-year students come to us without having written (or read) a lab report and are understandably daunted by this “new” field-specific genre of writing. As a result those initial forays into the genre often fail to accurately reflect what students have learned through their primary research, and present challenges in assessing an individual student’s mastery of the content or in determining how successfully a given experiment facilitated students’ collective learning. As first-year students develop proficiency in the genre, their formal lab report writing can be supplemented with other more familiar, non-scientific genres (informal responses, essays, letters, oral presentations, and even children’s books or comic strips) geared to public audiences. Allowing students to share or develop their knowledge of biological concepts through other forms or low stakes “writing to learn” exercises might permit them to more confidently communicate what they’ve come to understand through their experiments; prepare them to write more detailed, analytical lab reports; and open possibilities for discussing best practices for communicating science to public audiences. Presenters will share strategies they’ve used with first-year STEM students, and participants will share and discuss other options for using non-scientific genres of writing in laboratory courses.
Adventures in Desktop Ecology
Markert, Jeffrey
One of the biggest challenges for biologists is to make sure that they are measuring things objectively. For ecologists and animal behaviorists this is especially difficult. In this exercise, we use simple tools (beans, nail polish, sow bugs, candles and the Image-J software package) to demonstrate the challenges associated with a) estimating population size, b) determining whether organisms are randomly distributed, clumped, or over-dispersed, and c) determining the thermal and moisture preference of an isopod. The importance of replication, sample size, and objectivity are also demonstrated.
Biology of Weird Plants–the Voodoo Lily!
McDougal, Karen; Fanning, Marsha; and Moore, Judy
Sauromatum guttatum, the Voodoo Lily, is an unusual arum lily which has considerable history, physiology and horticulture associated with it. Three lab activities using the voodoo lily will be presented. 1. Directions for culturing the corms and planting fruits; 2. Biochemical background on thermogenic reactions which volatilize compounds to attract pollinators, and; 3. Methods for measuring the heat generated by the unusual flower (spathe and spadix). Videos and still photos of the unusual bloom will be shown, along with temperature recordings of the inflorescence, which can reach 20 deg above ambient. Participants will be provided with several activities to use with voodoo lilies. This is only one of the weird plants we use to demonstrate commonplace techniques or concepts in botany!
Canceled A picture is worth a 1000 words: using pictorial expression data in bioinformatics assignments
Klenz, Jennifer
In bioinformatics components of biology courses students are often given an unknown sequence and are required to perform a BLAST search to determine both the identity of the gene that contains the sequence and % identity shared with genes in other species, some of which may be well characterized. The ultimate goal is usually for students to speculate on the role of this unknown gene within their organism. Formerly we had students speculate where and when this unknown gene might be expressed, but that data now exists for many organisms. Researchers from the University of Toronto have developed the eFP (electronic Fluorescent Pictograph) browser that summarizes expression data from thousands of experiments in both Arabidopsis and mice (Winter et al. 2007). This expression data is shown pictorially which it makes it easy to understand for non-experts, such as our students. In this workshop we will use this online tool to examine expression of several different genes in terms of tissue and subcellular specificity, developmental regulation, different physiological conditions and natural variation in different sub-species. This tool could be used as a part of a genetics, cell biology, physiology or ecology lab.
How can you prepare an application for a Roberta Williams Laboratory Teaching Initiative Grant?
Barrette-Ng, Isabelle; Wolansky, Mark; Marion, Amy; and Whitaker, Beth
The ABLE Scholarship Committee has up to $2000 to fund development of investigative laboratory activities. The purpose of these grants is to encourage, support, and acknowledge developments in biology laboratory teaching at the university and college level. The grants are intended to develop lab teaching material to benefit the home institution as well as the ABLE membership. Examples of activities that are “fundable” include, but are not limited to: designing new labs, improving existing labs, developing pedagogical techniques for teaching in a laboratory setting, or developing multi-media tools (included computer-aided instruction). Participants in this workshop will learn how to prepare an application for a Roberta Williams Laboratory Teaching Initiative Grant and learn how applications are evaluated. They will also be able to consult applications that have been successful and receive feedback on any proposed applications.
A research-based curriculum for students of the life sciences
Pastorino, Lucia; Hattori, Shoai; and Lipton, Paul
Framing molecular and cellular biological concepts in the context of real world applications help students make connections and appreciate significance. Younger students struggle to grasp what is “invisible” to the eye, for example, the complex processes that regulate cell functioning and mediate disease. They sometimes fail to see that molecular biology is merely a tool with which to discover and study mechanisms that govern a cell’s life, rather than its own destination. Furthermore, we all recognize the value of promoting application of knowledge instead of memorization, yet see large enrollments and limited resources as often insurmountable barriers. We designed a laboratory curriculum that draws on and is symbiotic with the lecture portion of an introductory course that guides students through a semester long research project examining a protein involved in Alzheimer’s disease, while the lecture covers basic foundational concepts. In our presentation we will show and discuss how students apply concepts of molecular and cell biology learned in class as they use various techniques to study this protein. We believe this approach fosters critical thinking and extension of knowledge rather than rote memorization while exposing students to the process of scientific research.
Answering Vision and Change’s Call to Action
Gusky, Sharon and Semprebon, Gina
The goal of this session is to introduce participants to the Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action report (visionandchange.org) which calls for changes to undergraduate biology education at the course, departmental and institutional levels in order to increase the retention rate of biology students and to meet the demands for a STEM-educated workforce. Participants will have the opportunity to assess their own progress toward departmental transformation using the V&C Snapshot Rubrics developed by the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Science Education(PULSE) Fellows. They will discuss the barriers to change and be introduced to tools to help them overcome those barriers. Participants will be encouraged to share best practices and to join the PULSE community (www.pulsecommunity.org).
A Creative Approach: Teaching Biology Labs through Arts-based Learning
Beavington, Lee
For many students science labs are scary, full of stressful lab reports, difficult concepts, and an intimidating methodology. How can we learn about biological cells, electrophoresis, carbon cycles—not to mention how our bodies work—in a fun, accessible, yet still scientific way? Art provides an answer. Through engaging activities, movement, drawing, metaphor and storytelling we can bridge the fear gap and tap into learner creativity. Active learning has been shown to increase student performance in science classrooms (Freeman et al., 2014, Haak et al., 2011), although this increase appears to only be relevant when constructivist approaches are used (Andrews et al., 2011). Arts-based approaches to learning—including aesethetic/sensory engagement, embodied activities, and creative student-led presentations—present an opportunity for active, hands-on learning that is experiential in nature. This workshop will include props, poetry, music and other unexpected surprises, and will be highly interactive. Participants will make biological drawings of their presenter, dance like nematodes, and be part of a lively discussion.
The Peer Learning Association and the Learning by Teaching Model
Heitz, Jean
Beginning in 2009, a dedicated group of undergraduates took the initiative on the UW-Madison campus to develop a Peer Learning Association. The Peer Learning Association (PLA) operates by working with interested faculty/staff in development of peer learning programs tailored to their students’ needs. The core concept behind the program is “learning by teaching” (Ploetzner et al. 1999). The specific topics/concepts to be addressed are determined by the course’s faculty/staff and is communicated to peer members in advance of the weekly meetings. Peer members are responsible for learning the material well enough to teach it to others. The Peer Facilitator randomly assigns topics/concepts to peer members. During sessions, our Peer Facilitators “lead from the sidelines;” they do not lecture. Their primary role during their weekly sessions is to keep the peer group on track or to steer peer group members in the right direction via Socratic questioning. It is the peer group members who teach each other.
This session will describe the basic organization of the PLA, the weekly training we provide our Peer Facilitators and the organization of a typical weekly peer group session. Access to the PLA handbook and time for questions about the organization will be provided.
Bringing inquiry into an online laboratory environment
Miller, Kristen and Holt, Courtney
As online learning in lecture courses surges forward, online learning in laboratory environments drags behind. This mini-workshop will describe the creation and implementation of an online biology laboratory module on the topic of antibiotic resistance. This module was created to “mimic,” as closely as possible, the face-to-face (F2F) version of the topic taught in introductory biology laboratory sections for non-science majors. Presenters will discuss challenges and successes of this effort, including perspectives from students, instructors who implemented the labs with their students, and designers of the module. Specific points of discussion will be raised regarding how to offer inquiry teaching and learning in an online laboratory environment. Data of a research study that compared the experiences of students, including summative assignments, in the online versus F2F modules will be shared. Participants will be able to view portions of the online lab during the presentation and will be asked to share experiences and challenges of online learning happening at their home institutions.
Exploring the human immune system through video, puzzle, discussion, and writing
Wright, Brianna
It can be difficult to actively guide non-major science students in understanding how the human immune system works to protect against harmful pathogens, and how those pathogens could potentially evade the immune system’s defenses. We developed a mixed instructional approach to engage students in understanding how the immune system works outside of class through video and guided question, during class through hands-on puzzle and discussion, and after class through writing about experiences during exploration of the concept. This exercise is appropriate for undergraduate, non-major science students but can be modified for other levels and implemented in a lab, discussion, or lecture setting. These experiences provide opportunity for a more hands-on approach to understanding how the human immune system operates and gives students the chance to reflect on learning gains during investigation of the human immune system. During this workshop, participants will explore the acquired immune responses through puzzle and discussion, and will be provided with the out-of-class materials we have developed for immediate use or modification.
SESSION IV: 3:00 – 3:50pm
The making of a scientist: hands-on, student driven research projects from concept to publication
Rycroft, Nathan; Atema, Jelle; and Minkoff, David (also offered in Session III)
After 30 years of development a highly successful course format has emerged in which small teams of students conduct experiments from start to finish. After agreeing on a research project each team develops a short descriptive title that will guide them into a focused set of questions and methods. The process starts with a pre-proposal subjected to thorough review and discussion, followed by a final accepted proposal based on the students’ review of the pertinent scientific literature and on preliminary experiments with student-designed testing apparatus. Each team presents their proposal for class discussion of strengths and weaknesses. The next phase is systematic data-collecting using spreadsheets and simple statistical analysis. The final products consist of a scientific paper, a short press release, and a poster for class presentation and discussion. Along with their research project, students get instruction on the principles of the relevant subject matter such as fluid dynamics, animal behavior and sensing. Grading is based on both teamwork and individual performance. This course is often the first time students conduct a complete scientific experiment (of their own design) without a pre-set outcome. This encourages the students’ sense of “ownership” and responsibility for the project and stimulates originality, careful observation, and problem solving. Depending on the particular circumstances, the instructor can allow the students to choose a test animal, a test question, a test approach, etc.
In the workshop we will follow this course progression with an abbreviated animal behavior example: hermit crab odor choice. We will make up a title and a hypothesis based on information about the animal in its natural environment. In a simple two-choice flume we will present the animals with different odors. Examples of recent student projects (papers, posters and press releases) will be available.
Scaffolded and Incremental Lab Report Writing Guidelines in Biology Based Laboratory Courses*
Dias, Alistair
Are you tired of the same student questions about writing up a lab experiment? Should I talk about this in my results or discussion section? Do I really need to cite the scientific literature or is Wikipedia a sufficient source? Want these repeated questions to end? This workshop will discuss an incremental and scaffolded lab report writing strategy which helps students slowly but clearly understand what to include in a lab report by focusing them on writing small sections of a report at a time before writing a complete paper. Detailed lab report instruction examples from various human biology laboratory courses will be shown to emphasize and display how students can accomplish major writing learning goals. This includes grasping and using the scientific literature to support data observations, the creation of well formatted and informative figures or tables, and the ability to create clear, relevant and well organized lab report sections. Student feedback from course surveys will also highlight the effectiveness of this approach. Finally, marking rubrics and revised TA marking practices that complement this novel pedagogy will also be discussed. Feedback and audience participation will be encouraged to highlight the benefits and possible pitfalls to using this strategy.
Creating a Community of Learners in the Introduction to Biology Laboratory- Using Learning Assistants and Writing Fellows to Improve Student’s Writing skills*
Carter, Dawn; Singh, Indrani; Ptak, Corey; and Martins, David
Introduction to Biology Laboratory is a project-based, two-semester sequence for Life Sciences majors at RIT. Students complete 3 projects each semester, and each project culminates in a writing assignment. We have employed Learning Assistants (LAs) in the Introduction to Biology Laboratory for the past two years, and they have been invaluable in creating a “Community of Learners” through peer instruction. We have devised a series of exercises to help students learn to write like professional scientists. These involve examining parts of scientific papers that are relevant to the current lab project and using these to “model” professional writing. Our goal is to provide further training to allow selected LAs to become Writing Fellows, who will specialize in peer writing instruction. We will present an overview of our Learning Assistant/Writing Fellows program, and invite Workshop participants to test and discuss one of our reading and writing assignments.
“Bugs on Bugs:” An Inquiry-Based, Collaborative Activity to Learn Arthropod and Microbial Biodiversity
Morgan, Jeanelle and Lampert, Evan
The effect of temperature on the aerobic respiration of Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) measured using a simple microrespirometer
Miller, Kevin
The subject of aerobic respiration is often difficult for students to understand. This session will demonstrate a hands-on activity that uses microrespirometers to measure aerobic respiration of mealworm beetle larvae, Tenebrio molitor (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), at different temperatures. This activity will demonstrate a method that yields positive student reactions to the laboratory exercise, uses a low-cost device and an easily-reared organism, as well as helps students to gain a better understanding of aerobic respiration by working directly with the device to make observations. Participants in this session will be given a mealworm beetle larva, two microrespirometers, and two different temperature-controlled environments – one water bath at room temperature (ca. 20oC) and an ice-water bath (0oC). Participants will then choose a variable (room temperature or ice-water) to test, place their beetle larva in one of the microrespirometers and use the other as a control, and then collect data. Discussion of results and how they can be presented will follow the activity.
Yet another exercise on relationship tree building
Niedzlek-Feaver, Marianne
This is a workshop to emphasize the differences among relationship trees built using a Phylogenetics or Cladistics approach or a more Traditional or Classic Systematics approach. Books still mix the two approaches, sometimes even using trees built using a more classic approach in chapters on diversity, although only explaining clade construction in the chapters on phylogeny or classification schemes. This is a simple 30-45 minute exercise where groups of students construct a relationship tree using the assumptions of one or the other school. The class as a whole then attempts to determine which approach was used. Only six living species are involved with new clades or taxa appearing at two previous speciation events. The exercise challenges and motivates students who start only with a base diagram of an ancestor and the outline of a relationship tree. I supply colored pencils but students must determine the characteristics to add as new species are generated at forks of the diagrammed tree. Students gain experience in applying terms important to the Phylogenetics school such as, clades, derived homology, ancestral homology, synapomorphy, outgroup and monophyletic trees. Students have responded quite positively to this exercise and their ability to correctly answer questions on exams related to clade building certainly has increased. Students also have demonstrated an improved ability to recognize which school a paper or textbook is using, and a growing appreciation for what the Cladistics approach offers for revising classification. In this workshop, participants will assume the role of students. All background material used to prepare students (for example, websites participants can use such as Evolution 101) will be provided. Ways to modify the exercise for different courses (I have used this exercise in my intro 100 level biology course and my 300 level intro evolution course.) will be discussed.
Supporting TA training and management using an evidence-based approach: A visual tool to identify outliers in student grades
Chen, Liane; Barker, Megan; and Weir, Laura
In large classes with multiple lab/tutorial sections and graduate teaching assistants (TAs), it can be a challenge to determine whether grade variations between TAs are a result of differences in grading or whether they reflect other factors such as underlying student ability. Instructors can assess grading quality by checking a subset of graded work, but the number of TAs and the amount of graded work to check can be prohibitive. Gillian Gass and I previously developed an Excel-based graphing tool that created a visual depiction of the grade distribution within and between TA groups, allowing instructors to easily identify outliers (Proceedings of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education 34:310-313). Subsequent work has demonstrated that most outliers identified visually are also detected through statistical tests, underlying the rigor of the tool despite its simplicity of use. Here, participants are invited to interpret typical graphs and analyze their own class data, in order to propose underlying causes of grade outliers and to discuss subsequent TA training interventions.
Learning Styles Self-Discovery Workshop; Why Personal Style and Versatility Matter
Lalama, Cecilia
The Educational Resource Center’s (ERC) Learning Styles Workshop is designed to introduce participants to the concept of identifying individual learning preferences for the purpose of customizing their study methodologies based on their assessment results and the information they acquire during this workshop. The session is framed around participants taking the VARK learning assessment tool in anticipation of the workshop. Participants may take the VARK at this website: http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/. All attendees will participate in an activity whereby they will work in groups to explain a specific process using only one learning modality and then report on their experience to the larger group. The activity is designed to generate conversation about the value of utilizing multiple learning modalities in order to gain a richer understanding of the subject matter at hand.
Inquiring into Numbers: NANSLO’s Methodology for Developing Inquiry Based Laboratory Activities
Bennett, PJ
The goal of this workshop is to discuss quantitative inquiry-based laboratory activities and give the audience tools they can use to adapt their own lab activities. The North American Network of Science Labs Online (NANSLO) is a group of online science teaching labs, whose purpose is to provide real-time internet mediated access to high quality scientific instrumentation. Because of this high quality instrumentation NANSLO is best suited to address learning goals where precise quantitative data is needed. Every NANSLO activity is composed of two parts: the web controllable equipment, and the laboratory procedure. NANSLO procedures are developed from two sources: they are either created from scratch or they are adapted from preexisting activities. Over the last several years the NANSLO group has developed more than 30 inquiry-based laboratory activities. We believe the process we use to create our activities can be used to create inquiry based activities for both online and face-to-face courses. In this workshop I will demonstrate and discuss our process by showing how we adapted a qualitative activity that demonstrates semipermeable membranes using starch and iodine into a quantitative activity.
Canceled An interactive role play for students learning photosynthesis
Curtis, Anthony
This role play activity is designed for students taking introductory, general education biology courses. The activity is usually subsequent to an interactive online homework assignment using the Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT) method, and follow up using in-class, active-learning activities where students use their cell phones or other wifi-capable devices. Students act out the major players in photosynthesis as a class, typically 24 students for a lab session. The activity wraps up the following week with a short quiz on the material, and may be team based. Instructions on how to obtain or fabricate the props used in the play are discussed (e.g. ATP/ADP “gun,” an “electron,” “glucose” molecule, paper for the various roles). Topics reinforced include: the one-way flow of energy from the sun (earth as an open system), biogeochemical cycling (earth as a closed system), oxidation/reduction, fluorescence, function of photosystems, parts of the chloroplast (e.g. stroma, thylakoid membrane), potentials, pH, NADPH, ATP, oxygen as a product, ATP Synthase, stoma function, connections to cellular respiration, second law of thermodynamics, among others.
Cell Culture Basics in a Large Undergraduate Class
McCarville, Mindy and Grogono, Laura
This year we introduced a hands-on lab activity that presented second year undergraduates with the opportunity to practice the fundamental techniques of growing and maintaining mammalian cell lines. We were able to achieve this in a class of 300 students by dividing the students into small groups which rotated between three stations. Students were introduced to sterile technique in the lab and did a mock run through the procedure, and then moved to a tissue culture room to subculture HEK 293 cells. Finally, students proceeded to a third station to count cells and determine cell viability using the Trypan Blue exclusion test. This practical lab activity was well received and despite significant organisational demands in advance, ended up running smoothly and efficiently. During this workshop I will describe our process of implementing this activity, and will demonstrate our approach to teaching sterile techniques used in tissue culture. As a group we will consider benefits and limitations of this type of lab, and will discuss alternate ways of incorporating practical cell culture techniques into large classes.
Navigating HIV Testing: a Writing-focused Lab Sequence
Marintcheva, Boriana
HIV is a major health threat that continues to spread and affect millions of people world-wide despite the fact that HIV infection is preventable. Curbing the HIV epidemic depends heavily on the reliability of established testing and efforts to modify risk behaviors. From a teaching stand point HIV testing offers great opportunities for integration of lab skills and tools for effective communication of scientific results. The lab sequence assigns mock patient samples to each student to be tested for evidence of HIV infection using ELISA, Western blot and PCR analyses (a total of five labs). The outcomes of individual tests are reported in results summaries, which following a round of instructor feedback are combined in a final lab report communicating evidence-based conclusions for the HIV status of the tested patients. Students are working in teams of four testing four individual samples that require different processing according to the current HIV testing guidelines. This workshop will simulate the student experience using mock data set. Tips how to manage the logistics and the cost of the labs, as well as the lab assessment will be discussed.
Introducing Writing in an Introductory Lab*
Watkinson, Emily and Jennings, Dianne
From the moment that the students start in biology until they graduate, there is an expectation that they can or will be able to write effectively. Unfortunately this is often not the case. In an effort to introduce science writing early in students’ academics, we have revised our introductory lab classes to include assignments that foster skills in writing as well as help students master content. Weekly online writing assignments include simple summaries of experiments, note-taking on scientific articles, writing components of research papers/posters and self-peer assessed writing assignments. With rubrics provided to both the students and instructors, effective feedback can be given and in some cases revisions can be made. Workshop participants will learn how we use blackboard to organize our writing assignments for our freshman-level course. We plan to share the outline of our assignments as well as rubrics. We would like to hear from participants regarding their experiences with writing assignments in lower level courses.
*Part of this year’s Writing in Biology Lab themed sessions