Active Learning
All courses that I teach follow a student-centered, active learning approach. I utilize a flipped-classroom model where students read and engage an online textbook through adaptive learning software. They also view lecture material outside the classroom. Students participate in collaborative learning activities in class consisting of case-studies and problem based learning.
In the laboratory component, students normally engage in inquiry-guided, and research based projects. Some "cook-book" labs are still followed, usually to introduce concepts and techniques. Providing students with an authentic research experience has been shown to have an overall positive impact on student success as well as their participation in graduate school. Undergraduate research helps energize students and lets them experience "real-world" science. Vision & Change (2011) specifically calls for an increase in and increased access to research experiences, including in introductory courses. Undergraduate research has also been designated as a high impact practice by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). In order to do this, students are required to to do the following in my General Biology courses:
- Keep a "hybrid" notebook that combines aspects of both a field notebook, and a laboratory notebook.
- Collaborate within a lab group to generate a hypothesis and test predictions.
- Collaborate with lab groups and the instructor to develop protocols, including troubling shooting problems
- Collaborate within a lab group to produce a professional scientific poster that covers a research project.
- Write a research paper in the format of scientific journal article.
- Submit their research paper for anonymous peer-review while they review papers from three fellow students.
Quantitative Reasoning Skills
The discipline of biology has become much more quantitative over the last several decades. The ability to correctly apply quantitative reasoning skills, along with constructing and interpreting models and simulations is essential if one plans to succeed in any science based discipline, including the biological sciences. It has been shown that a large percentage of students who enter college with the intent to major in biology are often lacking in these critical skills and are not being provided or acquiring them as they progress through their curriculum. As two of the core competencies outlined in Vision & Change (2011), students in my courses are expected to develop their quantitative reasoning and modeling skills during the course of a semester. Students are provided with activities that are intended to increase math literacy within an introductory biology context. The activities present specific math, statistical, and modeling skills that are used in the biology they are taught during the semester. This includes the use of MathBench Biology Modules, Biointeractive activities from HHMI, Data Nuggets, and activities I develop specifically for statistical analyses using real data from open-source data repositories such as Dryad Digital Data Repository.
Using a Guided-Inquiry Approach to Teach and Transition First Year General Biology Students Into Research-based Projects
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Students in General Biology I are introduced to the scientific method and experimental design by a Guided-Inquiry based project using Cowpea Weevils (Callosobruchus maculatus), where students ask their own questions, generate hypotheses, and design their own experiments following an experimental design jigsaw activity and a "peer-review presentation" to the lab. The inquiry project serves as a foundation that students build on and then transition to a CURE later in the semester. Students have access to a large research reference library regarding the cowpea weevils and are encouraged to build their own, using a reference software (I recommend Mendeley to my students). Most of this project is modeled after activities found on the Bean Beetle Website, particularly the Experimental Design (D'Costa and Schlueter 2014 ) laboratory. One difference is the use of Essential Oils (Citronella, Clove Bud, Cypress, Pine Needle) to examine their potential as either repellents or natural insecticides again the Weevils later in the semester. The cowpea weevil is are a major agricultural pest in Africa and Asia. Although a substantial amount of research has been conducted, researchers continue to try and determine ways to reduce its impact, without the use of commercial pesticides. One avenue of controlling the weevils involves biological controls. Students are able to take their investigations further with the inclusion of a parasitoid wasp (Anisopteromalus calandrae) and the use of a body-wash protocol at the conclusion of the CURE. General Biology I students continue and end the semester with an authentic research based project involving Antibiotic Resistance Genes Detection in Soil Samples.
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For more information regarding the undergraduate research projects that my students are currently pursuing in General Biology I and II, as well as the Endophytic Fungi Project the DDCC Undergraduate Research Fellows are taking part in, please visit the research interests section of the website.