The national Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education Initiative favors a curriculum shift from the compartmentalization of math and science classes into discrete subject areas to an integrated, multidisciplinary experience. Many states are currently implementing programs in high schools that provide greater integration of math,…

Authentic assessment exercises are similar to real-world tasks that would be expected by a professional. An authentic assessment in combination with an inquiry-based learning activity enhances students' learning and rehearses them for their future roles, whether as scientists or as informed citizens. Over a period of 2 years, we experimented with…

This article provides both an experiment and a framework for discussion that students can use to compare the efficiency of producing ethanol by using corn versus sugarcane as a raw material.

This article describes how to use protein extraction, quantification, and analysis in the undergraduate teaching laboratory to engage students in inquiry-based, discovery-driven learning. Detailed instructions for obtaining proteins from animal tissues, using BCA assay to quantify the proteins, and data analysis are provided. The experimental…

Optimal diet selection, a component of optimal foraging theory, suggests that animals should select a diet that either maximizes energy or nutrient consumption per unit time or minimizes the foraging time needed to attain required energy or nutrients. In this exercise, students simulate the behavior of foragers that either show no foraging…

Natural selection and other components of evolutionary theory are known to be particularly challenging concepts for students to understand. To help illustrate these concepts, we developed a simulation model of microevolutionary processes. The model features all the components of Hardy-Weinberg theory, with population size, selection, gene flow,…

I describe a quantitative approach to three case studies in evolution that can be used to challenge college freshmen to explore the power of natural selection and ask questions that foster a deeper understanding of its operation and relevance. Hemochromatosis, the peppered moth, and hominid cranial capacity are investigated with a common algebraic…

I describe three activities that allow students to explore the ideas of evolution, natural selection, extinction, mass extinction, and rates of evolutionary change by engaging a simple model using paper, pens, chalk, and a chalkboard. As a culminating activity that supports expository writing in the sciences, the students write an essay on mass…

In a flexible multisession laboratory, students investigate concepts of phylogenetic analysis at both the molecular and the morphological level. Students finish by conducting their own analysis on a collection of skeletons representing the major phyla of vertebrates, a collection of primate skulls, or a collection of hominid skulls.

Here's a relatively concrete activity to teach the large numbers representing evolutionary deep time.

Mainstream scientists often claim that australopithecines such as the specimen nicknamed "Lucy" exhibit anatomy intermediate between that of apes and that of humans and use this as evidence that humans evolved from australopithecines, which evolved from apes. On the other hand, creationists reject evolution and claim that australopithecines are…

Charles Darwin's botanical studies provide a way to expose students to his work that followed the publication of "On the Origin of Species." We can use stories from his plant investigations to illustrate key concepts in the life sciences and model how questions are asked and answered in science.

An overlooked feature of Darwin's work is his use of "imaginary illustrations" to show that natural selection is competent to produce adaptive, evolutionary change. When set in the context of Darwin's methodology, these thought experiments provide a novel way to teach natural selection and the nature of science.

Over 5 million students and 28,000 schools are consistently marginalized or left out of statistics that describe evolution and science education. Although they are relatively few in number compared with their public school counterparts, the millions of students and hundreds of thousands of teachers in private schools need to be counted in research…

Instead of dissecting animals, students create small clay models of human internal organs to demonstrate their understanding of the positioning and interlocking shapes of the organs. Not only is this approach more environmentally friendly, it also forces them to learn human anatomy--which is more relevant to them than the anatomy of other…