This lesson used the correspondence of Charles Darwin as an exploration of nature of science (NOS) in a historical context. Specifically, we used his original correspondence about his "provisional hypothesis" of pangenesis as a novel way to explore a scientist's social community. Darwin's community of friends and colleagues in the…

When students think of evolution, they might imagine T. rex, or perhaps an abiotic scene of sizzling electrical storms and harsh reducing atmospheres, an Earth that looks like a lunar landscape. Natural selection automatically elicits responses that include "survival of the fittest," and "descent with modification," and with…

Students with religious beliefs often find it difficult to accept the theory of evolution. It is important that educators feel comfortable addressing student questions on the compatibility of evolution and religion. We designed an online professional development course that taught the foundational principles of both evolution and religion in order…

We established a tallgrass prairie restoration experiment on a high school campus in Kansas. This easily accessible natural environment provides students and teachers many options including scientific research, artistic ventures, or simply relaxing in nature. Our restoration project has four main objectives: (1) practicing science; (2) increasing…

Large data sets invite students to engage in scientific practices such as question asking, identifying correlations, using visualizations, and practicing data literacy in an authentic context. However, authentic data sets are rarely introduced in the biology classroom. We prepared an online inquiry activity based on authentic gross characteristics…

There is an emphasis on survival-based selection in biology education that can allow students to neglect other important evolutionary components, such as sexual selection, reproduction, and inheritance. Student understanding of the role of reproduction in evolution is as important as student understanding of the role of survival. Limiting…

In instructional settings, evolution and natural selection are challenging concepts to teach, due to the fact that these topics are difficult to observe in the laboratory or lecture hall. In the past few years, Avida-ED has emerged as an innovative tool for teaching evolutionary principles. It allows students to directly observe effects of…

Students who experience research as undergraduates tend to remain in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Since course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are often expensive to implement, we developed a relatively inexpensive first-semester research course for majors entitled "Freshman Research in…

Undergraduate science students who volunteer within a research laboratory group, or participate in funded research opportunities, in general are those who have the opportunity to engage in authentic research. In this article, we report the findings from two different iterations of a semester-long collaboration between a biology faculty member and…

Genotyping real alleles in real people is an excellent way to connect abstract genetics concepts to human variation in the classroom; however, these activities can inadvertently promote misconceptions of the power of genetics to determine individual and group traits. By analyzing our own and others' experiences of genotyping activities in the…

A common question posed to environmental scientists by nonscientists, particularly policymakers, is the following: In a world that is globally warmer, what will the new climate be like in specific geographical regions? This question has been and continues to be addressed by computer modeling, a technique that is out of reach for vast majority of…

New introductions to invasive mosquitoes, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, increase the risk for vector-borne diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, and Zika in the United States. Tracking these new introductions is more important than ever. This lesson plan focuses on the collection of mosquito larvae and pupae before the onset of summer with a…

Storytelling can stimulate learning by delivering scientific content within a narrative that increases comprehension and engagement. In this article I describe the coevolutionary arms race between toxic newts and predatory garter snakes. This engaging story centers on the use of a deadly neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin (TTX) as an antipredator…

Scientific reading and communication have become key components in postsecondary science education. However, undergraduates have often been found to lack motivation to engage in these tasks. The present study surveyed 2098 undergraduates and 27 biology faculty members to compare their views on the importance and time cost of eight practices in…

Animal dissection is practiced to varying degrees around the world and is particularly prevalent in North America throughout all levels of education. However, a growing number of studies suggest that nonanimal teaching methods (NAMs) (e.g., virtual anatomy tools and three-dimensional models) are better for achieving learning goals compared to…