Concept maps can be used in undergraduate biology as ways to visually communicate the relationships among things and events. One strength of concept mapping is that there is not just a single, correct way to compose one, given a list of particular concepts. Nevertheless there seem to be associations among ideas that are expressed frequently while…

We describe a pair of fully integrated courses designed to teach biology to non-majors in a manner that connects authentically to the liberal arts. The co-taught courses were organized around the question: What does it mean to be human? Students investigated this question in the context of three topics: dis/ability, race, and sex and gender. In…

Evolution is a unifying concept within biology. In fact, Dobzhansky, a noted evolutionary biologist, argued, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" (Dobzhansky, 1973). However, often students have misconceptions about evolution. There are a number of available activities where students use tools (representing…

As part of a biomechanics course aimed at both upper-division Biology and Physics majors, this laboratory exercise introduces students to the ingenious ways in which organisms vary the composition and form of support and defensive structures such as bone and shell to maximize their strength while minimizing the energetic cost needed to produce…

Recognition of the value of a scientifically literate citizenry has driven American science education reform since the 1950s. We have seen some improvement in the comprehension of science facts in the past 10-20 years, but far less improvement in Americans' understanding of the nature of science. College science courses are ideal venues for…

For the purpose of teaching collegians the fundamentals of biological research, literature explaining the discovery of the gastric proton pump was presented in a 50-min lecture. The presentation included detailed information pertaining to the discovery process. This study was chosen because it demonstrates the importance of having a broad range of…

The importance of including concepts, examples, and techniques from mathematics and the physical and information sciences in biology courses to fulfill the need of today's undergraduates has been the principle motivation for developing interdisciplinary biology-focused courses. Although this movement started many years ago, developing and offering…

A tool for teaching bioinformatics concepts to information systems majors is described. Biological data are available from numerous sources and a good knowledge of biology is needed to understand much of these data. As the subject of bioinformatics gains popularity among computer and information science course offerings, it will become essential…