Cell water relationships are important topics to be included in cell biology courses. Differences exist in the control of water relationships in plant cells relative to control in animal cells. One important reason for these differences is that turgor pressure is a consideration in plant cells. Diffusion and osmosis are the underlying factors…

One of the difficulties in teaching basic molecular biology concepts to the students with little biological background is the lack of hands-on exercises that combines the challenges of the concepts with visualization and immediate feedback. BIOPS Interactive is a web-based interactive learning environment for molecular biology that complements…

Communication of scientific and medical information and collaborative work are important skills for students pursuing careers in health professions and other biomedical sciences. In addition, group work and active learning can increase student engagement and analytical skills. Students in our public health microbiology class were required to work…

An inexpensive and equipment free approach to teaching the technical aspects of DNA sequencing. The activity described requires an instructor with a familiarity of DNA sequencing technology but provides a straight forward method of teaching the technical aspects of sequencing in the absence of expensive sequencing equipment. The final sequence…

Environmental ethicists have focused much attention on the limits of utilitarianism and have generally defined "environmental ethics" in a manner that treats utilitarian environmental ethics as an oxymoron. This is unfortunate because utilitarian ethics can support strong environmental policies, and environmental ethicists have not yet produced a…

Hairy root transformation has been widely adapted in plant laboratories to rapidly generate transgenic roots for biochemical and molecular analysis. We present hairy root transformations as a versatile and adaptable model system for a wide variety of undergraduate laboratory courses and research. This technique is easy, efficient, and fast making…

We describe a new approach to teaching introductory biology. Our introductory experience for undergraduates is a laboratory course that is entirely inquiry and discovery based. We introduce our students to fundamental concepts in biology in the framework of three multi-week laboratory modules, each of which is an open-ended investigation of a…

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…

As perhaps the most encompassing idea in biology, evolution has impacted not only science, but other academic disciplines as well. The broad, interdisciplinary impact of evolution was the theme of a course taught at Marian College, Indianapolis, Indiana in 2002, 2004, and 2006. Using a strategy that could be readily adopted at other institutions,…

The importance of Bioinformatics tools and methodology in modern biological research underscores the need for robust and effective courses at the college level. This paper describes such a course designed on the principles of cooperative learning based on a computer software industry production model called "Extreme Programming" (EP).…

Many new instructional theories advocate centering instruction around a set of authentic tasks to improve application and transfer of knowledge and help students take more responsibility for their own learning. At BYU-Hawaii, a general education biology course was redesigned to follow this task-centered approach and then taught to two groups of…

Many undergraduate institutions are dealing with less-than-prepared students entering the biology major. When the biology department at College of Notre Dame of Maryland analyzed data from five past cohorts of prospective biology majors, it was evident that there was a significant correlation between their success in the introductory course in the…

We challenged an Aquatic Biology class to find a way to access, observe, and record aquatic habitats and organisms without causing disruption. Using off the shelf components the class was guided in the design and assembly of a remote controlled, video broadcasting, data collecting, floating vehicle based on a molded goose decoy. GOOSE-CAM or…

Understanding homology is fundamental to learning about evolution. The present study shows an exercise that can be varied in complexity, for which students compile research illustrating the fate of homologous fish skull elements, and assemble a mural to serve as a learning aid. The skull of the most primitive living Actinopterygian (bony fish),…

Service learning involves providing service to the community while requiring students to meet learning goals in a specific course. A service learning project was implemented in a general biology course at Rockhurst University to involve students in promoting scientific education in conjunction with community partner educators. Students were…