Effective teaching requires the use of techniques and strategies to counter student passivity and enhance engagement. Research demonstrates that drawing improves memory retention, increases motivation to learn, provides an opportunity to learn what makes an image an effective communication tool, allows demonstration of conceptual understanding,…

Seven chronological steps for transforming previously taught lecture courses into an active learning format are provided to help the biology educators who want to replace lectures with active learning while covering the same content they would teach in a lecture. These lecture-free courses do not sacrifice content and get little or no additional…

Describes the results of a controlled experiment that tested the effectiveness of Lord's teaching model in: (a) helping students achieve better grades on standard midterm exams; (b) developing higher level thinking skills; and (c) modifying attitudes towards biology at a large urban university. (Author/SOE)