Two foundational concepts in biology education are 1) offspring are not identical to their parents, and 2) organisms undergo changes throughout their lives. These concepts are included in both international and U.S. curricular standards. Research in psychology has shown that children often have difficulty understanding these concepts, as they are…

A lesson plan on the phylum Tardigrada is presented in a storytelling workbook that introduces the evolutionary concepts of adaptive radiation, speciation, divergence, and "tree-thinking" through narrative, transitional art, contemplative coloring, and data searches, which can be enhanced with microscopy wet labs. Students gain insight…

Use of inquiry-based research modules in the classroom has soared over recent years, largely in response to national calls for teaching that provides experience with scientific processes and methodologies. To increase the visibility of in-class studies among interested researchers and to strengthen their impact on student learning, we have…

The cornerstone of forensic chemistry is that a perpetrator inevitably leaves trace evidence at a crime scene. One important type of evidence is DNA, which has been instrumental in both the implication and exoneration of thousands of suspects in a wide range of crimes. The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a network of DNA databases, provides…

This study used a mixed methods approach to evaluate hybrid peer-assisted learning approaches incorporated into a bioinformatics tutorial for a genome annotation research project. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from undergraduates who enrolled in a research-based laboratory course during two different academic terms at UCLA.…

The beta hemoglobin protein is identical in humans and chimpanzees. In this tutorial, students see that even though the proteins are identical, the genes that code for them are not. There are many more differences in the introns than in the exons, which indicates that coding regions of DNA are more highly conserved than non-coding regions.

The Biology Workbench (BW) is a web-based tool enabling scientists to search a wide array of protein and nucleic acid sequence databases with integrated access to a variety of analysis and modeling tools. The present study examined the development of this scientific tool and its consequent adoption into the context of high school science teaching…

Students examine issues surrounding genetic databanks and work in groups to create a biobank of their own, which they write about and illustrate.

Mock outbreaks of infectious disease offer the ability to introduce principles of food microbiology, ecology, and epidemiology to undergraduate students using an inquiry driven process. Students were presented with an epidemiological case study detailing patient history, clinical presentation, and foods recently consumed. The students then had to…

A major finding of comparative genomics and developmental genetics is that metazoans share certain conserved, embryonically deployed signaling pathways that instruct cells as to their ultimate fate. Because the DNA encoding these pathways predates the evolutionary split of most animal groups, it should in principle be possible to clone…

This article describes a new approach to teaching bioinformatics using "Arabidopsis" genetic sequences. Several open-ended and inquiry-based laboratory exercises have been designed to help students grasp key concepts and gain practical skills in bioinformatics, using "Arabidopsis" leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR…

Forensic entomologists utilize insects (particularly flies) to establish the time interval between death and body discovery. This important piece of information may answer questions as to the circumstances of the individual's death and insects are now routinely utilized and recognized as being important forensic indicators. Of extreme importance…

This inquiry-based lab is designed around genetic diseases with a focus on protein structure and function. To allow students to work on their own investigatory projects, 10 projects on 10 different proteins were developed. Students are grouped in sections of 20 and work in pairs on each of the projects. To begin their investigation, students are…

There is currently much interest in ascribing outcomes to Masters (M) level programmes. It is particularly difficult to define M level outcomes in bioinformatics for students on non-specialist programmes. An approach is described that attempts to discriminate undergraduate from M level in a data-mining exercise. Differentiation of level is based…

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…