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{"title":"What is in this? Students Deliberate on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Found in Everyday Healthcare Items to Build Democratic Skills","authors":"Liz Rain-Griffith, Emma C Goodwin, E. Shortlidge","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.31","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.31","url":null,"abstract":"In helping our students become informed and active members of society, it is necessary that they develop certain skills that will empower them to improve their community and governance. These skills include communication, collaboration, and application of information. One way of helping students develop these important skills is through deliberative pedagogy. In this article, we present the curriculum for a small group activity called Deliberative Democracy (DD). Here we describe one DD activity that was iteratively developed over five years for an introductory biology course. In this DD activity, students were asked to develop a policy statement that addresses the question: “What kind of regulations should be placed on cosmetics that contain potential endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs)?” We incorporate multiple strategies in this activity, including readings, videos, worksheets, clicker questions, small group and individual work, and whole class discussions. This activity supports students in developing important democratic skills and provides an opportunity to apply course content to real- world issues.","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring the Complexities of Photosynthesis Through a Comic Strip","authors":"Ellen M. Wisner","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.33","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.33","url":null,"abstract":"Photosynthesis is a conceptually challenging topic. The small scale at which photosynthesis takes place makes it difficult for students to visualize what is occurring, and students are often overwhelmed by all of the details of the process. This activity uses a freely-available comic to make learning photosynthesis more approachable and to help students identify their own misconceptions and questions about the process. This activity is appropriate for any college-level introductory biology course and although it was designed for an online class, it could be adapted for in-person learning. In this activity, students work through a four-part online module. Each part consists of readings and videos containing background information on the steps of photosynthesis followed by the corresponding portion of a comic on photosynthesis. Students then use the background information in the module and the comic to identify their own misconceptions and questions and post these in an online discussion forum. The online module is followed by a live session in which the instructor uses the student discussion posts to clarify any remaining questions. Learning about photosynthesis in the unique visual format of a comic allows students to more easily visualize a process that they cannot see with their own eyes. Students enjoyed this activity because it makes learning photosynthesis fun and less intimidating. This lesson is powerful because it allows the instructor to hear from all students in the course via the discussion forum and then tailor the live discussion session to cover student identified problem topics. ,","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Learning Quantitative Genetics: Investigation of Genetic Control for Cold Stress Response in Plants","authors":"I. Makarevitch, Raeann Goering","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.4","url":null,"abstract":"Course-embedded undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) for students have been shown to increase students’ understanding of the process of science, affirm their scientific identity, and improve retention in STEM fields. Despite many CUREs recently developed for introductory biology, genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology courses, projects related to quantitative genetics and polygenic inheritance are rare. Students frequently struggle with the uncertainty and complexity of quantitative genetic studies in a traditional genetics course. This lesson describes a series of laboratory exercises that provide an authentic research experience focused on quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of the traits related to cold stress response in plants. Maize varieties show a large variation in the degree of their response to stress, suggesting that this trait is highly heritable, even though most of the genes contributing to this trait remain elusive. The results of the QTL analysis vary depending on the plant material used in the study and the specific traits measured in the study, reflecting the polygenic nature of the trait. This laboratory project allows students to make decisions about the details of the experimental design, collaborate with their peers, conduct the experiments, and analyze the results using standard protocols for the QTL analysis. The accompanying worksheets and supplemental instruction demonstrate the complex architecture of quantitative traits and their dependency on the number of plants involved in the analysis and the details of the experimental design. The laboratory series invites students to discuss the nature of the scientific investigation. Citation: Makarevitch I, Goering R. 2022. Learning quantitative genetics: Investigation of genetic control for cold stress response in plants. CourseSource. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.4 Editor: Megan Barker, Simon Fraser University Received: 2/23/2021; Accepted: 8/31/2021; Published: 2/14/2022 Copyright: © 2022 Makarevitch and Goering. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Conflict of Interest and Funding Statement: None of the authors has a financial, personal, or professional conflict of interest related to this work. This work was supported by NSF awards (IOS 1444456). Supporting Materials: Supporting Files S1. QTLs of Maize Cold Response – Detailed Timeline; S2. QTLs of Maize Cold Response – Student Handout; S3. QTLs of Maize Cold Response – Sample Answers to the Questions of the Worksheets; S4. QTLs of Maize Cold Response – Multiple Choice Assessment Quiz with Correct Answers; S5. QTLs of Maize Cold Response – Rubric Used for the Assessment of Student Skills in Data Analysis and Interpretation in the Lab Reports; S6. QTL","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Muscular Dystrophy Case Study Illustrating the Phenotypic Effects of Mutation","authors":"L. Hodkinson, Julia L. Gross, Leila E. Rieder","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.42","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.42","url":null,"abstract":"Mutations in genes can lead to a variety of phenotypes, including various human diseases. Students often understand that a particular mutation in a single gene causes a disease phenotype, but it is more challenging to illustrate complex genetic concepts such as that similar mutations in the same gene cause very different phenotypes or that mutations in different genes cause similar phenotypes. We originally designed this lesson to build off of the CourseSource lesson “A clicker-based case study that untangles student thinking about the processes in the central dogma,” but it can also stand alone. In our lesson, students read or listen to a real-life case study featuring a patient who doggedly pursues the underlying genetic cause of her own disease—muscular dystrophy—and stumbles upon a similar mutation in the same gene that gives an athlete the seemingly opposite phenotype: pronounced muscles. The lesson also leads the students to overlay their understanding of the central dogma and mutation on protein function and disease, compares muscular dystrophy to the disease progeria, and concludes with an ethical challenge. We tested the lesson as both an independent homework assignment, as well as a small group in-class worksheet and both formats were successful.","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329641","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Introducing Immunology Research Literature to Understand B-cell Receptor Gene Expression","authors":"D. E. Morgan","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.36","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.36","url":null,"abstract":"Immunology is relevant to our everyday lives, driving a need for more engaging and inclusive undergraduate immunology education. One way to engage a diverse group of learners is by teaching them how to read and interpret the scientific literature. This introduction can be challenging for immunology research, which often includes jargon and significant background information. The lesson described here meets this challenge by first teaching students the basics of reading a journal article. Students then read a seminal research article in the field and discuss the data and conclusions via think-pair-share in the classroom. This lesson teaches students the overall structure of a journal article, how to read a journal article, and the ability to read and interpret a research article’s findings. Additionally, students learn specifically about the organization and expression of the genes encoding B-cell receptors.","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329498","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hands-On, Hands-Off: The Community College Genomics (ComGen) Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience","authors":"Gita Bangera, Kimberly Harrington, Irene Shaver","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.37","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.37","url":null,"abstract":"Science is a process of discovery where failure is inherent and iteration is necessary, yet instructors often teach the scientific process as if it is a controlled, highly supervised, confirmatory practice of following directions to get a known answer. We believe this mismatch occurs because instructors often struggle to feel comfortable in facilitating open-ended inquiry and giving students the trust and autonomy to experience an authentic scientific process. In this quarter-long lab curriculum, we bring the scientific process into the classroom in the form of an authentic course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). We present a pedagogy, which is hands-on for students and hands-off for instructors, that incorporates and celebrates the learning that occurs from failing safely and often. The research project presented in this article is a genomics-based CURE where students sequence and analyze DNA genome segments. Throughout the lesson, we present core instructional structures and techniques that are transferable to any project and help scaffold and support the learning impact of the CURE. In the following curriculum, we outline this pedagogy, applied to a model CURE focused on sequencing a bacterium, and suggest ways that both the pedagogy and the core components of our CURE ( i.e., journal club, posters, lab notebook, and self-assessments) transfer to other courses, and other research projects.","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Online Information Literacy: Applying the CRAAP Test to Vaccine (Mis)information","authors":"E. Holzhausen, Jhewelle Fitz-Henley, C. Theisen","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.44","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.44","url":null,"abstract":"Teaching scientific literacy skills can help combat the propagation of misinformation online. This lesson is intended to give students practice identifying reliable scientific information on the Internet, in the context of vaccine safety. It was designed for a first-year seminar taught fully through remote instruction but can be adapted for any in-person or blended course. It can also be easily modified to use for other biologically-relevant topics and is especially well suited for controversial topics. This lesson consists of three activities. First, students review an article about identifying reliable Internet resources and search online for vaccine safety information. Then, students meet in small groups to review and rank the resources that each of them found from most to least reliable, referencing the criteria laid out by the CRAAP test (Currency, Relevance, Accuracy, Authority, Purpose). After ranking each resource, students reflect on how their thinking about online resources has changed during the activity and how they will evaluate scientific information online in the future. Finally, students use the reliable resources that they and their classmates compiled during the activity as references to write about how the biology of vaccines relates to the five Core Concepts. Following this lesson, 100% of student groups were able to correctly identify at least one reliable and unreliable online resource and 95% of groups were able to articulate particular qualities of resources that helped them establish their reliability. Further, 100% of groups could articulate how their thinking had changed throughout this activity.","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329695","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pick Your Poison: A Semester-Long Case Study for Undergraduate Toxicology","authors":"J. Gray","doi":"10.24918/cs.2022.46","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.46","url":null,"abstract":"The ability to collate information from diverse scientific resources and effectively employ scientific writing is an essential skill for scientists. This lesson describes a semester-long project entitled “Pick Your Poison,” which is designed for use in a one-semester Toxicology course. Students are each assigned to or choose their own individual toxicant as a case study from a pre-selected list of toxicants (poisons) that align with the theme of the course. As content is covered in the course, students complete ten scaffolded, low-stakes writing modules that are shared with groupmates of 4–5 students. Each module covers a major feature of the toxicant, such as chemical features, characteristics of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination (ADME), and organ-specific toxicities. Students share their work with their group mates and the instructor, peer review one another’s work, and then edit their original post as appropriate to produce a concise, 3–4 paragraph product. At the end of the course, students compile their writing modules into an article in the format of the Encyclopedia of Toxicology. This project can be adapted to any toxicology course through alteration of the content and number of modules and/or the type of final deliverable. Several evidence-based and inclusive teaching practices are included, such as writing-to-learn, peer review, and low-stakes assessments.","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"69329734","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring Miracle Fruit: An Undergraduate Laboratory Exercise on Experimental Design","authors":"Samantha J. Ganser, J. Hines, M. W. Butler","doi":"10.24918/cs.2021.29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2021.29","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, undergraduate biology and biochemistry curricula have seen an increase in the use of course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). CUREs maximize potential student gains when students take an active role in experimental design. Here we propose an activity that can either complement CUREs or function as a stand-alone activity that develops students’ abilities to design an experiment. While most active-learning interventions are designed for the purpose of teaching content, with experimental design skills as a secondary concern, this activity was created primarily to develop experimental design skills, while concurrently teaching important biochemistry concepts. The activity, designed to occur during a single three-hour lab meeting, allows students to experimentally explore the mechanisms of the taste-altering miraculin protein, found in the fruit of Richadella dulcifica, commonly known as miracle fruit. Students in an advanced biology class reported increased understanding of important experimental design concepts and increased knowledge of receptor binding and structural dynamism of proteins. Students also reported learning the importance of identifying nested variables that are difficult to tease apart, particularly when resources, time, or subjects are limited. While intended to develop experimental design skills in an upper-level undergraduate biology course, instructors can adapt the activity to suit biochemistry and introductory biology courses. Citation: Ganser SJ, Hines JK, Butler MW. 2021. Exploring Miracle Fruit: An Undergraduate Laboratory Exercise on Experimental Design. CourseSource. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2021.29 Editor: Neena Grover, Colorado College Received: 8/14/2020; Accepted: 4/12/2021; Published: 10/20/2021 Copyright: © 2021 Ganser, Hines, and Butler. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Conflict of Interest and Funding Statement: None of the authors has a financial, personal, or professional conflict of interest related to this work. Supporting Materials: Supporting Files S1. Miracle Fruit Presentation Slides; S2. Miracle Fruit Probing Questions to Uncover Experimental Design Issues; S3. Miracle Fruit Exit Survey; S4. Miracle Fruit Pre-lab Questions; and S5. Miracle Fruit Laboratory Protocol. *Correspondence to: Mike Butler, Department of Biology, Lafayette College, 746 High Street, 326 RockwellEaston, PA, USA 18042; butlermw@lafayette.edu. CourseSource | www.coursesource.org 2021 | Volume 08 1 Lesson","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45196316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Single Cell Insights Into Cancer Transcriptomes: A Five-Part Single-Cell RNAseq Case Study Lesson","authors":"L. Samsa, M. Eslinger, Adam J. Kleinschmit, Amanda C Solem, Carlos C. Goller","doi":"10.24918/cs.2021.26","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2021.26","url":null,"abstract":"There is a growing need for integration of “Big Data” into undergraduate biology curricula. Transcriptomics is one venue to examine biology from an informatics perspective. RNA sequencing has largely replaced the use of microarrays for whole genome gene expression studies. Recently, single cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) has unmasked population heterogeneity, offering unprecedented views into the inner workings of individual cells. scRNAseq is transforming our understanding of development, cellular identity, cell function, and disease. As a ‘Big Data,’ scRNAseq can be intimidating for students to conceptualize and analyze, yet it plays an increasingly important role in modern biology. To address these challenges, we created an engaging case study that guides students through an exploration of scRNAseq technologies. Students work in groups to explore external resources, manipulate authentic data and experience how single cell RNA transcriptomics can be used for personalized cancer treatment. This five-part case study is intended for upper-level life science majors and graduate students in genetics, bioinformatics, molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, biology, and medical genomics courses. The case modules can be completed sequentially, or individual parts can be separately adapted. The first module can also be used as a stand-alone exercise in an introductory biology course. Students need an intermediate mastery of Microsoft Excel but do not need programming skills. Assessment includes both students’ self-assessment of their learning as answers to previous questions are used to progress through the case study and instructor assessment of final answers. This case provides a practical exercise in the use of high-throughput data analysis to explore the molecular basis of cancer at the level of single cells. Citation: Samsa LA, Eslinger M, Kleinschmit A, Solem A, Goller CC. 2021. Single cell insights into cancer transcriptomes: A five-part single-cell RNAseq case study lesson. CourseSource. https:// doi.org/10.24918/cs.2021.26 Editor: William Morgan, College of Wooster Received: 10/6/2020; Accepted: 3/25/2021; Published: 9/24/2021 Copyright: © 2021 Samsa, Eslinger, Kleinschmit, Solem, and Goller. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Conflict of Interest and Funding Statement: This case study is part of other cases created as part of the NSF HITS RCN network (NSF award: 1730317). Our goal is to raise awareness of the use of high-throughput approaches and datasets using case study pedagogies. Carlos C. Goller is also supported by an NIH Innovative Program to Enhance Research Training (IPERT) grant “Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory Education Modules (MBLEMs)” 1R25GM130528-01A1. None of the a","PeriodicalId":72713,"journal":{"name":"CourseSource","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46947265","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}