Category Archives: Evolution

Natural Selection in Tortoises: A (Homemade) Video

Posted on July 15, 2019 by

[Doug Gaffin and Marielle Hoefnagels worked together to develop the materials used in this post.] A while back, I wrote a post on an activity that connects genotype, phenotype, and natural selection. In a nutshell, the activity uses colored chips … Continue reading →

Posted in Active learning, Evolution | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Another Way to Connect Selection, Phenotype, and Genotype

Posted on May 31, 2018 by

Now that it’s summer, I’m catching up on my American Biology Teacher backlog. I found this interesting-looking activity by Janina Jördens and three coauthors in the February 2018 issue. The title of the article says it all: “Interrelating Concepts from … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Laboratory activities, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Antibiotic resistance in the lab … with actual bacteria!

Posted on April 1, 2018 by

Apparently my post on the antibiotic resistance activity using green, yellow, and red beads was a big hit with instructors, because lots of people want a copy of the worksheet. I have been happy to oblige, and now I want … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Laboratory activities, Microbiology, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria: A Simple, Realistic Lab Activity

Posted on December 20, 2017 by

Every now and then I write a blog post about lab activities that worked in my nonmajors biology class. For example, I have written about reptilobirds (an activity combining meiosis and inheritance), staining banana cells to illustrate digestion in plants, … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Laboratory activities | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 365 Comments

Recognizing purposeful evolution: A treasure trove of prompts

Posted on June 16, 2016 by

  I was recently cleaning out my teaching lab and found a stash of index cards with test items from the early 1950s. As I was trying to decide whether to keep them or toss them in the recycling bin, … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Evolution, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

“Surprisingly Awesome” podcasts

Posted on May 17, 2016 by

What do broccoli, pigeons, frequent flyer miles, and mattresses have in common? They are all subjects of “Surprisingly Awesome” podcasts. I just listened to the one on broccoli, and I was really impressed. I love resources that help students see … Continue reading →

Posted in Engaging students, Evolution, Podcast, Teaching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Boost your evolution IQ: An evolution misconceptions game

Posted on April 6, 2016 by

A guest post by Matt Taylor Last Spring, Mariëlle and I spent some time reading education articles about student struggles learning evolution. In particular, we were interested in which misconceptions about evolution students might bring to introductory biology classes. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Active learning, Assignments, Engaging students, Evolution, Instructional technology, Laboratory activities | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Return of the “Clever Cockroaches”

Posted on February 19, 2016 by

Longtime followers of my blog may remember that nearly two years ago I wrote a post about the misrepresentation of natural selection and evolution in headlines and news stories. In the study that prompted the post, researchers found that coating … Continue reading →

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Node-Counting Is Alive and Well

Posted on November 10, 2015 by

In a previous post I offered help for students struggling with evolutionary trees. In that post, I talked about a particularly difficult final exam question requiring students to interpret an evolutionary tree (a labeled version of the image to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Evolution, Teaching | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Video recommendation: HHMI’s Biology of Skin Color

Posted on October 12, 2015 by

Over a year ago I mentioned the HHMI Biointeractive site and its excellent videos. I just viewed another one on the same site. This one is called The Biology of Skin Color, and it is another winner. It is narrated by … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment