Category Archives: Evolution

Natural Selection in Tortoises: A (Homemade) Video

Posted on July 15, 2019 by nonmajorsbiology

[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 nonmajorsbiology

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 nonmajorsbiology

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 →

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Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria: A Simple, Realistic Lab Activity

Posted on December 20, 2017 by nonmajorsbiology

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 , , , , , , , , , , , | 434 Comments

Recognizing purposeful evolution: A treasure trove of prompts

Posted on June 16, 2016 by nonmajorsbiology

  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 nonmajorsbiology

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 nonmajorsbiology

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 nonmajorsbiology

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 nonmajorsbiology

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 →

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Video recommendation: HHMI’s Biology of Skin Color

Posted on October 12, 2015 by nonmajorsbiology

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