“Think-pair-share” is a widely known active-learning technique. I summarize some of the best practices to use and some pitfalls to avoid when designing a think-pair-share activity for the classroom. Describing a think-pair-activity that I used to teach about biotechnology, I discuss question writing, logistics, assessment, and useful applications of think-pair-share in the science classroom.

The Poisson distribution played a key role in experiments that had a historic role in the development of molecular biology. In particular, the interpretation and design of experiments elucidating the actions of bacteriophages and their host bacteria during the infection process were based on the parameters of the Poisson distribution. I briefly review three of the most important of these experiments and offer suggestions on the use of the Poisson distribution in statistical calculations in biology laboratory exercises reflecting the use of the Poisson distribution in current biological investigations.

It is essential that undergraduate biology majors are made aware of and receive guidance on career possibilities. The authors, who actively advise and teach biology majors (and future majors) at both the high school and undergraduate levels, collaborated to identify resources and methods to advise biology majors about their career choices. Multiple resources were identified. Current advising theory recommends a method of supporting students to make wise choices by considering personal vision, the kinds of professional successes desired, and individual talent development. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and National Science Foundation data were analyzed to identify potential jobs that biology majors can attain. These resources and strategies should help faculty advisors and instructors inform biology majors about possible career paths.

Many undergraduates who wish to pursue degrees in science, particularly students from underrepresented groups, drop out of science majors before realizing their goal. This study examines the effectiveness of a mentoring program — called Biomentors — aimed at promoting success in biology courses for undergraduates beginning their coursework toward a bachelor's degree in the biological sciences. Students enrolled in the Biomentors program met twice a week in a small group with an advanced biology major under the supervision of a faculty member to explore effective learning strategies for success in an introductory-level biology course they were taking. Students who participated in the Biomentors program scored significantly higher (based on total points earned) than other students enrolled in the course across two cohorts (d = 0.36 in the fall quarter of 2014; d = 0.34 in the winter quarter of 2015). The biomentors group significantly outscored the control group even when the effects of gender, parent income level, parent education level, total SAT score, and cumulative GPA were statistically controlled using a stepwise regression. Overall, the results encourage further investigation of the effectiveness of peer-mentoring programs that emphasize domain-specific learning strategies for college students beginning as science majors.

The value of long-term data (generally >10 years) in ecology is well known. Funding agencies clearly see the value in these data and have supported a limited number of projects to this end. However, individual researchers often see the challenges of long-term data collection as insurmountable. We propose that long-term data collection can be practical as part of any teaching or outreach program, and we provide guidance on how long-term projects can fit into a teaching and research schedule. While our primary audience is college faculty, our message is appropriate for anyone interested in establishing long-term studies. The benefits of adopting these kinds of projects include experience for students, encouraging public interest in science, increased publication potential for researchers, and increased large-scale data availability, leading to a better understanding of ecological phenomena.

Daphnia have been used to demonstrate the physiological effects of stimulants such as caffeine and energy drinks in activities designed for secondary school and college labs. We describe how these activities were enhanced by coupling a microscope to a video recording device and digital data recording system to facilitate more accurate quantification of the rate of heartbeats in daphnia. Also, the technology facilitates measurements of the changes in the size of the heart due to the effect of stimulants. We describe the setup for the video recorder, data acquisition system, and microscope, the results obtained, and how these activities could be replicated in a secondary school laboratory setting to increase student engagement and be used as a primer to enhance learning and understanding of biological systems by students. This work aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards, in that students “use a variety of equipment and software to enter, process, display, and communicate information in different forms using text, tables, and pictures.”

Territoriality and the factors that influence the outcome of animal contests are easy to study in a lab using convict cichlid fish (Archocentrus nigrofasciatus). I present a two-week laboratory experiment suitable for high school and college students. In the first week, students observe resident and intruder convict cichlids interacting in the presence of flowerpot territories, allowing them to develop hypotheses about factors that might determine the outcome of contests over resources, including relative size of competitors (“resource holding potential” hypothesis) and ownership (“resource value” hypothesis). They then work with their teacher to design and set up an experiment to test these two hypotheses, providing specific predictions that would support each hypothesis. In the second week, students observe contests between each owner and a larger or smaller intruder. The winner is defined as the individual that spends the most time in the pot and bites more. Students graph their data and decide what statistics are most appropriate for analyzing their results. They determine which hypothesis is supported by their findings and present their findings in scientific paper format.

Fish species are an important food resource all over the world, but the fishing practices of human beings are slowly driving many fish species to extinction. However, little is being done to communicate the problem of overfishing to the general public. In this three-part activity, students are introduced to the concepts of buoyancy and overfishing in an effort to provide a glimpse of how interesting fish are, and to raise awareness of overfishing. The students investigate buoyancy and gas compressibility by recreating a mysterious boat-sinking in the classroom, and by manipulating the buoyancy of artificial fish. By engaging in “fishing expeditions” with diminishing returns, the students learn why fish populations decline when we take too many of them. Throughout the activity, students have the opportunity to learn science as inquiry and the nature of science as presented in the National Science Education Standards.

This article provides ideas for a laboratory investigation into the role of the plant hormone ethylene in seed germination. The role of ethylene is explored from various perspectives, namely from an indigenous knowledge perspective, but also from a botany and economic angle. This article shows how students could test indigenous knowledge claims related to ethylene in the school laboratory.

Processes of diffusion of oxygen can be described in a formalized and simplified manner in formulas such as Fick's laws of diffusion. For a sound understanding of the interconnections of anatomical structure, biological function, and environmental factors in a living system, however, real-life case studies need to be employed to explore what is captured in the equation and what is not, and which other structures and behaviors may play a role in respiratory physiology. I use four anuran examples to illustrate, starting with Fick's first law, respiratory processes as influenced by surface-area-to-volume ratio and turbulence in the surrounding medium.

To encourage greater depths of both processing and retrieval by students during testing, the authors inserted one new, unfamiliar plant (i.e., a “ringer”) into the pool of samples assembled for each plant-identification quiz. Each ringer was chosen to be superficially similar to — and yet distinctively different from — a plant species covered earlier in the course. The addition of the ringer made the tests both more authentic and more valuable by training students to look beyond the superficial details and make substantive, evidence-based identifications.