The study of Animal Behavior is critically important in understanding our living world and is a major program within the NSF. For students, animal behavior projects offer the opportunity to explore original questions in a scientifically rigorous manner. However, animal behavior projects are under-represented in science fairs and are often discouraged by teachers and judges. We give a sample of the types of questions that students could explore and we suggest appropriate judging criteria.

Success rates in non-majors introductory biology courses tend to be lower than those in courses for majors. The use of student learning ePortfolios correlates with increased retention and improved learning. Additionally, when ePortfolios are used for periodic formative assessment, they have been shown to stimulate student response to feedback and improve the quality of student work—both indicators of increased student engagement. In our study, the implementation of low-stake assignments in ePortfolio fostered a dialogue between the instructor and student outside of class time and provided opportunities for formative assessment of individual student and overall class learning prior to larger, high-stakes summative assessments. Furthermore, ePortfolio allowed the instructor to give students feedback on their work, creating opportunities for confirmation of learning or extended learning outside of class. Through intentional and embedded use of ePortfolios, we have created a learning environment that fosters more interaction with course material outside of class, better assignment turn-in rates, and improved exam scores, for increased success rates in the course. These results describe a promising intervention that can improve success rates in introductory biology courses.

In this study, we examined two types of group presentation assignments for use in a large, introductory biology course. Students were placed into groups of 6 to 8 members, and tasked with researching a topic and preparing a 10-minute inclass presentation. The assignments varied by course section; in the control section, each group's topics were selected to complement the course topic, whereas in the iterative sections, each group's topic would derive from the previous group's presentation. Students' critical thinking skills were assessed before and after the semester's presentations, and exit surveys were conducted. Results show that students in the iterative group performed better than control on exam questions, and overall interest in biology was high in both groups as a result of the presentations. Overall, performing group presentations in an iterative style enhanced learning by mimicking the scientific process of inquiry and discovery.

The academic fields of conservation biology and wildlife management have become highly interdisciplinary. The political, economic, sociological, and ethical dimensions within these fields must be studied and considered by students as conservationists put their management plans into practice. This paper presents a semester-long project for undergraduates in which they design a comprehensive interdisciplinary management plan that will enhance their understanding of conservation and wildlife management.

Making the study of the human anatomy and physiology authentic and clinically relevant poses many challenges. Described herein is a program that, through the use of medical school cadavers, provides high school students a unique experience to enhance their clinically based study of human anatomy and physiology. The program incorporates many learning modalities as well as problem-based team learning and can be a feasible addition to many high school anatomy programs.

Self-sustaining ecosystem microcosms, called ecosystem jars, can easily be collected from local ponds, streams, or lakes. Sealed and exposed to sunlight, these miniature ecosystems can sustain themselves for a decade or more. Unlike Winogradsky columns, ecosystem jars are optimized for protist, animal, and plant observations and experiments, and are not altered by addition of sulfur, carbon, or cellulose sources, more accurately representing natural ecosystems. Ecosystem jars can support a variety of inquiry-based experiments, including student-designed projects, from middle school to college levels. Students, with instructor assistance, formulate hypotheses, design experiments, observe and catalog organisms by microscopy, then record their data in tables and graphs and draw conclusions. Students present their data in a paper or poster format or as oral presentations to the class. Potential experiments include examining biotic changes over time, the effects of added pollutants or nutrients, biotic differences between watershed types, or seasonal changes in biota. These investigations not only provide students with cooperative learning, inquiry-based lab experiences, but also help them gain appreciation for the effects of pollution or nutrient runoff on ecosystems.

Osmosis is a fundamental concept of great importance to understanding natural biological, physical, and chemical processes. We provide an instructional guide to assist instructors of advanced high school biology and college biology students in defining questions that are central to deriving a highly developed understanding of osmosis. We present teaching activities that focus on advancing multiple hypotheses about the cause of osmosis, presenting a tentative explanation and model of osmosis, and drawing scientifically accepted conclusions about osmotic processes.

National STEM education reform efforts call for increased emphasis on science practices, such as modeling. We describe an activity where students read a scientific blog post relating human gametogenesis to disease and then during class develop a model explaining why defects in meiotic machinery cause this disease. This interactive activity was implemented in two sections of an introductory biology course, each exceeding 150 students. Overall, students responded positively to the activity, and based on follow-up exam questions addressing the main learning goals of the modeling activity, about 70 percent of students mastered the learning objectives associated with the modeling activity.

A Socratic seminar can be a powerful tool for increasing students' ability to analyze and interpret data. Most commonly used for text-based discussion, we found that using Socratic seminar to engage students with data contributes to student understanding by allowing them to reason through and process complex information as a group. This approach also provides teachers with insights about student misconceptions and understanding of concepts by listening to the student-driven discussion. This article reports on Socratic seminar in the context of a high school type 2 diabetes curriculum that explores gene and environment interactions. A case study illustrates how Socratic seminar is applied in a classroom and how students engage with the process. General characteristics of Socratic seminar are discussed at the end of the article.

Many high school and undergraduate students enter science courses feeling intimidated by course content and unsure of their abilities. Teachers are frequently challenged in mixed-level and interdisciplinary courses to ascertain and honor students' levels and areas of experience. In these cases, the application of critical pedagogy techniques can create a culture of caring and thereby allay student anxiety and increase student motivation and success. Here I describe a simple instant polling exercise that employs critical pedagogy to stimulate dialogue about students' experiences with course content. This exercise is especially useful for mixed-level and interdisciplinary science courses, and can be easily adapted for small or large classes.