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Full-Text Articles in Education

Mathematical Manipulative Models: In Defense Of "Beanbag Biology", John R. Jungck, Holly Gaff, Anton E. Weisstein Oct 2010

Mathematical Manipulative Models: In Defense Of "Beanbag Biology", John R. Jungck, Holly Gaff, Anton E. Weisstein

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Mathematical manipulative models have had a long history of influence in biological research and in secondary school education, but they are frequently neglected in undergraduate biology education. By linking mathematical manipulative models in a four-step process-1) use of physical manipulatives, 2) interactive exploration of computer simulations, 3) derivation of mathematical relationships from core principles, and 4) analysis of real data sets-we demonstrate a process that we have shared in biological faculty development workshops led by staff from the BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium over the past 24 yr. We built this approach based upon a broad survey of literature in mathematical educational …


Building Better Scientists Through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration In Synthetic Biology: A Report From The Genome Consortium For Active Teaching Workshop 2010, Michael J. Wolyniak, Consuelo J. Alvarez, Vidya Chandrasekaran, Theresa M. Grana, Andrea Holgado, Christopher J. Jones, Robert W. Morris, Anil L. Pereira, Joyce Stamm, Talitha M. Washington, Yixin Yang Jan 2010

Building Better Scientists Through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration In Synthetic Biology: A Report From The Genome Consortium For Active Teaching Workshop 2010, Michael J. Wolyniak, Consuelo J. Alvarez, Vidya Chandrasekaran, Theresa M. Grana, Andrea Holgado, Christopher J. Jones, Robert W. Morris, Anil L. Pereira, Joyce Stamm, Talitha M. Washington, Yixin Yang

Biological Sciences Research

A common problem faced by primarily undergraduate institutions is the lack of funding and material support needed to adequately expose students to modern biology, including synthetic biology. To help alleviate this problem, the Genome Consortium for Active Teaching (GCAT) was founded in 2000 by Malcolm Campbell at Davidson College to bring genomics into the undergraduate curriculum. GCAT’s first tangible activity was to serve as a central clearinghouse both for the purchase and reading of DNA microarrays and for information on how to execute genomics experiments at undergraduate institutions. In response to the evolution of molecular biology in the last decade, …


Introduction: Protistan Biology, Horizontal Gene Transfer, And Common Descent Uncover Faulty Logic In Intelligent Design, Avelina Espinosa Jan 2010

Introduction: Protistan Biology, Horizontal Gene Transfer, And Common Descent Uncover Faulty Logic In Intelligent Design, Avelina Espinosa

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

THE International Society of Protistologists (ISOP) organized a pre-meeting workshop entitled ‘‘Horizontal Gene Transfer and Phylogenetic Evolution Debunk Intelligent Design,’’ as part of the 1st North American Section meeting held June 11–13, 2009, at Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI, USA. This workshop focused on the acceptance of Darwinian evolution in the United States and the role of intelligent design (ID) in the ongoing controversy between scientific knowledge and popular belief. Intelligent design, a doctrine born in the 1980s, proposes that a ‘‘Designer’’ is responsible for the complexity in biological systems and that Darwinism cannot explain holistically the origin and evolution …