Teaching materials : Undergraduate teachers' lounge :
Integrating evolution throughout Intro Bio: Resources keyed to your syllabus
Evolution is an overarching theme of all biology. Unfortunately, students rarely recognize this. Undergraduate instructors can help remedy this situation by incorporating evolutionary concepts throughout their teaching, in addition to their standard evolution "unit." To help you accomplish that goal, this guide keys evolution teaching resources to related topics in a typical Intro Bio syllabus. Of course, you may not choose to explicitly relate every class topic to evolution, but doing this a few times throughout the semester can make a big impression on students and reinforce key evolutionary concepts.
How to use this syllabus
A variety of types of teaching resources are included in the guide below — from readings to classroom activities to online investigations. Many of these facilitate active learning and do not require large amounts of class time. Depending on your class size, facilities, pedagogical style, and the availability of teaching assistants, different resources may be incorporated into your classroom in different ways:
- Slides: These downloadable slide sets can be inserted directly into your lecture. You could spend as little as two minutes or as many as 10 minutes discussing these slides in lecture.
- Classroom and lab activities: Some of these can only be used in small classes or in discussion sections, and others are appropriate for use in large lecture courses. The time commitment varies by activity. Some require as little as 10 minutes, and others may take several class periods.
- Online activity or lab: These online investigations include free response and multiple choice items to check student understanding. They can be completed in a computer lab or outside of class, and free response items can be assigned for credit, used as the topics of minute papers in lecture, or used to fuel discussion in a discussion section. If students complete the work outside of class, these activities may take as little as five minutes of class time. If students complete the work in class, they make take as long as two hours.
- Research profiles, Evo in the News articles, and other articles: These short articles include a set of discussion questions and can be incorporated into your classroom in many ways:
- Incorporate the content into lecture, and use a discussion question as the topic for a minute paper
- Assign as outside-of-class reading, and use clicker questions or minute papers at the beginning of the next lecture
- Assign as reading and address discussion questions in discussion section
- Assign as reading and ask students to turn in answers to discussion questions for grading by TA (or use a check/check-minus/check-plus system)
Minutes papers and clicker questions may take as little as two minutes of class time. A discussion of the reading may require as long as an hour depending on how in-depth the instructor chooses to go. Get more tips for using research profiles and Evo in the News articles in class.
On the syllabus below, click linked topics to see the evolution teaching resources we have available for those topics. Some of the topics have no resources associated wtih them yet. We are still looking for good resources that connect evolution to these subject areas. Send us an email to suggest a resource for inclusion on the syllabus.
Intro bio syllabus:
The nature and process of science
Classroom activity 50-90 min.
Classroom activity 1 to 2 hours, ideally split over multiple class periods
Research profile 30 minutes
Research profile 30-40 minutes
Article 45 minutes
Article 30 min
Classroom activity 10 to 15 minutes.
Chemistry/biochemistry
Atoms and molecules
Properties of water, acids, bases, and buffers
Proteins
Lipids
Carbohydrates
Nucleic acids
Cells
Organelle structure and function (including chromosome structure)
Article 30 min
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Article 30-40 minutes
Cell membranes, cell signals, and membrane transport (including osmosis and diffusion)
Cell types and tissues
Energy/metabolism
Energy transformations and laws of thermodynamics
Enzyme function
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Slide set 5 minutes
Aerobic respiration
Fermentation and anaerobic respiration
Photosynthesis
Research profile 40 minutes
Chemiosmosis in respiration and photosynthesis
Alternative mechanisms for carbon fixation (C3, CAM, C4)
Genetics
Cell cycle and mitosis
Life cycles and meiosis (including concepts of haploid and diploid)
Classroom activity portions of several class periods
Mendelian genetics
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Chromosomal basis of inheritance, linkage, and recombination
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
DNA structure and replication
Mutation
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Transcription/translation
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Slide set 5 minutes
Regulation of gene expression
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Cancer
Evo in the News article 20
Genetic basis of development
Biotechnology (including cloning, sequencing, etc.)
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Research profile 30-40 minutes
Structure of the genome (including transposable elements, gene families, coding vs. noncoding DNA, etc.)
Diversity of life
Classification/taxonomy
Classroom activity 1 to 2 hours, ideally split over multiple class periods
Lab activity Two class periods
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Lab activity Two full class periods
Research profile 30 minutes
Classification and Evolution
Viruses
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Major branches of the tree of life: Archaea and Eubacteria
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Classroom activity One to three class periods.
Major branches of the tree of life: Protists
Major branches of the tree of life: Fungi
Major branches of the tree of life: Plants
Major branches of the tree of life: Animals
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Article 30 minutes
Anatomy and physiology of plants
Structure and support
Research profile 40 minutes
Nutrition/transport
Reproduction
Research profile 30 minutes
Growth and development
Signaling/regulation
Anatomy and physiology of animals
Homeostasis/feedback mechanisms
Nutrition/digestive system
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Gas exchange/respiratory system
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Circulatory system
Immune system (including HIV/AIDS)
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Osmoregulation/urogenital system
Reproduction
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Classroom activity portions of several class periods
Development
Nervous systems and neurons
Sensory and motor mechanisms
Online activity or lab 45-60 minutes
Article 30-45 minutes
Behavior
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Article 30 minutes
Ecology
Biogeochemical cycles (C,N, etc.)
Global climate change
Research profile 40 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Population ecology and growth
Community ecology (including species interactions)
Ecosystems (including trophic levels, food webs, and energy flow)
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Online activity or lab 2 hours
Conservation/restoration ecology
Research profile 30 minutes
Evo in the News article 15 minutes
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Evo in the News article 20 minutes
Evo in the News article 10 minutes
Some of the topics have no resources associated wtih them yet. We are still looking for good resources that connect evolution to these subject areas. Send us an email to suggest a resource for inclusion on the syllabus.
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