scholarly journals Using Project-Based Learning to Teach Phylogenetic Reconstruction for Advanced Undergraduate Biology Students: Molluscan Evolution as a Case Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 278-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew A. David
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Reconstruction ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Active Teaching ◽  
Advanced Students ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Molluscan Evolution ◽  
Life On Earth

Phylogenetics plays a central role in understanding the evolution of life on Earth, and as a consequence, several active teaching strategies have been employed to aid students in grasping basic phylogenetic principles. Although many of these strategies have been designed to actively engage undergraduate biology students at the freshman level, less attention is given to designing challenges for advanced students. Here, I present a project-based learning (PBL) activity that was developed to teach phylogenetics for junior and senior-level biology students. This approach reinforces the theories and concepts that students have learned in their freshman courses along with incorporating Bioinformatics, which is essential for teaching zoology in the 21st century.

scholarly journals Horizontal gene transfer from extinct and extant lineages: biological innovation and the coral of life

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1527) ◽  
pp. 2229-2239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory P. Fournier ◽  
Jinling Huang ◽  
J. Peter Gogarten
Keyword(s):  
Gene Transfer ◽  
Horizontal Gene Transfer ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Reconstruction ◽  
Gene Trees ◽  
Individual Gene ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Domains Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Simple Tree

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is often considered to be a source of error in phylogenetic reconstruction, causing individual gene trees within an organismal lineage to be incongruent, obfuscating the ‘true’ evolutionary history. However, when identified as such, HGTs between divergent organismal lineages are useful, phylogenetically informative characters that can provide insight into evolutionary history. Here, we discuss several distinct HGT events involving all three domains of life, illustrating the selective advantages that can be conveyed via HGT, and the utility of HGT in aiding phylogenetic reconstruction and in dating the relative sequence of speciation events. We also discuss the role of HGT from extinct lineages, and its impact on our understanding of the evolution of life on Earth. Organismal phylogeny needs to incorporate reticulations; a simple tree does not provide an accurate depiction of the processes that have shaped life's history.

scholarly journals Exploring the MACH Model’s Potential as a Metacognitive Tool to Help Undergraduate Students Monitor Their Explanations of Biological Mechanisms

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. ar12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb M. Trujillo ◽  
Trevor R. Anderson ◽  
Nancy J. Pelaez
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Multiple Case Study ◽  
Educational Tool ◽  
Biological Mechanisms ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Written Explanations

When undergraduate biology students learn to explain biological mechanisms, they face many challenges and may overestimate their understanding of living systems. Previously, we developed the MACH model of four components used by expert biologists to explain mechanisms: Methods, Analogies, Context, and How. This study explores the implementation of the model in an undergraduate biology classroom as an educational tool to address some of the known challenges. To find out how well students’ written explanations represent components of the MACH model before and after they were taught about it and why students think the MACH model was useful, we conducted an exploratory multiple case study with four interview participants. We characterize how two students explained biological mechanisms before and after a teaching intervention that used the MACH components. Inductive analysis of written explanations and interviews showed that MACH acted as an effective metacognitive tool for all four students by helping them to monitor their understanding, communicate explanations, and identify explanatory gaps. Further research, though, is needed to more fully substantiate the general usefulness of MACH for promoting students’ metacognition about their understanding of biological mechanisms.

Being Aware of Your Thinking: Examining Mindfulness and Metacognition in Undergraduate Biology Students

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikah J. Pritchard ◽  
Trisha A. Turner ◽  
Ellen L. Usher ◽  
Faith L. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Biology Students

Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) to improve collaborative project-based learning: Case study of a Study and Research Path in mechanical engineering

2021 ◽  
pp. 030641902199904
Author(s):  
Elena Bartolomé ◽  
Paula Benítez
Keyword(s):  
Active Learning ◽  
Failure Mode ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Collaborative Study ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Effect Analysis ◽  
Questions And Answers

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is a powerful quality tool, widely used in industry, for the identification of failure modes, their effects and causes. In this work, we investigated the utility of FMEA in the education field to improve active learning processes. In our case study, the FMEA principles were adapted to assess the risk of failures in a Mechanical Engineering course on “Theory of Machines and Mechanisms” conducted through a project-based, collaborative “Study and Research Path (SRP)” methodology. The SRP is an active learning instruction format which is initiated by a generating question that leads to a sequence of derived questions and answers, and combines moments of study and inquiry. By applying the FMEA, the teaching team was able to identify the most critical failures of the process, and implement corrective actions to improve the SRP in the subsequent year. Thus, our work shows that FMEA represents a simple tool of risk assesment which can serve to identify criticality in educational process, and improve the quality of active learning.

scholarly journals Project-Based Learning in a Transinstitutional Research Setting: Case Study on the Development of Sustainable Food Products

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut Derler ◽  
Simon Berner ◽  
Daniela Grach ◽  
Alfred Posch ◽  
Ulrike Seebacher
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Project Based Learning ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Research Setting ◽  
School Students ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Problem Solving Skills

Project-based learning (PBL) has been thoroughly integrated in university sustainable development curricula, but has not been well-established in curricula used at pre-university educational levels. Integrating real-world settings into the teaching of secondary school students can help to promote problem-solving skills and competencies at younger ages, which is a crucial task in sustainability education. Therefore, in this article we describe the results of a case study on the development of sustainable food products that involved a university and two secondary schools in Austria. The methods used in this case study were drawn from the transdisciplinary case study (TCS) and the PBL literature. Data were collected by carrying out participatory research methods such as photovoice, focus group discussions, food diaries, student evaluations, and surveys. We divided the study design into three phases: (1) exploration, (2) product ideation, and (3) product prototyping and optimisation. The case study illustrates that the use of PBL research approaches by students at different levels of education provides promising results, if the research process is clearly structured and managed. When a demand for learning is encountered by students, secondary school teachers and university researchers must provide the students with additional sources of information. The establishment and management of a transinstitutional research setting is a promising, yet time-consuming endeavour.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document