Abstract of (funded) proposal: Biological Sciences at UW-Whitewater strongly supports undergraduate research, but little inquiry has so far been integrated into the department’s courses. We propose to address this problem by rebuilding the introductory biology sequence around inquiry-based, multi-week laboratory modules adapted from successful external models. We also propose to make coordinated revisions to our lectures, to increase interaction and inquiry. This new curriculum is expected to yield students with better research skills, a deeper understanding of science, and enthusiasm for conducting more research. Significant faculty professional development will also take place, in interactive teaching skills.
    Our proposal is timely because UWW’s introductory biology instructors have all arrived in the last six years and are committed to integrating research and pedagogy. Moreover, because the curriculum is in a period of rapid development, these innovations should catalyze complementary changes in “downstream” courses and our non-majors course. The project is novel because it integrates exemplary laboratory, lecture and web-based exercises to promote inquiry and because it explicitly emphasizes evolutionary biology as a unifying concept throughout. Interest from colleagues suggests that two modules, integrating classical surveys with current phylogenetic methods, are likely to be adopted elsewhere.
    This project will receive thorough interim evaluation by student and external reviewers and a comprehensive summative assessment. We will disseminate our work and findings through published papers, conferences and the web. The proposed curricular revisions will benefit the relatively large number of minority students at UWW as well as disabled students; educating the latter group is a special mission of UWW.

Overview of the Exercises: The exercises below were developed with funding based on the proposal summarized above. They include multi-week laboratory modules, additional handouts that supplement the module write-ups, lecture exercises intended to enhance interactivity in lectures and simulation-based exercises to be completed outside of the classroom in support of lecture topics. The personnel who developed these exercises were Jeff McKinnon, Kerry Katovich, Claudia Olivier and Neil Sawyer, all faculty in Biological Sciences at UW-Whitewater (Olivier has since moved to a position at the Medical College of Wisconsin). The name and e-mail address is given alongside the link for each exercise, in case further information is required.

Please let us know if you use our exercises, either in whole or in part. Please also let us know if you have suggestions for improvement or revision.

Evolutionary Modules: The two most explicitly evolutionary modules, which are likely to be of particular interest to faculty wishing to combine conventional taxonomic surveys with more conceptually rich computer-based comparative analyses, are starred (*).
 
 

1. Lab Module Write-ups

(b) Bio 2 (emphasizing animal diversity, ecology and evolution)

*Animal Phylogenetic Survey 1 Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu, Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
* Animal Phylogenetic Survey 2 Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu, Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Evolutionary Ecology Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Conservation Biology Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
 
 
 

2. Supplementary Lab Handouts (both courses)

(a) Presenting, writing, etc.

Presentations Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Posters Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Write-ups Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
 

(b) Scientific terms and statistical tests

Scientific Terms Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Correlation Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu,
t-test Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
Chi Squared Neil Sawyer: sawyern@uww.edu
 
 

3. Lecture Exercises

(a) Bio 1 (emphasizing plant diversity, molecular biology and cell biology)

Clone Debate Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu, Claudia Olivier: colivier@mcw.edu
Meiosis/Chromosome Dance Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu, Neil Sawyer: sawyern@uww.edu
Unique Plant Groups Neil Sawyer: sawyern@uww.edu
 

(b) Bio 2 (emphasizing animal diversity, ecology and evolution)

Animal Experimentation Debate Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
Dances with Bees Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Deer Debate Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Inherit the Wind Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu
Unique Phylum Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
 

(c) Bio 1 or Bio 2

Journal Paper Report Neil Sawyer: sawyern@uww.edu
Book report Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
 
 

4. Web Exercises

(a) Bio 1 (emphasizing plant diversity, molecular biology and cell biology)

DNA Translation Claudia Olivier: colivier@mcw.edu
Systematics Neil Sawyer: sawyern@uww.edu
 

(b) Bio 2 (emphasizing animal diversity, ecology and evolution)

Finch Evolution Kerry Katovich: katovick@uww.edu
Population Growth Jeff McKinnon: mckinnoj@uww.edu

Supplement:

When we posted an announcement about these exercises David Rand (Brown) kindly offered the materials below for posting here (if you have trouble downloading any I can send them directly). They are for a whale evolution exercise similar to the comparative exercises described above. David offered these comments: "I provide students with references on whales, and they are asked to collect their own phenotypic data set.  I also provide a PAUP file of mtDNA sequences for the same taxa.  They are asked to obtain a character state matrix of non-molecular data,  run both data sets through PAUP, then analyze character evolution in MacClade, and finally make sense of the mess that ensues.  I guess recent data indicate that toothed whales are NOT paraphyletic, so its a bit dated, but the methods are OK."

Whale mtDNA Data
Whale Characters
Whale Instructions, Problem Set

Biological Sciences, UW-Whitewater Go to UWW Home Page URL http://www.uww.edu Last updated 01-12, 2006 by Jeff McKinnon