Pub Date : 2024-05-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.5.327
Jeffrey D. Sack, Bonnie Nieves
{"title":"Learn-Biology.com","authors":"Jeffrey D. Sack, Bonnie Nieves","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.5.327","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.5.327","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"51 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141043072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-05-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.5.263
Blake Touchet, Glenn Branch
{"title":"A Dozen Dos and Don’ts of Teaching Climate Change","authors":"Blake Touchet, Glenn Branch","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.5.263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.5.263","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"30 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141044800","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.242
Ryan S. Nixon, Sophie K. Hill
In this paper we present a flood of new water cycle resources created by a team of scientists, educators, and creatives to address existing limitations in water cycle resources. These resources can be used to add more details to your instruction, add context to the water cycle, be more intentional about including humans, and teach science literacy skills.
{"title":"A Flood of New Water Cycle Resources","authors":"Ryan S. Nixon, Sophie K. Hill","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.242","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we present a flood of new water cycle resources created by a team of scientists, educators, and creatives to address existing limitations in water cycle resources. These resources can be used to add more details to your instruction, add context to the water cycle, be more intentional about including humans, and teach science literacy skills.","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"45 56","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140771290","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.253
K. Milks, F. Cloud, Jim L. Lane
The political philosopher John Rawls presupposes that Western societies are religiously and politically diverse, and advocates for a formal structure of public discourse that can produce an “overlapping consensus” among an array of competing comprehensive doctrines. Rawls therefore claims that an idea of public reason is necessary for mediating political debate, as the most reasonable solutions to social problems will naturally be accepted by the majority. However, a closer reading of Rawls reveals that underlying this neutral “idea” of public reason is a more stringent “ideal” of public reason, which I claim attempts to neutralize those public religious voices whose political message is grounded in the particularity of their faith tradition. I consider Martin Luther King, Jr. as an exemplar who uses irreducibly religious language in advocating for the democratic principle of equality, thus problematizing Rawls’s thesis that emptying the public sphere of religion is beneficial for a more just society.
{"title":"Crossings","authors":"K. Milks, F. Cloud, Jim L. Lane","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.253","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.253","url":null,"abstract":"The political philosopher John Rawls presupposes that Western societies are religiously and politically diverse, and advocates for a formal structure of public discourse that can produce an “overlapping consensus” among an array of competing comprehensive doctrines. Rawls therefore claims that an idea of public reason is necessary for mediating political debate, as the most reasonable solutions to social problems will naturally be accepted by the majority. However, a closer reading of Rawls reveals that underlying this neutral “idea” of public reason is a more stringent “ideal” of public reason, which I claim attempts to neutralize those public religious voices whose political message is grounded in the particularity of their faith tradition. I consider Martin Luther King, Jr. as an exemplar who uses irreducibly religious language in advocating for the democratic principle of equality, thus problematizing Rawls’s thesis that emptying the public sphere of religion is beneficial for a more just society.","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"303 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140779546","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.193
Juliane Fleissner-Martin, F. Bogner
Addressing human-made environmental problems such as deforestation is an ongoing educational challenge. Promising educational approaches include cooperative decision-making and attempt via a high level of motivation to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Knowledge about the forest ecosystem, including its threats, is supposed to strengthen responsibilities and individual behavioral preferences. The “Save the Forests!” module engages students in hands-on learning activities under the frame of an educational Escape Game (Edu Breakout). Based on nine workstations, it includes various cooperative activities focusing on the forest ecosystem, its ecosystem services, and common tree species. Students realize advantages of recycling, gain insight into paper production and associated resource consumption, compare eco-labels for sustainable paper products, and reflect on consumer decisions. Additionally, the students learn about habitat situations after clear-cutting, forest fires, or storm damages (succession), including strategies for dealing with deadwood based on scientific data. Besides experiments and challenging tasks, students learn about the ecological footprint and greenwashing by clarifying often-used terms in sustainability contexts. In an accompanied quantitative study approach, students participating in the learning module significantly increased their knowledge scores in a pre-post comparison (n = 135, p < 0.001, d = 0.58).
{"title":"Save the Forests!—Gamified Learning","authors":"Juliane Fleissner-Martin, F. Bogner","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.193","url":null,"abstract":"Addressing human-made environmental problems such as deforestation is an ongoing educational challenge. Promising educational approaches include cooperative decision-making and attempt via a high level of motivation to promote pro-environmental behaviors. Knowledge about the forest ecosystem, including its threats, is supposed to strengthen responsibilities and individual behavioral preferences. The “Save the Forests!” module engages students in hands-on learning activities under the frame of an educational Escape Game (Edu Breakout). Based on nine workstations, it includes various cooperative activities focusing on the forest ecosystem, its ecosystem services, and common tree species. Students realize advantages of recycling, gain insight into paper production and associated resource consumption, compare eco-labels for sustainable paper products, and reflect on consumer decisions. Additionally, the students learn about habitat situations after clear-cutting, forest fires, or storm damages (succession), including strategies for dealing with deadwood based on scientific data. Besides experiments and challenging tasks, students learn about the ecological footprint and greenwashing by clarifying often-used terms in sustainability contexts. In an accompanied quantitative study approach, students participating in the learning module significantly increased their knowledge scores in a pre-post comparison (n = 135, p < 0.001, d = 0.58).","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"73 19","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140794608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.254
K. Milks, F. Cloud, James J. Smith
{"title":"Innovators","authors":"K. Milks, F. Cloud, James J. Smith","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.254","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"468 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140776359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.253a
K. Milks, F. Cloud
{"title":"Bitch","authors":"K. Milks, F. Cloud","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.253a","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.253a","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"311 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140776562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.233
Matthew W. Austin, Nicole E Miller-Struttmann
Engaging students in research is increasingly recognized as a valuable pedagogical tool that can augment student learning outcomes. Here, we present an original activity that utilizes research as pedagogy to teach upper-division college students about phenological responses to climate change. By studying phenological responses in multiple species, this activity emphasizes interspecific variability in responses to a changing climate (i.e., that not all species respond in the same way), while demonstrating the relationship between environmental and phenotypic variability. In this activity, students collect data from herbarium specimens of spring ephemerals native to North America and are tasked with formulating and testing hypotheses about how the day of year that a species’ flowering occurs (i.e., flowering phenology) has been affected by climate change. To accomplish this, students perform linear regressions using the R programming language—including data exploration and ensuring the dependent variable follows a normal distribution—and subsequently present their results via oral presentation. We taught this activity as a three-unit lab in an upper-division ecology course and observed quantifiable improvement in student learning outcomes. While designed as a three-unit, upper-division lab, this activity can be modified for other educational levels, blocks of time, and/or as a flipped classroom activity. Through this activity, students are provided with the opportunity to learn about the scientific method, biological collections, linear regressions, the R programming language, and scientific communication. Changes to flowering time are one of the most conspicuous effects of climate change, thus presenting an ideal topic for engaging students in biological inquiry.
越来越多的人认识到,让学生参与研究是一种有价值的教学工具,可以提高学生的学习成绩。在此,我们介绍一种利用研究作为教学法的原创活动,向高年级大学生传授有关气候变化的物候学反应的知识。通过研究多个物种的表型反应,该活动强调了物种间对气候变化反应的变异性(即并非所有物种都以相同的方式做出反应),同时展示了环境变异性与表型变异性之间的关系。在这一活动中,学生们从标本馆中收集原产于北美的春季昙花标本数据,并负责提出和检验关于气候变化如何影响物种一年中的开花日期(即开花表型)的假设。为此,学生们使用 R 编程语言进行线性回归--包括数据探索,并确保因变量服从正态分布,然后通过口头报告展示他们的结果。我们在高年级生态学课程中以三个单元的实验教学了这一活动,并观察到学生的学习成果有了可量化的提高。虽然该活动被设计为高年级三个单元的实验,但也可以根据其他教育水平、时间段和/或作为翻转课堂活动进行修改。通过这项活动,学生有机会学习科学方法、生物收集、线性回归、R 编程语言和科学交流。花期的变化是气候变化最显著的影响之一,因此是让学生参与生物探究的理想主题。
{"title":"An Inquiry-Based Activity for Investigating the Effect of Climate Change on Phenology Using the R Programming Language","authors":"Matthew W. Austin, Nicole E Miller-Struttmann","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.233","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.233","url":null,"abstract":"Engaging students in research is increasingly recognized as a valuable pedagogical tool that can augment student learning outcomes. Here, we present an original activity that utilizes research as pedagogy to teach upper-division college students about phenological responses to climate change. By studying phenological responses in multiple species, this activity emphasizes interspecific variability in responses to a changing climate (i.e., that not all species respond in the same way), while demonstrating the relationship between environmental and phenotypic variability. In this activity, students collect data from herbarium specimens of spring ephemerals native to North America and are tasked with formulating and testing hypotheses about how the day of year that a species’ flowering occurs (i.e., flowering phenology) has been affected by climate change. To accomplish this, students perform linear regressions using the R programming language—including data exploration and ensuring the dependent variable follows a normal distribution—and subsequently present their results via oral presentation. We taught this activity as a three-unit lab in an upper-division ecology course and observed quantifiable improvement in student learning outcomes. While designed as a three-unit, upper-division lab, this activity can be modified for other educational levels, blocks of time, and/or as a flipped classroom activity. Through this activity, students are provided with the opportunity to learn about the scientific method, biological collections, linear regressions, the R programming language, and scientific communication. Changes to flowering time are one of the most conspicuous effects of climate change, thus presenting an ideal topic for engaging students in biological inquiry.","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"48 8","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140759225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.201
Karina C. White, Melanie Manion, Timothy M. Evans
Access to authentic research is limited at the 7–12 science education level. At the same time, many local restoration projects would benefit from, but don’t have access to a long-term system of monitoring. This project seeks to unite those two needs by developing a protocol for 7–12 classrooms to be able to participate in authentic research through long-term monitoring of a local restoration project. The protocol developed in this project was used by Jenison High School students at Grand Ravines Park. Grand Ravines Park is a recently acquired Ottawa County park with a history of anthropogenic disturbances. Shortly after the acquisition of the final section of the park, Ottawa County Parks and Recreation (OCPR) staff seeded the portions of the north side of the park with native grasses and forbs, and the south side of the park was not supplementally seeded. This study aimed to develop protocols for the student collection and analysis of vegetation and invertebrate biodiversity data in both the north and south sides of the park. Various metrics of plant and invertebrate biodiversity were compared between the seeded and unseeded areas. Students from Jenison High School were involved in the data collection and analysis, increasing their exposure to scientific research and field sampling and developing their scientific literacy. A long-term database was developed, with the goals of facilitating park management decisions and driving future student research questions.
{"title":"Developing and Applying a Protocol for Long-Term Monitoring at Local Natural Areas","authors":"Karina C. White, Melanie Manion, Timothy M. Evans","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.201","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.201","url":null,"abstract":"Access to authentic research is limited at the 7–12 science education level. At the same time, many local restoration projects would benefit from, but don’t have access to a long-term system of monitoring. This project seeks to unite those two needs by developing a protocol for 7–12 classrooms to be able to participate in authentic research through long-term monitoring of a local restoration project. The protocol developed in this project was used by Jenison High School students at Grand Ravines Park. Grand Ravines Park is a recently acquired Ottawa County park with a history of anthropogenic disturbances. Shortly after the acquisition of the final section of the park, Ottawa County Parks and Recreation (OCPR) staff seeded the portions of the north side of the park with native grasses and forbs, and the south side of the park was not supplementally seeded. This study aimed to develop protocols for the student collection and analysis of vegetation and invertebrate biodiversity data in both the north and south sides of the park. Various metrics of plant and invertebrate biodiversity were compared between the seeded and unseeded areas. Students from Jenison High School were involved in the data collection and analysis, increasing their exposure to scientific research and field sampling and developing their scientific literacy. A long-term database was developed, with the goals of facilitating park management decisions and driving future student research questions.","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"51 25","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140795863","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-04-01DOI: 10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.255
Jeffrey D. Sack
{"title":"Nourish the Future","authors":"Jeffrey D. Sack","doi":"10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.255","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.255","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":513114,"journal":{"name":"The American Biology Teacher","volume":"99 ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140768940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}