Students in an introductory ecology and evolution lab collected water salinity measurements at various depths of the ocean at the Cal Poly Pier in Avila Beach, CA. Each student collected their own data and then worked through the attached activity to investigate correlation and simple linear regression. Use lab worksheet linked here. If your students
Co-developed lesson on Medelian Genetics used in an Introduction to Cell and Molecular Biology class. Students use a chi-square test (simulation and theory-based) to compare their observed phenotype data (leaf and stem color) to the hypothesized distribution (Mendal’s second law). Data are pooled across 8 lab groups. Use lab write-up here.
With advances in simulation-based inference, bootstrapping and other simulation-based methods are being employed more often by biologists. This Minnesota-based team of biologists (John Fieberg, Kelsey Vitense, and Douglas H. Johnson) has pulled together some useful examples of re-samping methods complete with R-code and data. You can find the article, Resampling-based methods for biologists, here, and
With so many changes to delivery mode of course content during the pandemic, it is good to keep in mind best practices. In the article linked here, Miguel Acevedo steps through 10 best practices to help quantitative ecologists navigate online delivery. These best practices are applicable to other content areas in the natural and applied
Sensitivity and specificity are commonly taught concepts in biostatistics courses. The article linked here gives a nice visual explanation of false positives and false negatives with tests that do have high sensitivity and specificity, but a low infection rate of the disease in the population.
Jeff Ploegstra’s presentation at Iowa Science Teacher’s Section (ISTS) looks at an overview of the “new biology” with examples of projects worked on with students utilizing large data sets requiring inferential statistics, algorithmic thinking, and comfortability interfacing with common databases to make predictions and draw conclusions. Also in the presentation are example exercises that could
This activity includes the logistics to run the lab through a 10 week course along with a homework that makes use of the multiple means applet. The lab entails comparing plant growth with medium amounts of fertilizer and high amounts of fertilizer. Information from this experiment sets the stage for the students to design their
This activity uses the multiple means applet to explore four data sets and how variability between, variability within, and sample size affect the interpretation. Data Worksheet
This activity looks at the distribution of heart attacks over the days of the week. It starts out looking at those who are employed, but there is an extra data set that looks at those who are not employed. Comments from participants at our Morro Bay workshop are left in to see the discussion between
Another activity to use with biology students looking at linear and non-linear genetic models and connecting to disease modes of inheritance. Sample activity on fatty acids and genetics
