Denise Pope – SimBio software

1. Denise Pope – SimBio software • Education software for college biology – virtual labs, tutorials, and interactive textbooks • My “course unit” for this assignment is a sequence of two virtual lab modules on: • Natural selection (“Darwinian Snails”) • Experimental design (“Experimenting with Snails”) • Designed to be used in sequence (not on the same day) • Main focus on Experimenting with Snails because it is still in progress

2. Format of virtual labs • Format moves between: • Reading onscreen instructions • Interacting with simulations: • Manipulating parameters • Running & observing results • Answering MC & other constrained-format questions: • Prediction questions (with no feedback) • Identify, understand, apply & evaluate questions (with feedback) • So combination of learning activities & formative assessments

3. Learning objectives Darwinian Snails module: • Understand necessary conditions for natural selection • Recognize and overcome misconceptions about natural selection (especially need-driven mutation & adaptation) • Apply understanding of natural selection to new scenarios Experimenting with Snails module: • Understand elements of good experimental design • Apply understanding of good experimental design to interpret and evaluate experiments • Apply understanding of good experimental design to design, set up, conduct, and interpret their own experiments

4. Tuesday (3 hours): • Discuss short answer questions as a class • Work in groups • Darwinian Snails S2 & 3 in groups • Discussion • DS S4 in groups • Discussion • DS S5 in groups • Discussion • Start on homework questions Castletop diagram for suggested use of both lab modules over 2 weeks (for Instructor’s Guide) Week 1: Darwinian Snails Week 1 • Monday (by midnight): • Download Darwinian Snails • Complete only Section 1 (S1) • Follow all instructions; answer all questions; revise answers until correct • Answer short answer questions in-class activities • Wednesday (by midnight): • Take NS graded questions • Friday (by midnight): • Written evaluation of graded questions • Saturday & Sunday: • Take NS pre-test (by midnight Fri) • Register for SimUText & download app (by midnight Sunday) • If necessary, contact SimBio customer support out-of-class activities

5. Tuesday (3 hours): • Work in same groups • Experimenting with Snails S2 • Analyze HW answers • EwS Section 3 • Pause to record design & draw setup; compare • Run experiment • Record data • Replicate • Draw graph • Write conclusion Castletop diagram for suggested use of both lab modules over 2 weeks (for Instructor’s Guide) Week 2: Experimenting with Snails Week 2 in-class activities • Monday (by midnight): • Work in teams • Answer homework questions from last week • Friday-Monday: • Self-evaluation of experimental design • Wednesday (by midnight): • Take ED post-test • Take SALG (Student Assessment of Learning Gains) • Saturday & Sunday (by midnight): • Take ED pre-test out-of-class activities

6. Alignment grid for Experimenting with Snails

7. Detailed breakdown of Experimenting with Snails

8. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P1 Introduction to study system (dogwinkles & red rock crabs) Introduction to module objectives

9. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P3 See also next slide Introduction to exemplar experiment – study system (crossbills & pine cones)

10. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P4 Animated summary of experiment

11. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P5 • Introduction to “control of variables” strategy and definitions of: • Independent variable • Dependent variable • Control

12. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P6 Matching activity – apply terms to pine cone experiment

13. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P7 See also next slide Introduction to replication; start replication activity

14. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P8 Finish replication activity

15. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 formative assessments Back to grid Back to castletop Extension with more information S2P8 Replication (understanding, application?)

16. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 formative assessments Back to grid Back to castletop S2P8 • Replication (analyzing) Want to write additional question to have them try to derive a more general principle of why replication is important, based on this one example.

17. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 formative assessments Back to grid Back to castletop S2P9 See also next slide Evaluate appropriateness of studies to test hypothesis

18. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 formative assessments Back to grid Back to castletop S2P9 Evaluate appropriateness of studies to test hypothesis (continued)

19. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 2 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S2P8 After finishing Section 2, go back to the homework questions you submitted as a group: “Think of a biological scenario (real or plausible) where you would like to test if a trait has evolved through natural selection, and think about how you would go about testing for each of the conditions of natural selection” For one of the tests you proposed, identify the appropriate: • Independent variable • Dependent variable • Control • Replication

20. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P2 Re-introducing study system & question(dogwinkles & red rock crabs) Introduction to experimental process

21. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P4 Observe variation between populations Introduction to experimental tools

22. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 formative assessment Back to grid Back to castletop S3P6 Statement of hypothesis Plan design with “LabLibs”; write prediction

23. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P7 Set up experiment

24. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P7 Move to next slide Decide what data to collect

25. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop Before running experiment, do self-check of experimental design: • Record design plan (LabLibs) • Record prediction • Draw experimental setup (with numbers & sources of snails, numbers of crabs, etc., for each tank) • Compare plan (LabLibs) with setup: • Are they equivalent? • If not, should one of them be changed? • Compare them to the stated hypothesis – is the experiment addressing the hypothesis?

26. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P7 • Run experiment Record data

27. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P8 Summarize results

28. “Experimenting with Snails” Section 3 activities Back to grid Back to castletop S3P10 Refine test Write conclusion

29. Activities and assessments for Darwinian Snails

30. Pre-lab assignments for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Complete Darwinian Snails Section 1: • There are 8 pages • Be sure to read the extension about histograms on p. 2 • Read all instructions, carry out all tasks and answer all questions • Tasks on page 2 & 5 • 4 questions • You will get credit for these tasks and questions – 50% for completion, and 50% for correctness on your final submitted answer, so you will get more credit if you take this seriously and if you persist to the correct answer

31. Pre-lab assignments for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Answer these questions: • What do histograms tell you about a population? • Why are histograms showing the population before and after the best graphical representation to illustrate whether evolution has happened in a population? • What other graph types might show evolutionary change, and what information do those types leave out?

32. Discussion questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Continued on next slide After Sections 2 & 3: • Describe the role that variation plays in natural selection • Describe the role that heritability plays in natural selection • Describe the role that differential survival and reproduction plays in natural selection • Describe what happened when differential survival was removed, then: • Explain how what happened is evolution but is not evolution by natural selection • Explain why evolution by this mechanism (genetic drift) still requires the other two conditions of (variation and heritability) to work • If you have time, you can test to see what happens if you remove both differential survival and one of the other two

33. Discussion questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop After Sections 2 & 3: • The term “differential survival” here is used as shorthand for differential survival and reproduction, because in this scenario, the trait specifically affects whether the snails are eaten or not, but ultimately fitness is measured in terms of number of surviving offspring, so differential survival only matters if it means that the individuals who don’t survive leave fewer offspring than the individuals who do. Think about two other biological examples (real or plausible) where: • There is no differential survival but there is differential reproduction • The trait doesn’t affect survival or reproduction directly, but might still lead to differential survival and reproduction

34. Discussion questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop After Section 4: • Describe the role that mutation plays in evolution by natural selection • Did your prediction differ from what you saw happening? • Describe how the appearance of mutations is affected by the environment

35. Discussion questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Wrap-up on next slide After Section 5: • Do you have any residual confusions about the definition of any of the terms (e.g., natural selection, variation, heritability, differential survival?) • If so, check the glossary in the lab and/or consult your textbook or online sources • Come up with general rules of thumb for how you would test for evolution by natural selection • How can you test for, or observe, each of the conditions of natural selection?

36. Discussion questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Wrap-up discussion: • What is a misconception? • What misconceptions exist about evolution by natural selection? • Reflect on whether you came in here with any misconceptions about natural selection (or experienced this at an earlier stage in your education). Did you have any ‘aha’ moments? If so, what led to those moments? • What would you say to a friend who had one of these misconceptions to explain how scientists differ in their explanation of the phenomenon? What examples could you give that would confront their misconceptions?

37. Graded questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Sample of some of the graded questions:

38. Reflection on graded questions for Darwinian Snails Back to grid Back to castletop Evaluate your performance on the graded questions • If you have 2 or 3 questions wrong: • For each question you got wrong (up to 3), explain why you got it wrong and explain the correct answer • If you got more than 3 wrong: • Explain only 3 of them • If you got 1 or 0 questions wrong: • Choose wrong answer options on 2 of the questions • Identify what misconception is underlying the incorrect answer • Describe how you would explain to a friend how the scientific concept differs from the misconception

39. Back to grid Post-lab assignments for Darwinian Snails Back to castletop Working in teams: • Think of a biological scenario (real or plausible) where you would like to test if a trait has evolved through natural selection, and think about how you would go about testing for each of the conditions of natural selection • Think about biological scenarios where it would be difficult to measure one of the conditions – what might make testing impractical or not feasible? • Variation in the trait • Heritability in the trait • Differential survival and reproduction due to the trait • Seeing change in a population over time

40. Pre- and post-lab assessments for Experimenting with Snails

41. Back to grid Post-test for Experimenting with Snails Back to castletop Open response on next slide

42. Back to grid Post-test for Experimenting with Snails Back to castletop Advertisements for an herbal product, ginseng, claim that it promotes endurance. Prior to accepting this claim, and to determine whether or not this claim is fraudulent, you decide to perform a scientific experiment. Describe your proposed experiment and provide justifications for each aspect of your experimental design. Lastly, state whether the results of your experiment could provide the hypothesis that ginseng promotes endurance. This should take you approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. This is the Expanded Experimental Design Ability Tool (or E-EDAT), from Brownwell et al. 2014, Bioscience 64: 125-137, based on the original EDAT, from Sirum & Humburg 2011, Bioscene 37: 8-16.

43. Back to grid Student Assessment of Learning Gains Back to castletop As a result of your work in this virtual lab, what gains did you make in the following skills? Q37. Designing a good experiment No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q38. Choosing an appropriate independent variable (i.e., "treatment" variable) No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q39. Choosing an appropriate dependent variable (i.e., "response" variable) No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q40. Choosing an appropriate control No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q41. Incorporating replication into the experimental process No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q42. Matching an experiment to a hypothesis No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q43. Making a prediction that follows from a hypothesis No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable Q44. Drawing a conclusion from an experiment No gain A little gain Moderate gain Good gain Great gain Not applicable

44. Back to grid Post-lab assignments for Experimenting with Snails Back to castletop Write a report and self-critique of experiment: • Present the design plan (LabLibs) and experimental setup • Justify the design choices • Assess appropriateness of experiment to test hypothesis • Draw final graph • Write final conclusion • Write plan for next step (refine or extend experiment)

45. Wednesday Today!