The Department of Biology was recently awarded an NSF-DUE-IUSE grant 1504662 ($144,777) to improve how we teach evolution through our entire biology curriculum. I serve as PI on the project along with co-PIs Aaron Schrey and Austin Francis.
Students have many misconceptions about evolution, which is a core and unifying theme in biology, and scholarship on teaching and learning shows that many of those misconceptions remain even after completing traditional lecture-style courses on it.
Our program brings hands-on, inquiry-based analysis of structure and function to a series of courses in our curriculum, weaving through Principles of Biology II, Genetics, Evolution, Epigenetics, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, and Functional Morphology. This upward mobility and vertical thread of learning will reinforce evolutionary concepts using a combination of 3D technology, hydrodynamics, and genetic sequencing. The grant is purchasing a new 3D printer and flow tank and will fund the operation of a next-generation genetic sequencer.
Through our curriculum, students will analyze the form and function of hammerhead shark heads, and each course in the series will approach the topic from different aspects using a variety of tools to provide a more holistic understanding of their evolution. After completing two or more of the courses in the sequence, students will qualify to enroll in a capstone research experience that emphasizes independent projects. The curriculum is designed to be periodically refreshed. After a two-year implementation using hammerhead sharks, other organisms will be analyzed, taking advantage of additional faculty expertise and our coastal environment.
The project will be implemented starting in the Fall 2015 semester with modules in Principles of Biology II, Genetics, and Bioinformatics and Biotechnology. Continuing in the Spring 2016 semester, activities will be implemented in Evolution, Epigenetics, and Functional Morphology.
For more information about this project and curriculum revision, please feel free to contact me and check this webpage for future updates and progress reports.
Our first implemented module was unveiled during November, 2015, and will continue every semester moving forward. In this laboratory exercise, students use 3D printed models free-falling through a dense fluid to inspect aspects of drag. Since hammerhead sharks have an elongated head, called a cephalofoil, this structure produces drag (friction) when moving through a fluid. Students experimented with prototype models and mock-ups of real shark heads to assess drag and make conclusions about Natural selection and evolution.
Evolution (BIOL 3030)
In the Spring 2016 semester, students taking the course Evolution used a computer bionergetics model to simulate differential reproductive success in winghead sharks. By experimentally changing the size of the cephalofoil and swimming speed, the sharks had differing levels of successful prey capture and drag while swimming through water. This simulation helped students understand that there is no such thing as a perfect organism. Every phenotype has costs associated with any potential advantages.
Functional Morphology (BIOL 4970 Special Topics)
This course was taught for the first time during the Spring 2016 semester. In this class, students generated their own 3D printed models of shark heads and experimentally tested their associated drag in a flow tank. By using a combination of tracer particles, lasers, high speed videography, and computer analysis, students could analyze the exact drag that each shape produced in water.
Capstone Research Experience (BIOL 4970 Special Topics: Advanced Research in Evolution)
This course will be taught for the first time beginning in Fall 2016. Students who have completed other courses associated with this evolution curriculum are encouraged to apply for this course. This opportunity allows to students to conduct independent research on hammerhead shark evolution using a variety of tools available to them, including a genetic sequencer, 3D printer, flow tank, and bioenergetics modeling.