Theoretical exercises in genetics and evolution

Description:

This learning design will be based on the approaches of active and collaborative learning. The students will prepare answers to questions out-of-class, and the (in-class) theoretical exercises will thus be used for exploring the week’s subject in more depth, using group work, feedback and simulation exercises. The same basic learning design will be used across three subsequent weeks/exercises. Each exercise session will include the following activities in the order given:

• The students form groups of five and discuss the first one or two questions, which will then be presented as multiple-choice questions in Mentimeter. The students can vote individually, and the instructor then explains the correct answer(s)

• Each group discusses the next N questions and are then assigned one question to present in class. If needed, the answer will be corrected or further explained by the instructor

• Halfway in the exercise, the students will be asked to form groups of two, and try out an online simulation related to the week’s questions

• Each group discusses the remaining questions and again presents their answer to one assigned question. If needed, the answer will be corrected or further explained by the instructor

The online simulations will be:

Week 1: Exploring the tree of life at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/evolution/research#/evo/deeptree

Week 2: Population genetics in a fish population. http://virtualbiologylab.org/ModelsHTML5/PopGenFishbowl/PopGenFishbowl.html

Week 3: Finches and evolution. https://simbio.com/products-college/evolution-genetics

Group-work, feedback and guidance from the instructor, and a variety of teaching/learning activities is expected to help improve student motivation and engagement, collaborative skills, individual learning development (“learning to learn”), and a deeper understanding of the subject material.