Abstract
We present an inquiry-based curriculum based on the digital evolution platform Avida-ED ( http://avida-ed.msu.edu ). We designed an instructional sequence and lab book consisting of an introduction to Avida-ED and a set of three lessons focused on specific evolutionary concepts. These served to familiarize students with experimental evolution and Avida-ED. Students then developed independent Avida-ED research projects to test their own questions. Curriculum design and implementation occurred over the course or two semesters, with a pilot implementation in the first semester, followed by curriculum revision and full implementation in the second semester. The curriculum was implemented in an undergraduate Introductory Cell and Molecular Biology course at a major research university. Full implementation of the curriculum in semester two involved the use of Avida-ED mainly in the teaching lab in parallel with a bacterial antibiotic resistance experimental research stream, allowing students to draw connections between Avidian digital evolution and the evolution of antibiotic resistance in microbial populations. After carrying out the introductory exercises, students developed independent Avida-ED projects to test their own research questions, and presented their data to researchers in the NSF-funded BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Preliminary results of our studies to assess the impacts of an Avida-ED curriculum indicate a positive effect on student learning of evolutionary concepts, particularly in increasing the level of complexity of student explanations about the random nature of mutation.
Highlights
Introduction to AvidaED/introductory lesson Avida-ED was introduced in a lab session via a mini-lecture followed by the assignment of the Introductory Lesson and Tutorial in The Avida-ED Lab Book
Speth et al (2009) described the use of digital organisms and the digital evolution platform Avida-ED as a potential way to overcome some of the difficulties in teaching the dynamic aspects of evolutionary processes
We developed an Avida-ED Lab Book (Additional file 1) for fall 2014 consisting of an introduction to AvidaED, three introductory exercises targeting specific student misconceptions about evolutionary processes, and an independent research piece in which students used Avida-ED to answer a research question that they devised
Summary
Evolution presents a challenging set of concepts and principles for students to master, with these challenges amplified due to societal resistance (Nelson 2012). After the students had completed the three preliminary exercises, and had time to explore the data they had generated as a class, the student teams were challenged to come up with a research question of their own to test using Avida-ED This independent investigation component of the curriculum provided a way for students to do science and think like biologists, and we incorporated into these investigations all of the elements described by Thornton (1972) as adapted by Sundberg and Moncada (1994). These results are consistent with the findings of Lark (2014), who found a positive correlation between the use of best practices in the implementation of Avida-ED and positive student affective responses
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