In most animals, the drive to breed and produce offspring is strong. However, most males live their whole lives without having the chance to breed. ...
This "clicker case" teaches students about the distinction between proximate and ultimate causes of behavior using the fascinating courtship and ma ...
In this flipped case study, students use the scientific method to investigate how changes in a few genes have shaped the evolution of maize plant a ...
This flipped case study examines the selective pressures that have affected the evolution of diverse human skin pigmentations. To prepare for the c ...
For years whale evolution was characterized by speculation and limited evidence. Evolution critics even focused on whales as a means to criticize e ...
The discovery of the platypus had the scientific world in an uproar and kept it tantalized for decades. Here was the strangest animal ever seen. Ho ...
Intelligent Design continues to be a hot political and educational topic in some parts of the country. This discussion case study uses the dramatic ...
In this PowerPoint-driven case study, students consider the many challenges faced by plants and discuss which of these might induce a morphological ...
At what point in evolutionary development does a group of individuals become two distinct species? This case addresses that fundamental question by ...
This case study looks at the probable connection between bioluminescence and Caravaggio's painting style in the 16th century in order to explore th ...
This case study was developed for an upper-level undergraduate evolution course in order to provide an example of natural selection in hominids and ...
This clicker case addresses several important concepts related to evolution. First, it explores artificial selection and selective breeding. Charle ...
This case study is based on the 2014 Ebola epidemic that spread to multiple highly populated countries in West Africa, making it the largest and mo ...
This case study uses an interactive activity to illustrate density dependence in ecology classes. We developed a "hunt" using paper butterflies wit ...
This interrupted case study focuses on the research of Dr. Beatrice Hahn, who investigates DNA sequences in chimpanzee droppings in order to explor ...
In this directed case study, students assume the role of investigators for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as they examine and ...
In this "clicker case," students learn about natural selection through the research of Peter and Rosemary Grant and colleagues on the finches of th ...
Directed evolution is a laboratory process that mimics the steps of natural selection to efficiently determine variants of proteins or organisms th ...
A common misconception is that Darwin suggested that something as complex as the eye could not have evolved through natural selection. While the mi ...
This case study is based on the game theory developed by John Maynard Smith where two behavioral strategies ("Hawks" and "Doves") compete over a co ...
Whether Intelligent Design should be taught in a science classroom is a serious problem. This case study tackles the issue head-on by using intimat ...
The theory of evolution by natural selection is simple, elegant, and profound. Yet, a large number of undergraduate students including biology majo ...
Sexual selection has led to the evolution of interesting traits and behaviors in many animal species. In widowbirds, males undergo a dramatic chang ...
This interrupted case study is based on a journal article that describes the rapid adaptation of a population (in this case, steelhead trout) in re ...
Annika is a PhD student from Sweden who spends two years in the Solomon Islands to complete her fieldwork. During her stay in the South Pacific she ...
This case study tells the story of John and Mary, two first-year college students learning about biodiversity while on a trip to Costa Rica where t ...
Lactose intolerance, caused by a lack of persistent lactase enzyme expression, is a trait commonly observed in adult humans, with varying geographi ...
It is not uncommon to hear creationists argue that evolution is not science because no one saw it happen, or for students to wonder how we can know ...
This case study follows purveyors of peas, Joel E. and Jolene Greengiant, as they learn about the origin, biochemistry, genetics and eventual artif ...
Why are chilies so hot? This case study begins with a story about an undergraduate student who is inspired to learn about capsaicin production in c ...
This case presents a fanciful story about the origin of the eukaryotic cell, a major milestone in the evolution of life. The characters of the stor ...
Cellular metabolism is traditionally taught in undergraduate biochemistry courses through the memorization of complex biochemical pathways. As such ...
In this case, students learn how archaeology operates as an historical science by collecting and analyzing material evidence to make claims about t ...
This interrupted case study teaches probability theory and transmission genetics through their application to the conservation of the endangered Fl ...
In this case study on multi-drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis, students consider ways in which to preserve health as a human right without subjecti ...
This interrupted case study is based on a journal article on the parenting behavior of American coots. Working through the case, students develop h ...
This case study in comparative physiology explores the connections between physiology, evolution and behavior. Students assume the role of research ...
DNA sequencing and analysis (bioinformatics) is an increasingly important tool for understanding biological data, including medical data. In this c ...
Human populations have adapted to varying intensities of sunlight with varying tones of skin coloration. The balanced interplay between melanin con ...
The discovery of a mammoth frozen in the Siberian tundra is the backdrop for this case study, which explores theories for the extinction of the gre ...
Emerging diseases and potential pandemics make the news nearly every year. Students (and everyone else) may wonder where new infectious diseases co ...
This interrupted case study was written for students to gain a better understanding of evolutionary concepts and principles as they develop their s ...
Cancer is usually thought to be a disease that affects individuals. But could cancer evolve to become infectious? This case follows the research on ...
This clicker case uses plant-pollinator interactions in columbines as a biological scenario to teach students about evolution, reproductive isolati ...
This interrupted case study for the flipped classroom examines the interaction of plants and their mycorrhizal partners. The latter is one of the m ...
This "clicker" case study explores ultimate and proximate explanations for cryptic coloration in animals through the work of Dr. Hopi Hoekstra of H ...
This "clicker case" gives students an opportunity to apply their understanding of three different types of selection (directional, stabilizing, and ...
In this clicker case study for a flipped classroom, students familiar with the stages of meiosis work in small groups to determine the predicted ge ...
In this case study, students are given the task of developing a recovery plan to protect a recently discovered population of Central American squir ...
In this interrupted case study, students explore the mechanisms of speciation while working in groups to design a series of experiments to determin ...
This case study teaches students about allopatric speciation through an investigation of the benthic and limnetic sticklebacks of Paxton Lake, whic ...
Sam, a pre-med college student, routinely gets dialysis and develops a urinary tract infection. The infection is from a bacterium that the news med ...
The intent of this interrupted case study is to present a clear example of both the scientific method and evolutionary adaptation in a model system ...
This case examines the hormonal control of the development and maturation to adulthood and the role of stress hormones in that developmental proces ...
Woolly mammoths and other cold-adapted animals, such as reindeer and musk ox, developed a number of adaptations that allowed them to survive in fri ...
Loss of species richness is often due to anthropogenic activity. The global decline of amphibians is one such example. This case study examines the ...
In this role-playing case study, students attempt to determine the identity of a variety of human fossils based on characteristics described during ...
This case study examines the evolution color vision in Old World and New World monkeys from multiple biological perspectives. This integrative appr ...
This PBL case on Intelligent Design was written for freshman biology majors at a Christian liberal arts college. Students read about the claims and ...
While the concept of evolution by natural selection is very simple, it is often misunderstood by students. This is partly due to preconceptions the ...
This interrupted case study for the flipped classroom applies evolutionary genetics research to human health. Students learn about a naturally occu ...
Kentucky 31 is a widely grown variety of tall fescue grass that owes its extreme stress resistance, but also its toxicity, to an endophytic fungus. ...
The evolution of physiological characteristics can be strongly influenced by physics. Animals whose physiology allows them to better escape predato ...
This case explores both the evidence and inconsistencies in the two major hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth: Replication-First or Metabol ...
This case explores both the evidence and inconsistencies in the two major hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth: Replication-First or Metabol ...
This case study introduces students to the "Red Queen Hypothesis." The hypothesis states that when two species compete for a limited resource or ex ...
In biology classes, students are typically taught that spontaneous generation does not take place. And yet, at the origin of life, life had to aris ...
In this interrupted case study, students examine the cooperative courtship behavior of long-tailed manakins. Males of the long-tailed form leks, ar ...
In this case study, students learn about introduced species and how they pose a threat to biodiversity by analyzing the impact of introduced specie ...
This interrupted case study tells the true story of Karl P. Schmidt, a herpetologist and museum curator who was bitten by a venomous snake in 1957. ...
In this case study, students apply principles of evolution they have learned in class to create their own story explaining the evolutionary history ...
This case study investigates how plant domestication sometimes produces unintended consequences for plant-insect interactions. The narrative follow ...
This "clicker case" is modified from Martin Kelly's case study "As the Worm Turns: Speciation and the Apple Maggot Fly," also in our collection. Cl ...
This "clicker case" follows a professor and his students in a study abroad course in Tanzania who are searching for human fossils in an effort to b ...
This analysis case study uses a jigsaw activity in which students learn about characteristics of the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 ...
This case study presents the story of Phil, an undergraduate majoring in biology, whose Russian cousin Dimitri has contracted tuberculosis (TB) fro ...
Although Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a fundamental part of introductory biology classes, students often have difficulty understanding its implica ...