In this activity, students work with a dataset to investigate energy balance in animals that have different feeding behaviors (diurnal/nocturnal) and diets (e.g., carnivore/detritivore).

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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In this laboratory exercise, students examine hypotheses about the interactions between goldenrod plants and the gall-forming insects that feed on them. Students collect and analyze data to determine 1) whether certain traits make the plants more susceptible to attack by the insects and 2) how plant reproduction is affected by the insects' feeding. Students are introduced to several competing...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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As simplifications of real system, models can be used by students to improve their understanding of an ecosystem and to make predictions about what will happen after a disturbance or other change to the ecosystem. This activity guides students through the development of quantitative ecological models. Students use a model to explore how ecosystems work and to predict how disturbance can affect...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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How motivated, empowered, and confident are students when they walk into a science course with 250 (or more) other students? Often students’ expectations are limited to taking notes on lectures, reading assigned text chapters, and struggling through exams in a subject that is often perceived by them as more challenging than many of their other courses. Students readily assume the role o...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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A central challenge for college-level science and ecology students is understanding the significance of peer-reviewed scientific literature. Such literature is increasingly easy to access, but students have little appreciation for how it is generated and little insight into how it should be critiqued. We propose a simple exercise that demonstrates the importance of a critical reading of not...

Publisher: EcoEd Digital Library

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