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Pathways to Scientific Teaching, Chapter 3c of 7: Determining confidence: sex and statistics

In this article we demonstrate the use of a primary research paper as an assessment tool, helping to determine how well students understand a biological concept and their ability to interpret statistics. The article by Willingham [attached] investigates the effects of temperature in conjunction with endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on sex determination in turtles. We have designed instruction and assessments on the subject of sex determination, a topic that is conceptually uncomplicated for most students, and statistical analyses which present them with some challenges. We have made the assumption that students have learned about mechanisms of sex determination among animal taxa, know how to develop and test hypotheses, and have a basic understanding of natural selection and fitness.
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Resource Group "Pathways to Scientific Teaching" is based on a series of two-page articles published in "Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment" from August 2004 to June 2006 that illustrated effective instructional methods to help students gain conceptual understanding in ecology (Diane Ebert-May and Janet Hodder, 2008).

This installment of the Pathways to Scientific Teaching series describes one or more instructional strategies that use scientific papers to teach selected concepts. While specific journal articles are used in demonstrating these strategies, we would like to emphasize that each activity in the Pathways series has been designed for use with any scientific article on a similar topic, and not just the example shown here.

Note that in addition to undergraduate faculty, many high school teachers can use these articles as well in their biology courses.
Resource Group Link http://ecoed.esa.org/index.php?P=AdvancedSearch&Q=Y&FK=%22Pathways+to+...
Primary or BEN resource type
Secondary resource type
Discipline Specific Core Concepts
Life science discipline (subject)
Keywords statistics, hypothesis test, P-value, confidence level, atrazine, red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans, endocrine disruptor, environmental contaminants
Key taxa red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta elegans
Audience
Intended End User Role
Language
Educational Language
Pedagogical Use Category
Pedagogical Use Description Instructor goals: 1) Use primary literature as a source of information about biological topics and as an assessment tool. 2) Implement an active learning strategy to help students understand the concept of statistical testing and significance.

This installment of the Pathways to Scientific Teaching series describes one or more instructional strategies that use scientific papers to teach selected concepts. While specific journal articles are used in demonstrating these strategies, we would like to emphasize that each activity in the Pathways series has been designed for use with any scientific article on a similar topic, and not just the example shown here.

Note that in addition to undergraduate faculty, many high school teachers can use these articles as well in their biology courses.
Aggregation Level
Structure
Full Name of Primary Author Diane Ebert-May
Primary Author Controlled Name
Primary Author Affiliation Michigan State University
Primary Author email ebertmay@msu.edu
Secondary Author Name(s) Terry L Derting 1, Janet Hodder 3, and Everett P Weber 2
Secondary Author Affiliation(s) 1 Murray State University, 2 Michigan State University, 3 University of Oregon
Added By Id
  • Celia
Rights Copyright 2008, the Ecological Society of America
License
Publisher
Review type
Drought and Water Ecosystem Services Collection Off
Conservation Targets Under Global Change Collection Off
Big Data Collection Off
Editors Choice No
Resource Status
Date Of Record Submission 2011-12-02
I Agree to EcoEdDL's Copyright Policy & Terms of Use No
Date Of Record Release 2012-03-05 11:43:37
Last Modified By Id
  • mcmilla
Date Last Modified 2013-05-23 10:20:48
Release Flag Published

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