Transcript My Course - Biology Scholars

BIO 104 – Intro to Ecology & Evolution
Community Ecology & Ecological Webs Unit
Course Context:
First-year, second semester course for majors
Learning Objective
Taxonomy
Level/Catego
ry
Learning
Activities
Formative
Assessment
Summative
Assessment
recognize and describe
inter- and intraspecific
interactions occurring in
an ecosystem, including
in food webs
comprehension
& understanding
- Watch coral
reef video
- Food web
role play
-Minute paper
summary
-Exam
questions
analyze the structure and
dynamics of ecological
webs in novel
environmental scenarios
analysis
- Watch coral
reef video
-Follow-up
questions
-Quiz questions
-Exam
questions
propose solutions to
small, personal- and
large, societal-scale
problems in or emerging
from ecological webs
application,
analysis
& creation
- Watch coral
reef video
-Short mgmt.
proposal
-Peer review &
vote
-Exam
questions
Learning Activities
Watch a 12 minute 60minutes video, “The Garden of the Queen,” on Youtube
Formative Assessments
 List as many ecological relationships shown in the video as you
can. Be specific about the species involved and name the type of
relationship.
 Minute paper: Write a one paragraph “abstract” that describes
the intraspecific relationships in “The Garden of the Queen.” Also
provide introductory and concluding statements that help frame a
“story” about this community.
 Homework paper: Coral reefs like “The Garden of the Queen” are
facing many problems. Choose one of the problems referred to in
the video and develop a management plan for solving this
problem. Write a one-page proposal for your plan. Include an
introduction that summarizes the issue and your management
goal, specific details of your plan, and a conclusion that suggests
the hoped-for outcome of your plan.
 Quiz question: TBD
Summative Assessments
THIS IS A ROUGH ROUGH DRAFT not revised at all:
Exam question: Your new pet cat is a voracious urban predator!
Daily, sometimes several times a day, your hungry feline brings
dead songbirds as presents to you. Shortly after introducing the cat
to your neighborhood ecosystem, you and your neighbors notice
big problems in your gardens. Lots of holes are appearing in the
leaves of your plants.
What is possibly going on here?
Describe the ecological web of the neighborhood community and
explain relationships that
Then propose a possible solution to this problem.
Also, evaluating the fact checking? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-fbruno/60-minutes-coral-reef_b_1158523.html
Timeline
• Possibly pilot this lesson this fall in HECS
• Plan to collect data about student learning
gains (get IRB)
• Refine and improve for incorporation into BIO
104 course in the spring