Activities and strategies used to engage students in team
discussions and analysis of the concepts learned
Post-lecture assignments consisted of team activities that allowed
students to apply the concepts learned. We also used Articulate
Storyline 360 to implement these team assignments which included tRATs
and Team Application & Analysis. With this tool, the students had the
option to answer until correct whenever they encountered a multiple
choice question in the team assignments. We also developed other team
activities where we wanted students to expand on their discussion and
have a record of the students reasoning. For those activities we used
VoiceThread (https://voicethread.com), an online tool that allows for
asynchronous commentary through text, audio, or video recordings on a
set of slides. We asked all students to post their first comment by
Wednesday and then to build the discussion by replying to another team
member comment after that. By the end of the week, all students had at
least one comment on each slide, the team had an agreement on their
final answer and posted the final answer. In the assignment
instructions, we emphasized that we only grade the final answer for
correctness but participation points are awarded individually depending
on engagement.
Finally, most section activities were individual worksheets with problem
sets. Phylogeny building and interpretation was required in several case
studies exploring issues related to health, biodiversity, and
conservation throughout the term. Application of population genetics and
natural selection modules relied on students interpretations of
simulations or conservation case studies. Students were allowed to
discuss these exercises with their teams but each student was required
to submit their own worksheet. Except for one section activity where the
students used VoiceThread to discuss a primary literature paper with
their team, followed by an individual Canvas quiz. We also used virtual
tours to familiarize students with the university’s entomological
collection and plant conservatory. All of these activities were
developed to revise previous course content and provide a space for the
students to learn about how evolution and biodiversity principles are
used beyond the classroom.