Using the Project EDDIE Phenology Trends and Climate Change in Minnesota module in Biology I

Beatriz Villar, Northampton Community College


About this Course

Biology I

Lecture and Lab

Introductory Undergraduate

Majors

12 per section
students in the course

EDDIE Module(s) Adopted and/or Adapted

Phenology Trends and Climate Change in Minnesota

The module was used as a complementary assignment to relate course content (study of plants) to real life and current events (climate change)

Jump to: Course Context | Teaching Details | How It Went | Future Use

Relationship of EDDIE Module(s) to my Course

Since this course was general biology, the module was used as an application and extension, not part of the content itself. It was used to illustrate the scientific method and the use of real data.

Teaching Details

The module was given during labs, since students were taught in hybrid format. They worked on their own at home and were given a week to complete each part. Two parts were used: Part 1 to learn about phenology in general and regression analysis, and Part 2 to look at the specific data and create their own graphs to see if they could find trends.

 

 

Adaption Materials

PhenologyPart1BVSP21 (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 18kB Jun26 21)

PhenologyPart2BVSP21 (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 43kB Jun26 21)

How did the activity go?

Only a few students completed both parts. Part 1 was the easiest for them since they just had to interpret what they saw or read about. Part 2 was a little challenging for some since the data used were not giving them a clear/strong R value.

Students struggle the most with creating their own graphs and selecting the data to represent. But regardless of their struggles, they all were able to understand better the effect of climate change.

Future Use

This instructor story and adaption materials were developed during a Project EDDIE Faculty Mentoring Network in partnership with QUBES in the Spring of 2021.

 

Project EDDIE Faculty Mentoring Network logo
QUBES Logo

I would pay more attention to the raw data first, to make sure students can get clear conclusions and trends, to facilitate their learning.