Deep Sea Microbes Jigsaw part of IODP School of Rock 2020:Teaching Activities
Beverly Owens, Cleveland Early College High School; Molly Ludwick, Kings Mountain Middle School
This activity will help students to explore characteristics of microbes that live in the deep sea. This activity can be conducted as a jigsaw or research project, and can be used with face-to-face, remote, and ...

Adopt a Microbe! - Digital Adaptation part of IODP School of Rock 2020:Teaching Activities
Molly Ludwick, Kings Mountain Middle School; Beverly Owens, Cleveland Early College High School
This activity is a Google Slide playlist that will introduce students to microbes that can be found in deep sea sediments, and what roles they play in their environment. This playlist is suitable for use in remote ...

Global Change Microbiology part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
Luciana Santoferrara, Hofstra University
The dramatic impacts of human activities on Earth have catapulted the development of new disciplines across the sciences, humanities, and more. Studying the basis, challenges and responses to the global changes our planet and the human society face has become urgent. In the Global Change Microbiology CURE, students develop semester-long research projects focused on microbial communities and their relationship with a local environmental problem. Students: 1) develop research questions and conduct both field and wet lab work to estimate environmental, cell count and DNA-based diversity metrics; 2) receive training in bioinformatics, data analysis and result presentation; and 3) discuss literature on the interplay between microbes and environmental issues (e.g., global warming, ocean acidification, deoxygenation of coastal waters), the impacts of global changes on microbe-host interactions (e.g., coral bleaching, spreading of infectious diseases) and microbial applications (e.g., bioremediation, waste management). We examine key players in the whole spectrum of microorganisms (from viruses to microscopic animals), with emphasis on often overlooked protists that influence biogeochemical cycles, ecological functioning and host wellbeing.

Genome Solver: Microbial Comparative Genomics part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
Gaurav Arora, Gallaudet University
Genome Solver began in 2011 as way to teach Bioinformatics tools to undergraduate faculty. As part of the Genome Solver project as a whole, we developed a Community Science Project (CSP) for faculty and students to join. The CSP explores horizontal gene transfer (HGT) between bacteria and the phages that infect them. Students get involved in this project and develop testable hypotheses about the role HGT between bacteria and phages play in microbial evolution. Our own work has demonstrated that undergraduates can produce publishable data using this approach. We invite faculty and their students to participate in the search for additional evidence of this type of HGT by investigating the vast wealth of phage and bacterial sequences currently in databases. All that is needed is a computer, an Internet connection, and enthusiasm for research. Faculty and students can work on an organism of interest or we can help them pick organisms to explore these phenomena. By pooling all of the information from a variety of small projects under the umbrella of the Genome Solver CSP, we will be able to better understand the role of HGT in bacterial evolution.

Evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria part of Complex Systems:Teaching Activities
Elena Bray Speth, Saint Louis University-Main Campus
This activity is intended to guide students to apply principles of evolution by natural selection to explain a real world biological phenomenon (the evolution of bacteria populations resistant to common ...

Deep Sea Microbes Playlist part of IODP School of Rock 2020:Teaching Activities
Molly Ludwick, Kings Mountain Middle School; Beverly Owens, Cleveland Early College High School
This activity is a Google Slide playlist that will introduce students to microbes that can be found in deep sea sediments, and what roles they play in their environment. This playlist is suitable for use in remote, ...

Using Ocean Plastic Research to Increase Student Engagement and Persistence in Biology part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
Ana Maria Barral, National University
The Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program) aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This project at National University will advance the aims of the HSI Program by adding research experiences to undergraduate biology courses. Through a collaboration with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this project incorporates course-based undergraduate research (CURE) biology courses for biology majors and for non-majors. The research topics focuses on plastic pollution in the ocean, particularly the microbial populations attached to floating plastic. The CURE is modular and can be adapted for undergraduate courses of different levels. In addition, a virtual adaptation was implemented during the Covid-19 epidemic lockdown phase. A version of the CURE designed for microbiology courses uses the established Tiny Earth methodology to isolate antibiotic producing bacteria from plastic debris.

Knossos Ancient Lake Environment, Australia part of Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Teaching with Online Field Experiences:Activities
Wendy Taylor, Arizona State University at the Tempe Campus
The 2.73 Ga Knossos Locality is a succession of clastic and carbonate rocks outcropping along the southern margin of the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia. It hosts abundant, diverse and exceptionally ...

Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria abundance and diversity in response to climate change part of CUREnet:CURE Collection
Carolina Mehaffy, Colorado State University
This CURE engages student in hypothesis-driven research to investigate how seasonal climate affects microbial diversity, particularly Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) communities found in environmental samples such as soil and water. The course focus on NTM diversity and physiology and its relationship with climate. Students are also introduced to climate change and how it may affect microbial diversity and abundance with implications to human health.

Microbiology in Jeopardy part of Microbial Life:Teaching Methods:Teaching with Games:Examples
Stephen C. Wagner, Stephen F. Austin State University
This group learning activity involves students in an engaging review of concepts of microbiology. The review is set up as a power point presentation in the style of the "Jeopardy" gameshow where students groups compete against each other to answer review questions.