Session #27: Saturday July 19   8 am – 11 am

Investigative Cases in Agribusiness: Got Milk? (rBGH Labeling) Family Trees (Citrus Canker) and Feast to Famine (Potato Late Blight)

Please join us as we explore case-based biology modules designed for learners in two-year colleges. In this workshop, participants will use investigative case based learning strategies to probe rBGH labeling, citrus canker, and potato late blight.

We will work in small groups to pursue our own questions, explore internet resources including computational tools and databases, utilize simulations, and present our “solutions” as well as strategies and reasoning in a mini-poster session. At the end of the session, participants are invited to share insights and discuss strategies for implementing case-based teaching in their own classrooms.

Session: #36: Saturday July 19   Noon – 3 pm

Bioinformatics in the Curriculum: Forensics, HIV Sequence Data, and Evolution

Anyone with an internet connection now has access to the rich data and powerful tools used in the analysis of molecular sequences and structures. The resulting challenge to educators is deciding how to engage students in
biological problem solving that makes use of these new resources in meaningful ways.

Our approach to developing bioinformatics education materials emphasizes:

• the central role of evolutionary theory as a powerful heuristic for identifying and interpreting homology
• the integration of bioinformatics across the introductory biology curriculum; and,
• opportunities to engage in realistic problem solving with rich data resources.

The workshop will feature both introductory activities and more open-ended research investigations using HIV patient data sets. We will use several on-line computational tools and resources including Biology WorkBench (http://workbench.sdsc.edu/) in addition to hands on materials. At the end of the session, participants are invited to share insights and discuss strategies for implementing bioinformatics teaching in their own classrooms.