Meeting Abstract
I use in-class active learning exercises for numerous topics in ecology, introductory biology, mathematical biology and statistics courses for undergraduates. These exercises range in length from full class sessions to mini-exercises embedded within a lecture. The subjects of these activities include classical quantitative topics as well as specialized topics derived from my past collaborative research. I will describe several examples of these exercises, including: 1. An in-class exercise on the classical Lotka-Volterra competition model; 2. An exercise based on a mathematical model of phenotypic plasticity (Padilla and Adolph 1996); 3. An open-ended exercise analyzing sequences of basketball free-throw data. Students are engaged and alert while working on these activities, can choose their own pace, often work together, and can get help from teachers who circulate around the room. The in-class exercises usually lead to homework problems, often involving computer work. I will share some ideas for choosing suitable topics, for converting these topics into active learning exercises, and for adjusting the level for students with different quantitative backgrounds.
