P1.193  Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30  Enhancing student understanding with interactive biology exercises created in Mathematica DAVIS-BERG, E. C.; KOVERMAN, K; JORDAN, D. R.*; Columbia College Chicago; Columbia College Chicago; Columbia College Chicago edavisberg@colum.edu

We created interactive exercises that students can use to explore biological concepts. These active learning experiences are in the Computable Document Format (CDF), which are created with Mathematica but can be used with the free Wolfram CDF Player. Students can enter data and modify parameters without knowing how to use Mathematica. A CDF can include real-time computations, which can involve differential equations, extremely large data sets, and complex systems of equations. The results of the computations can be displayed in a variety of formats. Using the CDF exercises enhances student understanding by allowing them to focus on the biological concepts and visualize the data and calculations without the tedium of hand computation.

This presentation will highlight an interactive version of a biodiversity lab that explores Simpson’s Diversity Index. Students are walked through the calculations with a small data set and are then asked to analyze a larger data set. This larger data set is presented as a set of interactive graphs so that they can explore and manipulate the data in order to answer questions. It also allows students to visually experience the concepts without having to complete all the calculations themselves. For our non-major audience, this means that we can have a more sophisticated discussion without getting stuck on the calculations. In the fall 2013 semester, we used this exercise in two classes (Introduction to Ecology and Environmental Science) and compared student outcomes with and without the interactive calculations. We will present the CDF as well as the assessment results and our future directions.