Meeting Abstract
Classic methods of assessing comprehensive knowledge in courses such as Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy usually entail a cumulative final exam, where all information presented during the semester is fair game. This can have several drawbacks for many students, due to the considerable length of time that has passed since the first few lectures, and the anxiety that comes with a high-stakes final. In many cases, such an exam tests the student’s ability to memorize, rather than learning and mastery of content. Over the past several years, I have experimented with an alternative to the final exam, centered on a “Make Your Own Species Project” concept. This project utilizes inquiry-based learning in a student-centered learning setting. Students either choose or are assigned a current living vertebrate, and must research the anatomy of this species to set the ancestral morphology. Students then imagine a descendent species 100 million years in the future possessing different locomotion, diet, and size relative to their ancestral species. From there, the students have control of what exact changes are made, and how to make it all work, accounting for function and evolutionary process along the way. To encourage students to think outside the box, a single ‘novelty’ is allowed, which is exempted from the evolutionary rule requirement. In this way, students must continually refer back to previous anatomical systems to ensure changes in one system don’t require necessary changes in a previous system, encouraging a deeper understanding of how the vertebrate body is integrated across multiple systems. In the past, students have sketched their creations or paired with a student from the arts. Currently, students are utilizing Micro-CT and 3D printing to create their new species and bring them to life.
