Theme 2020
Biology Education in an Evolving Landscape
The 2020 Life Discovery – Doing Science Biology Education conference zooms in on the twin modalities of crisis and innovation, brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and a new four-dimensional framework calling for a fresh approach to organismal biology education.
As COVID19 soars to more than 5 million cases in the US, unleashing unprecedented havoc on communities, the sudden school closures and emergency switch to online learning in March appear to be here to stay for yet another semester. On the one hand, our ability to adapt to an evolving educational experience is critical to success. On the other, the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education Framework (4DEE) endorsed by the Ecological Society of America presents a perfect occasion to innovate by integrating Core Ecological Concepts, Human-Environment Interactions, Ecology Practices, and Cross-Cutting Themes in teaching.
- How has and will the coronavirus pandemic change the way we have to teach?
- How is the virtual world impacting the way students learn?
- How do we apply multidimensional learning in instruction and assessment?
- How can we transform majors and non-majors courses with comprehensive problem-solving approaches that unite 21st-century science and 21st-century environmental issues?
What is the Education Share Fair?
This is a unique part of the conference experience that has come to be appreciated by participants. This session is designed for educators to create or revise lesson plans or activities with a peer working group. Proposals can be submitted for ideas and lessons at any stage of development. You receive immediate feedback and suggestions from your peers in a friendly, constructive environment.
This allows you to develop new lessons or to work on modifying currently existing lessons to a new grade level, teaching style, or learning objective(s). Each lesson or idea will be presented by the author at a roundtable with up to 9 other participants. You will also be able to add participants to your network for future feedback.
Presenters spend about 15 minutes describing their lesson idea. Discussions will follow where participants are invited to provide feedback and ideas regarding the core concepts addressed, methodology, misconceptions, assessment or educational extensions.
Presenters are strongly encouraged to submit finished work in the LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library.
While presentations focused on the theme are especially welcomed, presenters may submit ideas on any topic relevant to environmental or organismal biology.
Proposals should:
- Align with the objectives of the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education, K12 Next Generation Science Standards or Vision and Change for Undergraduate Biology Education with an emphasis on sharing effective approaches to building quantitative reasoning skills among students.
- Identify one or more relevant Pedagogical Track/s and curriculum topic/s.
We are especially interested in proposals that:
- Focus on bringing research data into the classroom
- Address the developmental needs of learners
- Provide insights into teaching and learning of diverse audiences
- Integrates the socioeconomic and cultural relevance of data in biology
All proposals whether focused on the theme or otherwise will be considered.
Session Formats and Conference Tracks
The conference accepts proposals for three formats, four curriculum topics and three pedagogical areas. Details are available at:
http://www.esa.org/ldc/tracks/
Submit Your Teaching Idea to the LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library!
All presenters are highly encouraged to submit their final products for formal publication in the digital library. Authors retain copyright. Presenters will choose to submit through one of the four portals of the LifeDiscoveryEd Digital Library (LDDL), managed by LDDL partner societies.