Using Mobile Devices to Engage Students in Evolutionary Thinking

Abstract

We used personal mobile electronic devices (PMEDs) to engage students in a lesson to support evolutionary thinking in an undergraduate biology course. Community-college students enrolled in Biodiversity & Evolution, a core majors biology course, met for an optional field trip at the University of Idaho's McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) in central Idaho during the summer of 2014. Ten students participated in the classroom and outdoor activities. Students were provided with directions and objectives for the lesson, and students’ own PMEDs were used to capture images of the community of organisms in and around the outdoor campus. After returning from the field, students analyzed their digital data in the context of morphological similarities and differences to construct a phylogenetic hypothesis for the relationships of the organisms observed. Students’ comments were solicited regarding the activity, and feedback was generally positive. From the teachers’ perspective, students appeared highly engaged and the novel method was a success. We discuss the theoretical basis for using PMEDs and provide a detailed lesson plan.

Innovation in the teaching-learning process of global climate change through the collaborative wall

“…Technology has improved the teaching-learning conditions in the field of Biology (Appleton & Mackie, 2019;Poli et al, 2016;Shen et al, 2020). For example, teachers used ICTs to create new educational spaces that facilitated the assimilation of knowledge about infectious diseases (Shen et al, 2020), anatomy (Manrique et al, 2017), protein evolution (Poli et al, 2016), biodiversity (Lysne & Miller, 2015) and biological evolution (Appleton & Mackie, 2019). Shen et al (2020) built a website called "Find the Source of Infection" in order to facilitate the exchange of ideas about the ways of transmission of diseases.…”

“…In the Biodiversity course, mobile devices facilitated the active participation of the students inside and outside the classroom (Lysne & Miller, 2015). In particular, smartphones allowed the capture of images about organisms and dissemination of this information (Lysne & Miller, 2015).…”

“…In the Biodiversity course, mobile devices facilitated the active participation of the students inside and outside the classroom (Lysne & Miller, 2015). In particular, smartphones allowed the capture of images about organisms and dissemination of this information (Lysne & Miller, 2015). The students of the Biodiversity course improved their academic performance on the morphology of organisms by analyzing the images obtained from mobile devices (Lysne & Miller, 2015).…”

“…In particular, smartphones allowed the capture of images about organisms and dissemination of this information (Lysne & Miller, 2015). The students of the Biodiversity course improved their academic performance on the morphology of organisms by analyzing the images obtained from mobile devices (Lysne & Miller, 2015). Poli et al (2016) proposed the use of MapBox Studio software in the field of Biology in order to promote the active role of the students during the teachinglearning process.…”

“…Lastly, the use of technology in the field of Biology allows innovating the courses, updating the school activities carried out inside and outside the classroom, increasing the motivation of students and improving the academic performance (Lysne & Miller, 2015;Manrique et al, 2017;Poli et al, 2016).…”