Short Presentations and Workshops

The call for short presentation and hands-on workshop proposals is now closed.

Theme

Variants in Biology Education: What can we learn from pandemics?

Over the last two years, teaching and learning has grappled with the demands of change in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic within a highly politicized landscape for which science is on the defense and misinformation is rampant. Never before have so many questions arise about the implications for mainstream organismal biology education, and never before has the speed and scale of innovation been put into practice. The “pandemic” symbolizes change, resistance, immunity, adaptation, and opportunity at so many different levels – literally, in our personal lives, in education, and in mass culture. It compels us to consider the workforce needs of the future where pandemics are now ubiquitous among all living organisms: people, plants, and animals (domestic and wild).

• How have pandemics influenced education and has teaching and learning evolved and/or adapted to meet this challenge? Are there examples of scientific research and principles that you have used in the classroom?
• How do we prepare our students for a fast-evolving scientific phenomenon and perhaps an even faster “viral” spread of divergent sources of information that resist the scientific base for evolution and science in general?
• Where are the jobs and careers in our field headed over the next 5-10 years, considering reliance on government sources of funding? How are educators preparing our students in an evolving job market?

Thematic Tracks:

• Adapting to and teaching disease ecology
• Fake news, Real Science, or somewhere in between
• Research innovation and careers

All proposals whether focused on the theme or otherwise will be considered.

Short Presentation and Workshop Proposals should:

• Align with the objectives of the K12 Next Generation Science Standards and the 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
• Integrate the Four-Dimensional Ecology Education Framework (4DEE)

Session Formats and Conference Tracks

The conference accepts proposals in three formats and four pedagogical areas. Details are available at:

Conference Tracks

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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.