In response to the coronavirus pandemic, many institutions are pivoting to online and digital instruction. There are many resources available for moving class lectures, assignments, and assessments online such as:
Select Resources for Quickly Handling the COVID-19 Online Pivot*
Remote Teaching Resource Group
However, wet labs, CUREs, and inquiry-based activities such as those in Tiny Earth require additional thought and input. We are actively compiling resources and ideas for you to consider using as you reconfigure your inquiry-based Tiny Earth labs. If you have ideas to share, please send them to Sarah Miller or @sarahmilleruw on twitter for consideration to be added to this list.
General Resources for Digital Science and Labs
- CourseSource – Open-access journal to peer-reviewed teaching materials in bioscience
- OASIS Interactive Simulations Search
- OnlineLabSCI – Lab resources
- American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) – Shifting your biology class [with labs] online? These resources can help
- Labster – Bringing Labs Online in Response to COVID-19
- Open Source Templates for Science Labs
- HHMI Biointeractive Resources for Life Sciences and Earth Science
- Virtual Anatomy Playlist
- Interactive Simulations and Instructional Resources for STEM
- University of Chicago Climate and Carbon Cycle Models
- MIT Sloan School Climate Interactive Modeling
- Concord Consortium Simulations
- Science Education Resource Center (SERC) Visualizations
- Data Nuggets
- National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) Virtual Labs Biology Collection
- Adding research to a class – CURE resources
- Transforming Undergraduate Biology Education Facebook Group – AAAS Initiative
- Ecology/Environmental Science Online Learning Resources
- Geoscience Materials for Teaching Online
- Multi-disciplinary Virtual Labs
- Massive list of resources for teaching remotely
- Interactive Video Vignettes, Rochester Institute of Technology
- Life Sciences Teaching Resource Community – filter for online interactive resources
- Harvard Bok Center for Teaching and Learning – Teaching Science Labs Online
- Skype a Scientist
Specific Ideas for Digital Tiny Earth Labs or Activities
**Not all of these are open to the public. If you are interested in becoming a Tiny Earth Partner Instructor (TEPI), you can apply for the training at https://go.wisc.edu/y6482r. For more info on Tiny Earth: https://tinyearth.wisc.edu/
- Lab activity suggestions and resources:
- Tiny Earth video library of labs from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
- Demonstrate the techniques and use pictures/videos to document the results, then have students analyze the results. Examples: Calculating CFUs, holding plates up to the camera, taking pictures or video of results.
- Use HHMI Biointeractive for virtual labs about bacterial identification.
- Tiny Earth database activity suggestions and resources:
- Tiny Earth public database of antibiotic-producing isolates from soil (studentsourced!)
-
- Activity ideas
- Use the Tiny Earth database to investigate whether environmental factors such as soil depth or location can affect antibiotic production: https://forms.gle/pTzkwygL687WJqdU7
- Download the Tiny Earth database as .csv. Students ask research questions and answer based on the data.
- Activity ideas
- Phylogeny activity suggestions and resources:
- Beginner-level phylogeny/tree-building resources
- Textbook: Tree Thinking
- Neighbor join or UPGMA on the embl server (create an MSA first)
- PhyloT
- Intermediate-level phylogeny tutorial
- Beginner-level phylogeny/tree-building resources
- Soil activity suggestions and resources:
- SoilWeb: An online soil survey browser
- Genomic activity suggestions and resources:
- Tiny Earth Activity: Using antiSMASH to identify biosynthetic gene clusters within a genomic DNA sequence
- Tiny Earth Activity: One Strain MAny Compounds (OSMAC)
- Tiny Earth Partner Instructors (TEPIs) speaking on video about COVID-19
- Laura Williams, Assistant Professor of Biology at Providence College, speaking on local Fox news, 3/11/20 (at 7:23)
- Brian Merkel, Professor of Human Biology at University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, panelist on UWGB Global Studies Panel, 3/5/20 (general virology at 2:15, COVID-19 and drugs at 11:45)
General Ideas for Digital Labs or Activities (including CUREs)
- Biology/microbiology:
- Film data collection and have students score videos or work with previously collected data using online dissections. Focus on data analysis and write-up where possible. Microbiology example: Have students request a particular microbiology test, then provide students with a picture of a “result plate” of the test they requested so they’ll have to analyze the data and decide the next test. They just won’t be streaking their own plates.
- General STEM:
- If students are working on a common project, the instructor can carry it out and provide data to students
- Use online modules that are similar / allow for inquiry, such as https://basilbiochem.github.io/basil/
- Give students prior datasets to collect and analyze
- If students are doing separate projects, have them write them up to share anonymously with the class and then vote for the top choice that the instructor carries out and shares data with the class to analyze and draw conclusions
- Shift to writing proposals for what they could do based on review and synthesis of literature
General Open Educational Resources (OER) and Teaching Guidance
- Select Resources for Quickly Handling the COVID-19 Online Pivot and corresponding twitter thread from Kris Olds, UW-Madison
- Advice for College Teachers Moving Online Quickly
- MERLOT – Curated online learning and support materials and content creation tools
- MIT Open Courseware
- OER Commons – Open Educational Resources
- University of Minnesota Open Textbook Library
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Blended Learning Toolkit – Tools for designing blended courses
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Active Teaching Labs – 5 years of archived videos on digital tools
- @ONE Online Network of Educators
- Tomorrow’s Professor Tool Kit for Online Instructors
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Continuity of Instruction resources for COVID-19
- Pivot to Online: A student guide
- Online with LSE: Transitioning to online instruction – Webinar Fri 3/20 Noon EDT
- Online Teaching @KIS: Do & Don’t list
Science-specific Educational Resources (including COVID-19 content)
- Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) – Reviewed collection of educational resources on climate science and energy
- InterInterdisciplinary Teaching about Earth for a Sustainable Future (InTeGrate)
- Climate Change Education.org
- ConConcord Consortium – Interactive STEM Activities covering Physics & Chemistry, Life Sciences, Engineering, Earth and Space Science, Mathematics
- EarthLabs – Laboratory component of an Earth or Environmental Science Course: Teacher Guide and
Student Labs - Earth Exploration Toolbook – Using online Earth science data in educational contexts
- @CorinneHyde – Advice on teaching online in a crisis
- American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
- Teaching Resources for Coronavirus Disruption for Microbiology and Biology
- Podcast – This Week in Virology (TWIV) and other ASM Podcasts
- Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
- CBE-Life Sciences Education – Evidence-based Online Instructional Resources
- @davidasinclair – Summary of this week’s published papers on #COVID19 with information, interpretation, links to sources and predictions
Recommendations for Lab Group Operations
Accessibility Considerations
- Select Resources for Quickly Handling the COVID-19 Online Pivot – Jump to Accessibility section
- Companies offering free services (or not canceling services) during this time
-
- GOOGLE is making free Google Hangouts Meet (their premium videoconferencing tool) for educators and businesses until 7/1
- SPECTRUM is offering free Spectrum internet to K12 and college students for 60 days
- ZOOM is offering free access to the zoom videoconferencing tool (K12 only at this point)
- Major U.S. internet firms agree not to cancel service over next 60 days
- TopHat is free for professors and students who have current, active classes, to complete their semester
Twitter/Instagram Accounts
- @tinyearthnet
- @curenet1
- @erindolan1
- @sarahmilleruw
- @globalhighered
Facebook Accounts
This is an ongoing community effort – thank you!
Compiled by Sarah Miller, Tiny Earth Executive Director, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Created March 12, 2020. Last updated March 16, 2020.
Short URL to this as a Google doc: https://go.wisc.edu/qe5942
Credit for contributions:
Tiny Earth Partner Instructors (TEPIs) Kris Olds, Suzanne Dove, Ana Barral, SABER community, Sydney Thomas, Angelo Kolokithas, Marc Chevrette, Nichole Broderick, Jennifer Heinritz, Leanna Wilson, Monica Hall-Woods, Enid Gonzalez-Orta, Kristin Labby, Katherine Maloney, Deepa Acharya, John Martin, Timmo Dugdale, Tomorrow’s Professor / Rick Reid, Nancy Ruggeri, Heather Bleakley, Steel Wagstaff
Please let me know if I missed anyone or if corrections need to be made to the content.
This document of shared ideas and the spirit of inquiry and discovery it supports is dedicated to Heather Allen, who passed away on March 7, 2020. She was one of the good ones.