Archive | BLC

Materials from Past BLCs

BLC 2025

Big Idea Notetakers' Notes

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Keynote Address: Herman Pontzer

Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us

The energetics of movement, from exercise to ecology and evolution. Journal of Experimental Biology February 2025. DOI
Scientific American articles by Herman Pontzer.
Online interview with Herman Pontzer.
Article featured in the New Yorker by Dr. Pontzer
- Medical Benchmarks and the Myth of the Universal Patient
Shared Documents for Keynote Debrief
Science article referred to in talk: Extreme Events reveal an alimentary limit on sustained maximal human energy expenditure.

Books by Dr. Pontzer

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Hands-On AI: Keefe Reuther

Hands-On AI: Building Custom Chatbots to Support Active Learning

Lab Website
Hugging Face
GitHub
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7638-8521
BLC 2025 AI Workshop Share (Folder)

Instructional Video #1: How to set up your Open AI account

Instructional Video #2: Summary of Reuther workshop

Set Up Your Own API Key:
- I've removed my shared OpenAI API key, so you’ll need your own to run the apps. This quick video will walk you through it:
- How to Set Up Your API Key
Copy & Customize a Chatbot:
Here’s a walkthrough of how to clone and personalize a chatbot from Hugging Face Spaces:
- Watch the Video
My Hugging Face Profile
Schema Study App:
- Want to build a more advanced web app? Check out my Schema Study App. It requires a bit more setup, so if you're interested, let’s set up a time to chat.
Instructor Evaluation Version
- [Username: hal | Password: 9000]
Seminar Recording:
- I recently gave a SABER seminar sharing results from using this app in my course. You can watch it here: Watch the Seminar

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Brief But Spectacular Presentations

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ELena Bray Speth

Beyond Study Strategies: Understanding Student Contextual Awareness and Goals as Drivers of Behavior

How should I study for the exam? Self-regulated learning strategies and achievement in introductory biology. Amanda Sebesta, Elena Bray Speth; CBE Life Sciences Education October 2017. DOI

BLC 2024

Keynote Address, Ahna Skop. Publications - Skop lab website.

Fostering Academic Integrity in the GenAI Era: Policy & Conversation, Tricia Bertram Gallant PPT + all resources.

Making Cyanotypes, How to; source for pre-treated materials; instructions for making your own paper or fabric

Exhaustion, Burnout, and Transformation: A Conversation, Mays Imad

Alternate Student Conceptions, Melinda Owens & Annie Zeidman-Karpinski

Brief But Spectacular Presentations

Hsu.Premo.Wyatt.pptx

Kozlovsky.ppt

MaysImad.ppt

MaysImad.Presentation.pdf

UncoveringACs

QFocusWorksheet.pdf

Questions.to.Elicit

BLC 2023

Keynote Address: Spicy Science: Molecular & Cellular Mechanisms of Itch, Touch & Pain, Diana Bautista

Introducing the somatosensory system into your biology course, Lisa Urry

Applying the science of engagement to the biology classroom: New Perspectives on the "mentor mindset", David Yeager and Ruth Buskirk

Student Mentor Videos

PPT Slides and other resources

Exploring the Impacts of Alternative Grading, Angela Hodgson, Jenni Momsen, Anne Casper, Jennifer Doherty

PPT Slides and Syllabi

Data Nuggets: Bringing authentic research and data into the classroom, Elizabeth Schultheis

One Size Does Not Fit All: Assessment of multiple reading strategies first-year biology students use to read primary scientific literature, Min Zhong, Corrine Foster, Melissa McCartney

Individual and Social Metacogntion, Julie Dangremond Stanton

PPT Slides

Additional information on supporting students with disabilities

(be sure to check out Table 4)

LisaUrry.ppt

DataNuggets.ppt

OneSizeDoesNotFitAll.ppt

BLC 2022

Keynote Address: Life in the Rocks, Ruth Blake

Creating Equitable Courses Through Alternative Grading Approaches, Jenni Momsen

Notes page and link to PPT slides

Strengthening the Classroom Ecosystem: Using Undergraduate Learning Assistants to Promote Inclusion and Equity, Cynthia Brame

Brief But Spectacular Presentations:

Brame.pdf

Zhong.ppt

NatalieMountjoy.pptx

Kukday.Habersham.pptx

Hsu.pptx

BuskirkWillfordZhong.pptx

RuthBlake.pptx

BLC 2020

Struggling Together, Liz Richey

Brief But Spectacular Presentations

Flies, Alcohol, and Sex, Ulrike Heberlein

Corona Virus Resources, Michael Black

Assessment Workshop Handout, Melissa Csikari & Rebecca Orr

Resource Links:

Small Pond Science Blog (articles with simple statistics, good for teaching)

BLC 2019

Heberlein.2020.BLC.pptx

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES.pdf

AssessmentWorkshop Handout.pdf

ErinShortlidge.pptx

RobinBulleri.pptx

Penny Chisholm, Keynote Speaker

Link to her slides

Meghan Bathgate, Workshop Facilitator

Beth Schussler, Workshop Facilitator

Bryan Dewsbury, Workshop Facilitator

Brief But Spectaculars:

BLC 2018

AnxietySurveys.docx

StudentAnxiety

handouts.docx

Teaching.Meaning.Purpose

David Schimel, Keynote Speaker

Reference Links:
NASA video library
OCO-2 Launch Highlights
A Year in the Life of Earth's CO2
A great overview, as of a few years ago, great for connecting to the underlying physiology, with good graphics.

David's book, Climate and Ecosystems
and Dave Randall’s book on climate and climate change

Link to Dave Schimel's PPT Slides

References:
- Verma, M., David Schimel, Bradley Evans, Christian Frankenberg, Jason Beringer, Darren T. Drewry, Troy Magney, Ian Marang, Lindsay Hutley, Caitlin Moore and AM Eldering. 2017, Effect of environmental conditions on the relationship between solar induced fluorescence and gross primary productivity at an OzFlux grassland site, J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci., 122 (3): 716-733
- Here’s another application of SIF and other data:
Jeong SJ, Schimel D, Frankenberg C, Drewry DT, Fisher JB, Verma M, Berry JA, Lee JE, Joiner J. Application of satellite solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence to understanding large-scale variations in vegetation phenology and function over northern high latitude forests. 2017. Remote Sensing of Environment;190:178-87.

Kimberly Tanner, Workshop Facilitator

Twenty One Strategies Document:

Mobiles and Structure Matters Workshop Slides:

References:
Tanner, K.D. Structure Matters: Twenty-One Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Classroom Equity. 12:1-10, 2013.
**http://www.lifescied.org/content/12/3/322.full.pdf+html**

Trujillo, G. and Tanner, K.D. Considering the Role of Affect in Learning: Monitoring Students’ Self-Efficacy, Sense of Belonging, and Science Identity. CBE: Life Sciences Education, 13:1-10, 2013.
**http://www.lifescied.org/content/13/1/6.full.pdf+html**

Tanner, K.D. Learning to See Inequity in Science. CBE: A Journal of Life Sciences Education, Vol. 8: 265-270, 2009.
**http://www.lifescied.org/content/8/4/265.full.pdf+html**

Chamany, K., Allen, D., and Tanner, K.D., Making Biology Learning Relevant to Students: Integrating People, History, and Context into College Biology Teaching. CBE: Life Sciences Education, Vol. 7: 267-278, 2008.
**http://www.lifescied.org/content/7/3/267.full.pdf+html**

Tanner, K.D. and Allen, D.E., Cultural Competence in the College Biology Classroom. CBE: Life Sciences Education, Vol. 6: 251-258, 2007.
**http://www.lifescied.org/content/6/4/251.full.pdf+html**