Here's a first day activity based on Dan Collea's suggestion on the Bioforum Listserv and modified for my own circumstances and comfort levels. It brings biology to "life" from Day 1 by introducing an interesting creature - my hissing cockroaches - for students to observe. At the end of the period on I will distribute my course packet for students to read as homework.
I'm calling it a lab, a "getting to know you" activity where I gather info about them, they gather info about the cockroaches and later they also gather info about me and the course. The lab folds in a discussion of the scientific method - observe, formulate hypotheses, test hypotheses - It may evolve into more elaborate investigations, but for now I'm keeping it rather simple, with a limited initial duration but open-ended possibilities for further explorations. The last section asks students to imagine the cockroaches can talk - what kinds of questions would you ask? Some of these questions may then lead to follow up investigations. I will revise as it unfolds.
Getting to Know You.
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