1. Leonardo Da Vinci
2. The Mona Lisa Molecule Answers Key
3. The Mona Lisa Molecule Answers Worksheet

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE “Th e Mona Lisa Molecule” by Karobi Moitra Page 2 Questions 3. Why was it important to solve the structure of DNA?

If you use HHMI Biointeractive resources and case studies found at the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, then you’ll appreciate this announcement.

• “Th e Mona Lisa Molecule” by Karobi Moitra Page 7 Dear Diary: Today Jim and Francis solved the mystery of life itself. Using Rosy’s data (possibly unknown to her!), they refi ned the backbone of DNA on their model to the precise measurements suggested by her work.
• Painting: Mona Lisa. Completed in 1517 by Da Vinci during the renaissance. Colors of the Mona Lisa. Dark, warm earth tones create an unusual setting.

The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science is collaborating with HHMI BioInteractive to pair case studies in our collection with their wonderful resources. Below is a list of the first group of cases (32 in total) that now have HHMI BioInteractive materials associated with them through the Videos and/or Supplemental Materials tabs of each case’s Overview Record.

HHMI Case Studies

Simone Athayde

University of Florida
simonea@ufl.edu
Mentor: Pat Marsteller

Simone is developing a new Tropical Conservation and Development foundational course on “Interdisciplinary Research and Practice Between the Biophysical and the Social Sciences. She plans to develop problem-based learning by organizing study-cases from University of Florida alumni using on-line tools. UF Alumni will share their interdisciplinary experiences and “problems from the field” to be examined by the students.

Gilbert Ayuk

Fulton-Montgomery Community College
gilbert.ayuk@fmcc.suny.edu
Mentor: Michelle Fisher

Gilbert is interested in the design of case studies in physics and astronomy and their implementation within courses. A successful implementation of case studies in the physics and astronomy courses that he teaches will lead to increased student learning, motivation, and higher retention in my courses.

Candice Damiani

University of Pittsburgh
cld79@pitt.edu
Mentor: Karen Klyczek

Candice teaches a large (200-300 student) section of Foundations of Biology as well as Microbiology (80-120 students) and Immunology (80-120 students). She started implementing case studies after reading about their success and attending the SCN pre-conference meeting at ASMCUE in May of 2013. She is particularly interested in developing case studies to teach immunology concepts.

Daniel Dembkowski

South Dakota State University
daniel.dembkowski@sdstate.edu
Mentor: Aditi Pai

Daniel uses a combination of interactive software (TurningPoint® and Respondus®) and case studies to teach students about sustainable commercial fishing off the Atlantic coast and about removal and reintroduction of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park. During each case study, various scenarios were presented and students used Clicker® devices (in concert with TurningPoint® and Respondus®) to respond based on the information presented. He is writing a case study in fisheries management with his major advisor.

Heather Eves

Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins SAIS
heves1@jhu.edu
Mentor: Aditi Pai

As a conservation biologist, Heather focuses on the complex nature of the discipline involving scientific method, qualitative and quantitative biological and social science methodologies, policy, communications, planning and multidisciplinary skills that require a problem based learning approach. I have been teaching with PBL in my conservation courses and began utilizing cases from NCCSTS for an undergraduate biology course I taught last year. Heather’s project is to fully-develop cases that will contribute to her networks in the US, Africa and the Caribbean to assist with improved capacity among graduates in addressing the challenges they face in biodiversity conservation.

Natalie G. Farny

Worcester Polytechnic Institute
nfarny@wpi.edu
Mentor: Pat Marsteller

Natalie is completely redeveloping the Anatomy and Physiology curriculum from scratch. She plans using mini cases that can fit in a 50 minute period for each major organ system She would also like to adapt each mini-case so that it can be used either in small group discussions or with clicker questions for larger groups.

Staci Forgey

Tidewater Community College
sblecha@tcc.edu
Mentor: Michelle Fisher

Staci is planning to write a case study that deals with the Unusual Mortality Event (UME) in dolphins on the east coast.

Vivienne Friday

Iowa Western Community College
vivievet@msn.com
Mentor: Michelle Fisher

Vivienne is interested in integrating cases in my teaching nursing courses. This opportunity to integrate cases in the classroom will hopefully result in an increase in the number of students who successfully complete the nursing course and are successful in passing the National Council Licensure Examination and become effective practicing nurses.

Angela Hartsock

University of Akron-Wayne College
ahartsock1@uakron.edu
Mentor: Drew Kohlhorst

Angela is working on developing a series of microbiology case studies for nursing students. These case studies are based on published infectious disease case reports or epidemiological investigations and adapted to the level of the beginner student. She wants to integrate multiple high level concepts students need to know with real world experiments and data interpretation. She is particularly interested in online methods.

Melissa M Haswell

Central Michigan University
palme2mm@cmich.edu
Mentor: Pat Marsteller

Melissa’s project will be part of her “Exploring the Influence of Departmental Acculturation on Teaching Philosophy and Practice of Biology Professors.” The goal of my research is to identify the cultural components of a biology department that influence the types of teaching/learning tools, such as PBL, that they use in their classrooms. She uses problem-based learning activities, such as case studies, in my classes. She will create a project or case study for a pathophysiology class that encompasses current research on how stress, epigenetics, environmental factors, and disruption of the human microbiome are the underlying basis of several major diseases.

Jeana MacLeod

Memorial University of Newfoundland
jmacleod@grenfell.mun.ca
Mentor: Clyde Herreid

Jeana is interested in developing a case study for undergraduate science students that can effectively provide a basic understanding of what is policy, an awareness of communication issues between scientists and policy-makers, and an opportunity to develop core policy competencies.

Glenna M. Malcolm

Pennsylvania State University
gmm193@psu.edu
Mentor: Clyde Herreid

Glenna uses case studies to help students gain higher-ordered thinking skills, such as synthesizing and applying knowledge, in Ecology course. Her issue is properly scaffolding information so students can successfully grapple with the study. The topic is on understanding how carbon cycling is impacted when pastures are converted to corn fields for ethanol production with a broader context of considering biofuel as a sustainable fuel for the future. She is happy to review other case studies as one way of gaining more knowledge about creating effective cases.

Karobi Moitra

Trinity Washington University
MoitraK@trinitydc.edu
Mentor: Clyde Herreid

Karobi wants to develop a case: The Mona Lisa Molecule: Mysteries of DNA Unraveled. This case study aims to teach students about basic aspects of DNA, including DNA structure, the history of its discovery, the key players involved in the discovery, major experiments that were conducted to show that DNA is the genetic material, the central dogma of molecular biology and finally how these groundbreaking discoveries led up to the modern science of molecular biology. This case study can be used as a complete unit to teach DNA structure and it’s discovery, DNA as the genetic material, the central dogma of molecular biology and the applications of molecular biology to modern life. Students will also be required to build a model of DNA similar to that built by Watson and Crick as a group project. Finally the students will incorporate their whole project into a group website.

Sharon E. Mozley-Standridge

Middle Georgia State College
semozley@mga.edu
Mentor: Karen Klyczek

Sharon plans to study improvement in understanding, retention and analysis using a more interactive, student-centered method other than lecture or traditional lab. Her project includes an undergraduate non-science majors level for introductory biology and introductory mycology courses.

Sarah Anne Orlofske

Northeastern Illinois University
s-orlofske@neiu.edu
Mentor: Pat Marsteller

Sarah is interested in case studies and problem based learning activities to allow students to learn the concepts and use that knowledge to devise unique solutions to health related issues in a way that more accurately represents what they will be doing in their future careers. She is using and developing cases for parasitology that might also beused in disease ecology, wildlife management, conservation biology, ecology, and general biology.

Justin A. Pruneski

Heidelberg University
jprunesk@heidelberg.edu
Mentor: Karen Klyczek

Justin wants to incorporate cases into non-majors and majors Intro Biology and Genetics. At a BioQUEST workshop, he worked with other educators to write a case to explore environmental science using large air pollution data sets: http://bioquest.org/summer2012/2012/06/using-large-air-pollution-data-sets-in-introductory-agriculture-biology-and-environmental-classes/

Judith Roe

University of Maine at Presque Isle
judith.roe@umpi.edu
Mentor: Drew Kohlhorst

Judith has used cases and plans new ones for General Biology. She wants advide on how best to present and publish the case.

Matt Ruddy

Onondaga Community College
ruddym@sunyocc.edu
Mentor: Michelle Fisher

Matt teaches Anatomy and Physiology I, a course primarily serves a population of students interested in pursuing a degree in allied health fields. His students write a case study based on a topic covered during the semester. The goal of this assignment is to build a series of case studies that he can use with future students.

Cheston Saunders

Bladen Community College
csaunders@mymail.bladencc.edu
Mentor: Aditi Pai

Cheston is interested to learn how case studies can be effectively implemented in the virtual environment.

Maureen Schafer

George Mason University
mschafer@gmu.edu
Mentor: Drew Kohlhorst

Maureen will use the Case Study approach in the Nursing in Research undergraduate course. This is a required class for nursing students in their last year of college. The case studies would focus on the scientific process structured and developed through problem based learning (PBL) to approach the real time challenges of bringing evidenced based practice to the patient bedside. The outcome for the student would be the ability to critically assess the scientific process in the literature and then bridge those gold standards into active clinical practice.

Justin Shaffer

University of California, Irvine
j.shaffer@uci.edu
Mentor: Drew Kohlhorst

Justin plans on developing a series of cases for a course “From Conception to Birth,” which explores all aspects related to human reproductive anatomy, conception, pregnancy, and birth.

Jessica Megan Steinweg

University of Wisconsin -Baraboo/Sauk County
megan.steinweg@uwc.edu
Mentor: Karen Klyczek

Jessica will be teaching Botany and Microbiology. She would like to develop a problem based learning activity that links those two topics. She would like to focus on microorganisms and plant health, while including an aspect of symbiosis and co-evolution.

Bethany Stone

University of Missouri – Columbia
StoneB@missouri.edu
Mentor: Clyde Herreid

Bethany would like to create cases that fit two criteria: 1) they can be completed in one class period and 2) are aimed at non-science majors in a large lecture class. One idea she proposes uses DNA samples from plants to provide evidence in a murder – an real-life case that would cover concepts such as DNA structure and sequences, restriction enzymes, DNA electrophoresis, that DNA is the same throughout an organism (in this case the plant leaves and the maternal tissues of the fruit), and the genetic diversity of individual plants. She would also like to gather evidence on the effectiveness of the case as measured by 1) student learning, 2) student attitudes towards science in general, and 3) student attitudes towards the content and how it relates to their lives, specifically.

Jennifer M. Wade

Laney College
jwade@peralta.edu
Mentor: Michelle Fisher

Jennifer wants to develop case studies for Introductory Human Anatomy and Physiology course at Laney College. She is interested in the challenges of introducing case studies in a community college setting due to the very specific and extensive student learning outcomes instructors are expected to meet. And external challenges outside the classroom such as poverty, single parenthood, and even homelessness.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Ellen Wisner

The Mona Lisa Molecule Answers Key

• New Jersey Institute of Technology
• wisner@njit.edu
• Mentor: Clyde Herreid

The Mona Lisa Molecule Answers Worksheet

Ellen wants to use case studies in a large Foundations of Ecology and Evolution which is part of the core sequence for Biology majors at NJIT. In her smaller honors course she would like to have small groups of students develop case studies over the course of the semester.