Novick, L. R., & Catley, K. M. (2018). Teaching Tree Thinking in an Upper Level Organismal Biology Course: Testing the Effectiveness of a Multifaceted Curriculum. Journal of Biological Education, 52(1), 66–78.
This article reports on continued efforts to create, implement and evaluate a research-based tree-thinking curriculum and assessment tool. The authors are from the Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and the Department of Biology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, USA. In the present study, several parts of an upper level organismal biology curriculum supported the goal of teaching how to interpret cladograms and reason with the information depicted therein: instructional booklet, initial lectures and phylogenetics lab. Other parts supported the more general goal of utilizing tree thinking to more fully appreciate the connectivity and interdependence of all life: later lectures, dinner table cladogram activity, and evolution in action lab. Biology students (n=17) enrolled in the course received the multi-week tree-thinking curriculum with learning assessed by comparing pre- and post-test scores. Quantitatively, large gains were found in tree-thinking abilities. Results also provided qualitative evidence of succeeding with the more general goal of helping students to appreciate the interconnectedness of Earth’s biodiversity.