Table 3 Activity timeline for instructor
From: Making evolution stick: using sticky notes to teach the mechanisms of evolutionary change
Activity | Description | Approximate time (min) |
|---|---|---|
Before class | ||
 Instructor prep | Review concepts and modify activity as needed. Prepare handouts. Procure sticky notes (four colors, with ~ 30 notes of each color per group) | 60–120 |
 Student prep | Read assigned section of text. Write short answers to pre-activity discussion questions (Table 2B) | 15–30 |
During class | ||
 Warm-up discussion | Whole-class discussion on pre-class questions (Table 2B) | 10 |
 Introduce activity | Instructor describes sticky note species and demonstrates mechanism of founder effect | 5 |
 Complete activity in small groups | Spend about 6 min enacting each mechanism; each student also completes individual handout (Additional file 1) | 45 |
 Wrap-up and group rearrangement | During this time, students can walk around to examine other groups’ populations | 5 |
 Synthesis discussion | Whole-class discussion to address misconceptions (Table 2C) and synthesis questions (Table 2D) | 10 |
After class | ||
 Homework | Complete worksheet that reviews material and introduces allele frequency calculations (Additional file 2) | 20–45 |
 Review | See extensions: guess the mechanism, apply multiple mechanisms | 15–30 |
Variations | ||
 Think/pair/share | A time-saving alternative to small-group work. The entire class focuses on one population. Student pairs use the think/pair/share method to follow along on their individual handout (Additional file 1), which student volunteers coming to the front of the room to demonstrate each mechanism | 20–30 |
 Jigsaw method | Activity will cover four mechanism and be divided into two parts: students should spend about 10 min in their expert groups and 20 min in their novice groups (spending about 5 min per mechanism); 10 min are built-in for rearranging groups | 40 |