Fig. 1

Illustration of how to modify a phylogeny for assessment purposes. a A phylogeny showing the evolutionary relationships of selected mammal taxa as it might appear in a textbook. b–e Instructional models and assessment questions constructed by rotating branches around nodes of the original phylogeny. a Curved arrows indicate where clades were rotated about nodes and lines above terminal taxa are included to indicate the proximity of taxa. b–d Binary-choice questions each includes a distracter response choice corresponding to an incorrect strategy (b similarity, c proximity, and d node counting). e Four-choice instructional model and assessment question including each incorrect strategy (similarity, proximity, and node counting) as a separate distracter response choice