Simulated Biology. Real Learning.

Our collaborations with educators and education researchers help us better understand student misconceptions in biology and how to most effectively use simulations and other interactive activities to help students overcome them.
We’re excited that our projects inform and improve teaching and learning and we welcome collaborations with other biology education researchers. We work with academic and non-profit groups on educational projects and provide biological models for education researchers using our core modeling framework.

May 13, 2022

Explore SimBio’s newly revised Life History Chapter

Presented by Dr. John Roach, lead author of numerous SimUText Ecology interactive chapters, which he uses instead of a traditional textbook in his Ecology course at the University of Montana.

Description: Interested in test-driving the updated and enhanced version of Life History? Dr. John Roach is the lead author of many SimUText Ecology interactive chapters, which he uses instead of a traditional textbook in his Ecology course at the University of Montana. John will demo Life History and any other SimBio teaching tools of interest to participants.
March 3, 2022

From Thought to Plot, with Dr. Stephanie Gardner

Presented by Dr. Stephanie Gardner, Purdue University

Description: Undergraduate biology students often struggle with graphing. This webinar shares our findings on how student graphing differs from that of more experienced graphers, common student challenges when graphing, and a framework we developed for helping biology students learn to make better graphs. I’ll also share a model of graph construction and upcoming graphing assessments we are developing with the research team at SimBio.

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November 18, 2021

Automated Writing Assessment of Undergraduate Learning After Completion of Cellular Respiration Explored

Presented by Dr. Juli Uhl and Dr. Kevin Haudek, Automated Analysis of Constructed Response research group

Description: In this webinar, Dr. Juli Uhl and Dr. Kevin Haudek of the Automated Analysis of Constructed Response research group presented the results of their study, "Automated Writing Assessments Measure Undergraduate Learning after Completion of a Computer-Based Cellular Respiration Tutorial".
February 28, 2020

Are students learning as much as they think they are? The role of (dis)fluency with passive and active learning.

Presented by Dr. Louis Deslauriers, Director of Science Teaching and Learning at Harvard University

Description: After Dr. Eli Meir, SimBio's founder and Director of Research, read a PNAS article exploring aspects of active learning that he thought might interest the biology teaching community, he contacted the lead author, who graciously agreed to host a webinar. In this presentation, Dr. Louis Deslauriers, Director of Science Teaching and Learning at Harvard University, discusses the results of this paper, along with ways to overcome obstacles that hinder making courses active.

November 22, 2019

Using Flux Reasoning and the Action Potential Extended Tutorial to Improve Students’ Understanding of Ion Movement

Presented by Dr. Jennifer Doherty, University of Washington

Description: Dr. Jennifer Doherty emphasizes active learning in her Introductory Biology courses at the University of Washington. She and her colleagues developed the Electrochemical Gradient Assessment Device (EGAD) and a collection of in-class teaching materials on gradients and neuronal signaling. She integrates these tools with SimBio’s Action Potentials Extended tutorial to help improve student understanding of ion movement.
September 6, 2019

Teaching with SimBio’s Evolution Modules

Presented by Dr. John Herron, University of Washington

Description: Dr. Jon C. Herron is the lead author of Darwinian Snails as well as most of SimBio's other evolution modules. He is also the author of the popular Evolutionary Analysis textbook and is an award-winning educator. In this webinar, jon described a highly successful curriculum he developed for his course at the University of Washington that culminates in a compelling challenge: use a simulation in a SimBio module to design and run an experiment to address an original question.