Illustrated Learning Modules Featuring Real Scientists

The Biodiversity Literacy Undergraduate Education project needed a set of mini learning modules featuring biodiversity data. The goal was to create modules that any instructor of an Into to Biology class could use that convey the importance of biodiversity data in science. The modules also needed to showcase a diverse set of scientists and projects so that a diverse set of students would be able to relate to the research.

The catch? BLUE’s grant deadline was looming, and there were limited hours to get everything done. They needed someone who could not only handle the illustration, but could actually develop the module. That’s where I came in. I reached out to 5 scientists doing interesting work with biodiversity data in both academia, natural history collections, and the Department of Natural Resources. I interviewed each scientist about their work, wrote up the interviews in a brief article, developed exercises to reinforce what the students were learning, and wrote up a teacher’s key.

The modules are currently being tested and tweaked by my collaborators before being published for open access on QUBESHub.