Claret Cup Cactus, Big Bend Nat. Park, TX
(photo by BW Grant)

TIEE Experiments are a collection of peer-reviewed laboratory activities. Each experiment is based upon student-active inquiry, and therefore they teach key ecological concepts as well as engaging students in the process of ecological research.

Experiments are designed to help you more actively involve your students in lab/field investigations — in making observations, asking questions, discussing questions, designing experiments, analyzing data, and writing papers. They will also help you better evaluate student learning and your teaching. You can download the PDF files to use the lab for class; the links and references will also help you and your students learn more about the topics.

TIEE Experiments contain:

• Synopsis with sections on What Happens, Lab Objectives Equipment/ Logistics Required, Summary of What is Due, and Keyword Descriptors.


• Description with sections titled Introduction, Materials and Methods, Questions for Further Thought and Discussion, References and Links, Tools for Assessment of Student Outcomes, and Tools for Formative Evaluation of this Experiment.


• Authors's Notes with sections on Challenges to Anticipate and Solve, Lab Description, Questions for Further Thought and Other Discussion Questions, Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes, Evaluation of the Lab Activity, and Translating the Activity to Other Scales.


• Student Data section for data that students in ecology classes collect and share with other conducting the experiment.

Each new Experiment has a common format including two major sections: (I) Lab Description and (II) Interactive Repository of Student Generated Data. Each Experiment includes keyword lists on "Ecological Content, Science Skills, and Pedagogical Methods" which are linked to pages in either the Issues or Teaching Resources areas of the web site (or CD-ROM) and to other web resources. Thus, users can go from a keyword such as "cooperative learning" to pages in the Teaching Resources area that describes it and includes methods of evaluation. The keyword lists allow faculty users to select lab activities on the basis of how the activity is taught as much as upon what is taught. In addition, faculty can learn a great deal about how to teach, assess, and evaluate the activity in new and innovative ways, and thereby improve their teaching.

Each Experiment includes links to specific methodologies, analytical designs, and other resources for faculty to download and use that will enable them to engage in rigorous formative and summative evaluation of their use of each activity (Gabel 1994, Sundberg 1997, Ebert-May 1999). In addition to greatly informing our efforts in this proposal, these data will generate critical feedback to faculty about how to improve their teaching and draw many into conducting scholarly ecological educational research.

Each Experiment includes links to a Bulletin Board containing comments by the activity's author(s), FAQ's and answers, and an interactive site for faculty to post suggestions, experiences, etc., about the content of the activity and the pedagogical innovations it uses (to help others to anticipate implementation challenges across a variety of institutions). Each includes an interactive repository of student-collected data, analyses, and comments, and comparisons of data among geographic locations, seasons, years, etc., that could themselves become activities. Lastly, each Experiment includes complete sets of *.PDF versions of all handouts that can be easily downloaded and printed.

Submitting to TIEE

One TIEE goal is to help faculty use teaching scholarship in reappointment and promotion files. Submitted Experiments and Issues are peer reviewed and at some institutions will count as peer reviewed publications. For more information about submitting contributions for TIEE see the Submissions page.