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This article evaluates a research-based curriculum for introductory biology majors, combining an instructional booklet, laboratory activities, and lectures. In a study of 117 undergraduates, students receiving the new curriculum showed larger gains in tree-thinking abilities than those taught with business-as-usual methods. Gains were measured using a novel instrument and persisted on an unannounced follow-up test after 5–6 weeks. Results suggest expert competence depends on grasping that any specific phylogenetic tree is only a subset of the complete, vastly larger ToL.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/fostering-21st-century-evolutionary-reasoning-teaching-tree-thinking-to-introductory-biology-students/597969/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/fostering-21st-century-evolutionary-reasoning-teaching-tree-thinking-to-introductory-biology-students/597969.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Indoniesian Boy","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-19","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":81},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is “tree thinking” in this research context?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Tree thinking refers to interpreting and reasoning from Tree of Life (ToL) diagrams, including the suite of skills used to engage with phylogenetic information.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How was the instructional curriculum evaluated?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study compared a research-based tree-thinking curriculum (booklet, laboratory, and lectures) with business-as-usual instruction among 117 undergraduates, using a novel assessment instrument and follow-up testing.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What did the researchers find about student performance?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Students receiving the experimental curriculum showed greater gains in tree-thinking abilities than the control group, with a medium-size effect, and these gains were observable on an unannounced test 5–6 weeks later.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},597969,1792210383,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":81,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},962090760608,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","Fostering 21st-Century Evolutionary Reasoning: Teaching Tree Thinking to Introductory Biology Students  \nLaura R. Novick†* and Kefyn M. Catley‡  \n†Department of Psychology and Human Development, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37203-5721; ‡Department of Biology, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723  \nABSTRACT  \nThe ability to interpret and reason from Tree of Life (ToL) diagrams has become a vital component of science literacy in the 21st century. This article reports on the effectiveness of a research-based curriculum, including an instructional booklet, laboratory, and lectures, to teach the fundamentals of such tree thinking in an introductory biology class for science majors. We present the resultsof a study involving 117 undergraduates who received either our new research-based tree-thinking curriculum or business-as-usual instruction. We found greater gains in tree-thinking abilities for the experimental instruction group than for the business-as-usual group, as measured by performance on our novel assessment instrument. This was a medium size effect. These gains were observed on an unannounced test that was administered ∼5–6 weeks after the primary instruction in tree thinking. The nature of students’ postinstruction difficulties with tree thinking suggests that the critical underlying concept for acquiring expert-level competence in this area is understanding that any specific phylogenetic tree is a subset of the complete, unimaginably large ToL.  \nScientists’ ability to interpret and reason with information depicted in the Tree of Life (ToL)—that is, to engage in a suite of skills referred to as tree thinking—has yielded important benefits for humanity in many areas, including agriculture, biotechnology, climate change, forensics, and health (e.g., American Museum of Natural History [AMNH], 2002; Futuyma, 2004; Thomas et al., 2004; Yates et al., 2004; Davis et al., 2010) . Thus, the ability to engage in tree thinking is an important component of 21st-century science literacy (Thanukos, 2009; Baum and Smith, 2013; Novick and Catley, 2013) . In recognition of this, tree thinking has recently become a rich area of empirical inquiry. This research has primarily examined undergraduates’ ability to interpret branching tree diagrams called cladograms, which depict (hypothesized) phylogenetic relationships as nested sets of taxa supported by synapomorphies (Hennig, 1966; Thanukos, 2009; Baum and Smith, 2013) . For example, the cladogram in Figure 1 depicts evolutionary relationships among 10 dinosaur taxa. Research indicates that undergraduates have difficulty engaging in tree thinking (e.g., Meir et al., 2007; Novick and Catley, 2013), even after instruction in phylogenetics in a college biology class (Sandvik, 2008; Halverson et al., 2011; Catley et al., 2012; Phillips et al., 2012; Dees et al., 2014). Moreover, understanding natural selection and success at tree thinking are distinct constructs, so current instruction that focuses primarily on topics in microevolution (Catley, 2006) is insufficient for promoting competence at tree thinking, which is a macroevolutionary skill (Novick et al., 2014) .  \nClearly, there is a need for improved instruction in tree thinking that 1) is informed by a deep understanding of both the relevant biological science and the difficulties students encounter and 2) leverages knowledge of effective instructional practices (National Research Council, 2012) . Several research teams have recently begun to  \nJennifer Momsen, Monitoring Editor Submitted June 8, 2015; Revised May 3, 2016; Accepted May 9, 2016  \nCBE Life Sci Educ December 1, 2016 15:ar66  \nDOI:10 .1187/cbe.15-06-0127  \n*Address correspondence to: Laura R. Novick,([Laura.Novick@vanderbilt.edu](Laura.Novick@vanderbilt.edu)) .  \n© 2016 L. R. Novick and K. M. Catley. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biolo","cbCaikHF9rrgjB98","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikHF9rrgjB98","pdf",1716031,28,"English","# Abstract\n## Curriculum effectiveness study\n## Assessment approach and follow-up results\n## Conceptual basis for expert competence\n## Background: tree thinking and student difficulties","[{\"question\":\"What is “tree thinking” in this research context?\",\"answer\":\"Tree thinking refers to interpreting and reasoning from Tree of Life (ToL) diagrams, including the suite of skills used to engage with phylogenetic information.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the instructional curriculum evaluated?\",\"answer\":\"The study compared a research-based tree-thinking curriculum (booklet, laboratory, and lectures) with business-as-usual instruction among 117 undergraduates, using a novel assessment instrument and follow-up testing.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the researchers find about student performance?\",\"answer\":\"Students receiving the experimental curriculum showed greater gains in tree-thinking abilities than the control group, with a medium-size effect, and these gains were observable on an unannounced test 5–6 weeks later.\"}]","Fostering 21st-Century Evolutionary Reasoning - Teaching Tree Thinking to Introductory Biology Students | PDF",1792086052,71]