CBE—Life Sciences Education

Vol. 9, 513–523, Winter 2010

Article

Teaching the Process of Molecular Phylogeny

and Systematics: A Multi-Part Inquiry-Based Exercise

Nathan H. Lents, Oscar E. Cifuentes, and Anthony Carpi

Department of Sciences, John Jay College, The City University of New York, New York, NY 10019

Submitted October 13, 2009; Revised February 16, 2010; Accepted April 12, 2010
Monitoring Editor: John Jungck

Three approaches to molecular phylogenetics are demonstrated to biology students as they

explore molecular data from Homo sapiens and four related primates. By analyzing DNA se-
quences, protein sequences, and chromosomal maps, students are repeatedly challenged to
develop hypotheses regarding the ancestry of the five species. Although these exercises were
designed to supplement and enhance classroom instruction on phylogeny, cladistics, and sys-
tematics in the context of a postsecondary majors-level introductory biology course, the activities
themselves require very little prior student exposure to these topics. Thus, they are well suited
for students in a wide range of educational levels, including a biology class at the secondary
level. In implementing this exercise, we have observed measurable gains, both in student
comprehension of molecular phylogeny and in their acceptance of modern evolutionary theory.
By engaging students in modern phylogenetic activities, these students better understood how
biologists are currently using molecular data to develop a more complete picture of the shared
ancestry of all living things.

INTRODUCTION largely philosophical, rooted in a poor understanding of the

scientific method and how it applies to the study of natural
Teaching fundamental mechanisms of evolution by natural history. Indeed, even advanced biology students can harbor
selection is more important than ever, both to biology stu- striking misconceptions regarding the fundamental basis of
dents and the general student population, and fresh peda- evolutionary history (O’Hara, 1997; Robbins and Roy, 2007).
gogical approaches to accomplish this are needed at all This lack of fundamental understanding by students is
levels (Dagher and BouJaoude, 1997; Robbins and Roy, 2007;
compounded by the seemingly subtle differences among
Labov and Kline Pope, 2008). Perhaps more than any other
different systematic approaches. Phenetics seeks to classify
subdiscipline of biological sciences, the study of systematics
organisms based on observable differences regardless of
tangibly and powerfully invokes the biological results of
evolutionary history, while cladistics, which also examines
evolution and selection. Thus, its inclusion throughout all
observable characteristics, has the explicit goal of inferring
levels of the biology curriculum has long been strongly
recommended. However, as powerfully argued by Rudolph shared ancestry and constructing a hierarchical classifica-
and Stewart (1998), misunderstandings about evolution are tion. Molecular phylogenetics is similar to cladistics, but
instead of relying on primitive and derived morphological
characteristics, it uses molecular sequence data and other
DOI: 10.1187/cbe.09 –10 – 0076 quantifiable measures to establish data matrices to infer
Address correspondence to: Nathan H. Lents ([email protected]).
likely evolutionary relationships. Further, there exists a va-
© 2010 N. H. Lents et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2010 The American riety of possible forms for expressing the results of system-
Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society atic analyses: phylogenetic trees, cladograms, phylograms,
for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the
public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported dendograms, ultrametric trees, etc. Thus, it is not surprising
Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- that students sometimes fail to grasp the larger conceptual
nc-sa/3.0). framework amid this disciplinary complexity.

513
N. H. Lents et al.

Explicitly teaching the process and nature of scientific ary origins of related species, we may break through
research results in considerable learning gains, among resistance that some students have to evolution in general
science majors and nonmajors alike (Lederman, 1992, (Clough, 1994; Lombrozo et al., 2008; Perry et al., 2008). In
1999; Lombrozo et al., 2008). The National Academy of our chosen method of implementation, unbeknownst to
Science (NAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) the students, the raw data they will be handling are
have explicitly called for the teaching of the practice of taken from Homo sapiens and four closely related primates,
science within the existing science curricula, especially in thus shedding light on the biological origin of humanity.
relation to evolutionary theory (Alberts and Labov, 2004; Fourth, the method that students will use, comparative
Miller et al., 2006; Ayala, 2008). However, this pedagogical genomics, is currently used by evolutionary biologists
approach is not trivial to implement. First, there are at in exactly this context (Zhu et al., 2007), thus accurately
least two distinct conceptual frameworks to consider: the “mimicking” a relevant and cutting-edge scientific
philosophical nature of the scientific pursuit, and the true- practice.
to-life realities of the modern scientific practice, which are
markedly different among disciplines (Matthews, 1994;
Rudolph and Stewart, 1998; Staver, 1998; Schwartz and EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
Lederman, 2002). Second, using real datasets that chal-
lenge students to apply scientific concepts and analysis is Student Assessment Groups
key to learning scientific thinking (Wise and Okey, 1983; Assessment took place in spring of 2009 in the course
Soloway et al., 1999). These active-learning methods are Biology 104 (Bio104), Principles of Modern Biology II, the
often met with student confusion and resistance, espe- second semester of the majors-track introductory biology
cially if they have not learned this way before (Gosser, course at John Jay College, a large, urban, minority-serv-
2003; Shetlar, 2005). Considerably more effort and thought ing institution, and part of the City University of New
is required of students, compared with traditional passive York (CUNY) university system. All three activities were
learning approaches involving didactic lectures and pro- conducted in one 2.5-h laboratory session, with students
tocol-driven laboratory exercises in which students sim- working in their normal laboratory group (pairs). The
ply follow clear experimental procedures and interpret laboratory took place after the second week of the course,
data as instructed (Hofstein and Lunetta, 2004; Hanauer et immediately after the course lecture on phylogeny and
al., 2006). systematics, which follows lectures on natural selection,
Several new educational resources have emerged that spe- micro- and macroevolution, speciation, and Hardy–Wein-
cifically give attention to the methods and practice of the mod- berg equilibrium. Two laboratory sections (28 students
ern field of systematics (Clough, 1994; Alles, 2001; Perry et al., each) meet jointly for course lectures. For the assessment,
2008). Because the majority of biology students don’t properly both lab sections met with the same course instructor at
grasp discrete information conveyed by a simple phylogenetic the same time, thus providing for a case-controlled
tree, groups including the “tree-thinking group” (http://tree- experimental design. One lab section completed the tra-
thinking.org) have resolved to develop resources and support ditional laboratory exercise [chapters 20 and 21 of the
for biology teachers at all levels (O’Hara, 1997; Baum et al., Helms biology laboratory manual (Helms et al., 1998)]
2005). Other tools include the Understanding Evolution re- and is referred to as the control section, while the
source (http://evolution.berkeley.edu) from the University of experimental section completed the exercises described
California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley, CA, resources herein.
from the NAS (www.nationalacademies.org/evolution/
Performance on Exam Questions
index.html), the Public Broadcasting Station (www.pbs.
The three phylogeny-related exam questions referred to in
org/wgbh/evolution), and Visionlearning (visionlearning.
the Assessment of the Activity section were as follows:
com), which is funded by the NSF and the U.S. Department
of Education. Q1. If two modern organisms are distantly related in an
In designing the educational method described herein,
evolutionary sense, then one should expect that…
we aimed to develop another teaching tool for demon-
strating the modern practice of molecular phylogenetics A1. they should share fewer homologous structures than
by using actual datasets and challenging students to in- two more closely related organisms.
terpret those data using their own skills in deductive Q2. In evolutionary terms, the more closely related two
reasoning. We do this by providing DNA sequences, pro- different organisms are, the…
tein sequences, and chromosomal electron density maps A2. more recently they shared a common ancestor.
of five closely related species, and then asking students to
Q3. The theory of evolution is most accurately
make simple hypotheses regarding the phylogeny of these
species. There are several unique features of this ap- described as…
proach. First, by having students participate in the scien- A3. an overarching explanation, supported by much
tific process of hypothesis-making, they gain familiarity evidence, for how populations change over time.
with “what scientists do” with experimental data. Second,
by engaging several types of data addressing the same These questions were given in multiple-choice format
underlying question, we demonstrate to students how (other answer choices are available upon request), and the
scientists use multiple lines of evidence to support or results shown in the Assessment of the Activity section
refute hypotheses. Third, by exposing students to raw represent the percentage in each group that selected the
data that can be used to elucidate the common evolution- correct answer.

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 Teaching Molecular Phylogeny

Surveys Regarding Perceptions of Evolution Q4. I feel that a large body of evidence supports the
The surveys used in this study (results shown Assessment Darwinian theory of evolution by natural
of the Activity section) were devised and twice validated by selection.
administration to similar student sections in previous se-
Q5. I support the theory that the biological species,
mesters and were deemed exempt from full panel review by
the John Jay College Institutional Review Board (IRB). Sev- Homo sapiens (Human beings) evolved from an
eral “control statements” were included regarding the ac- earlier species of primates.
ceptance of the scientific validity of current understand- Q6. I agree with Charles Darwin, who first suggested
ings of geologic time, which had shown in previous that the current form of human beings was
validations of this survey to be relatively stable in group influenced through the process of evolution by
responses before and after learning about evolution in
natural selection.
detail. Next, we included a series of overlapping state-
ments about 1) evolution, 2) natural selection, and 3) how Q7. Because human beings are mammals, I believe
those processes contributed to the emergence of Homo that they have a shared ancestry with all other
sapiens, which, in previous validations, had generated mammals.
responses that were subject to change as students studied Q8. I believe that human beings descended to their
the mechanisms of evolution. present form through natural processes, including
For this survey, students were asked to report their accep-
natural selection.
tance of the statements on a five-point scale: strongly agree,
agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, strongly dis- **⫽inverted statements; scoring is reversed.
agree. Importantly, similar concepts were repeated in sev-
eral variations, because studies have shown that students Survey responses were tabulated, scores for invert state-
may key in to certain “trigger words” including theory, ments were reversed, and group patterns were analyzed.
Darwin, evolution, scientists, and descent; and different First, responses to the control questions were analyzed to
wordings can lead to different survey results, even with the ensure that the two groups were comparable. To assess
same students (Evans, 2001; Scott and Branch, 2009). For changes in perception, we scrutinized pre- and posttreat-
most statements, a response of “strongly agree” was scored ment responses to identical questions and performed the
as a “1” and indicated the strongest acceptance of current following calculation on the “average group scores”
scientific theory, while a response of “strongly disagree” (arithmetic mean) to individual questions: 100% ⫻ (pre ⫺
was scored as a “5” and indicated the strongest opposition to post)/pre. By placing the pretest values in the denomina-
current scientific theory. However, three statements were tor, this formula normalizes for beginning differences in
expressed as “inverts,” such that agreement would indicate the two student groups and expresses change relative to
a rejection of currently accepted scientific theory. The nu- the initial condition. Error bars were added to indicate
merical scoring of these questions was inverted to maintain relative variance in survey responses, as calculated by the
the pattern that the lowest score indicates the strongest following formula: (SD)/(average response) multiplied by
acceptance of scientific theory. The survey questions were as the “percent change” score for that question for proper
follows: scaling.

Control Questions
C1. I agree with the scientific evidence that dates the
DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES
earth to more than 4 billion years of age.
**C2. Although some scientists claim otherwise, the This activity, suitable for laboratory, discussion, or any other
earth is not more than 10,000 years old. group work setting, is broken into three parts. Although com-
mon connections are drawn at the conclusion, each individual
C3. I agree with the theory that, over the course of
part could be done at different times or stand entirely on its
time, the positions of the great land masses own. Further, each part could be simplified, further extended
(continents) have undergone many dramatic to include a quantitative parsimony analysis, or otherwise
changes. modified, as explained within each description. Thus, these
exercises are flexible and can accommodate many teaching
Probative Questions environments. The driving theme is to provide actual scientific
**Q1. I believe that, with only a few exceptions, the life data to students and challenge them to draw conclusions about
the data in ways that lead them to propose a hypothetical
forms that exist on the planet today are, more or phylogram describing the evolutionary relatedness of the spe-
less, the same that have always been here since cies involved. Although it may be best if these activities follow
life first began on earth. a lecture on systematics that covers the differences between
Q2. I believe that, over many generations, natural cladistics and phylogenetics, as we have done, this may not be
selection has contributed to the gradual evolution strictly essential and a short primer on systematics (see www.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/About/primer/phylo.html) might suffice,
of animals and plants into their present forms.
depending on the academic background of the students. The
**Q3. I believe that evolution by natural selection is just complete student handout for this exercise is provided as
one theory about how life on earth came to its Supplemental Material 1, while the complete instructor
present form and I personally don’t support it. guide is provided as Supplemental Material 2.

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Figure 1. (A) Aligned genomic DNA sequences from the GULO pseudogene taken from the short arm of chromosome #8 (8p21 in
humans) of the following species: #1 ⫽ Pan troglodytes, #2 ⫽ Pongo pygmaeus, #3 ⫽ Homo sapiens, and #4 ⫽ Macaca mulatta. (B)
The discrete nucleotide differences among the four DNA sequences have been highlighted. The asterisks indicate key positions that
help reveal ancestry. (C) The most likely phylogram indicating the ancestry and divergence of the species based on these DNA
sequences.

Activity One: Molecular Phylogenetics Using a shown that many self-identified Christians in the United
Pseudogene States have brokered a psychological compromise between
science and faith by accepting the validity of geologic time
In the first activity, students are given four short DNA
and evolutionary change but maintaining that these pro-
sequences (Ohta and Nishikimi, 1999), shown in Figure 1A,
cesses had little to do with the divinely instituted emergence
with a brief description.
of Homo sapiens (Smith, 1994; Meadows et al., 2000; Miller et
al., 2006). The DNA sequences are derived from a pseudo-
• Below are four gene sequences. These are taken from four
gene, which opens up an interesting discussion in itself
animals that are believed to have “recent shared ancestry”
(Nishikimi and Yagi, 1991; Eyre-Walker and Keightley,
(are closely related).
1999). As students begin to examine the DNA sequences,
• The gene sequences are from a so-called “broken gene” or
they have little trouble identifying the differences between
pseudogene, the evolutionary remnant of a gene, which is
the species, highlighted in Figure 1B. However, if students
now nonfunctional, in a given species or group of related
are then unsure what to do next, we let them wander
species. In this case, the gene is called GULO (L-gulonolac- through the initial confusion and discuss how to approach
tone oxidase), which codes for the enzyme which catalyzes a the problem with their lab partner and other classmates,
key step in the synthesis of ascorbic acid (vitamin C). Along reinforcing the collaborative nature of scientific research.
the way, some animals have lost the function of this gene (by Eventually, students focus on the differences marked with
random mutation) and must consume vitamin C in their asterisk in Figure 1B, and nearly all student pairs draw a
diet. phylogram similar to that shown in Figure 1C. A quantita-
Procedure tive analysis of parsimony might enrich this activity signif-
icantly for more advanced students. Based upon such a
1. Examine the four gene sequences below and mark any quantitative parsimony analysis, the phylogram shown in
differences among the sequences that you can find. Figure 1C is indeed the most parsimonious relationship
2. Discuss the following questions with your lab partner: Do based on these DNA sequences (data not shown).
you notice any specific pattern? What could this pattern
mean regarding the ancestry/relatedness of the four species?
3. Together with your lab partner, make a hypothesis about Activity Two: Amino Acid Sequences of Functional
the ancestry of these four species in the form of a phyloge- Homologous Proteins
netic tree. Draw this tree on a separate sheet of paper and In this activity, we present students with sequences from
make a few notes explaining why you drew it this way. related species and challenge them to deduce a phylogram.
However, this exercise is more complicated because there
In an effort to reduce intellectual resistance to the topic, we are sequences provided from five species, and students are
elect not to reveal the identity of the species until all activ- provided with the amino acid sequences of a functional
ities are complete (Lombrozo et al., 2008). Studies have protein, chromosome-encoded SCML1 protein that func-

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tions in male embryonic development and male fertility (van are often split evenly regarding which side of the branch
de Vosse et al., 1998; Wu and Su, 2008). Because mutation point includes the most recent unique ancestor of species #3.
and evolutionary change are more “constrained” in a pro- Thus, most students begin by constructing their phylograms
tein sequence (Nachman and Crowell, 2000), these se- according to one of the options shown in Figure 2C, evenly
quences utilize the “…/…” symbol to denote long stretches split between the two possibilities.
of protein sequence with no differences in amino acids. This The fact that two hypothetical phylograms are nearly
opens a discussion of different silent mutations that might equally likely provides a good teaching moment as this
be present in these species, both of the wobble and intronic introduces the nature of scientific controversy and debate.
variety. The five sequences provided to students are shown We encourage students to present data for their position,
in Figure 2A (Wu and Su, 2008). and we have observed that some lab groups argue strongly
The differences between the homologous sequences, high- that, using the positions marked with an asterisk in Figure
lighted in black in Figure 2B, are more numerous in this 2B, there are three examples of species #3 being similar to #1
activity, but because of the practice they had in activity one, and #2, and only two examples when #3 is similar to #4 and
students are more prepared to “see through the noise” and #5. Because three is more than two, this does argue, albeit
ignore instances in which one species has a unique amino weakly, that the convergence of species #3 from #1 and #2
acid at a certain position. Another new challenge faced by was more recent than its divergence from #4 and #5. This
students in this activity is the inclusion of data from five opens a discussion of “weight of evidence” and the need for
species, instead of just four, which will require a more much larger sets of sequence data, from many genes, to
complicated phylogram. Although most of the student build stronger hypotheses. Further still, this provides a nice
groups will notice the early divergence of the ancestor of #1 segue to the next activity, which is a wholly different
and #2, from the ancestor of #4 and #5, these same groups method of analysis, and how scientific research relies on

Figure 2. (A) Aligned amino acid sequences from the SCML1 gene product of the following species: #1 ⫽ Homo sapiens, #2 ⫽ Pan troglodytes,
#3 ⫽ Gorilla gorilla, #4 ⫽ Pongo pygmaeus, and #5 ⫽ Macaca mulatta. The symbol …/… indicates a long stretch of amino acids with no
differences among the species. (B) The discrete amino acid differences among the five protein sequences have been highlighted. The asterisks
indicate key positions that help reveal ancestry. (C) The two most likely phylograms indicating the first (most distant) divergence of the
species based on these protein sequences. (D) The two most likely complete phylograms indicating the ancestry of the species based on these
protein sequences.

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multiple lines of evidence from different methodologies, some time, most student groups identify the three sets of
resulting in an inherently self-correcting march toward a homologues shared by all species (Figure 3B).
more detailed understanding of the natural world. Concentrating only on the three sets of homologues, stu-
dents are challenged to make qualitative comparisons about
the similarities and shared features of the homologues, and
in so doing, infer the relatedness of the four species.
Activity Three: Electron Density Maps of
Through a process of hypothesis testing, the students work
Chromosomes through the three sets of four homologous chromosomes
In the final activity, students are given chromosomal maps and most come to recognize that species #1 and #4 are
(cytogenetic ideograms) of a few of the larger chromosomes markedly more similar to each other than to the others, and
from four different species (Murphy et al., 2005). This opens the same is true for species #2 and #3. Thus, most students
up a short discussion about euchromatin versus heterochro- begin their phylogram as shown in Figure 3C. However,
matin, and how and why some DNA is kept “silent” (Yunis before the students simply further branch the two sides into
and Prakash, 1982). The maps are shown in Figure 3A and symmetrical final branches, a new challenge is given. Stu-
are provided to students with the chromosomes clearly ar- dents are asked to make a hypothesis regarding which di-
ranged by species. Students are instructed to cut each chro- vergence occurred more recently. In other words, students
mosome out and compare them to each other in a search for were asked to return to the sets of homologues and make
homologous chromosomes shared by all four species. After qualitative judgments regarding which pair shows more

Figure 3. (A) Chromosomal maps (cytogenetic ideograms) for assorted chromosomes from the following species: #1 ⫽ Pan troglodytes, #2 ⫽
Pongo pygmaeus, #3 ⫽ Gorilla gorilla, and #4 ⫽ Homo sapiens. (B) The same chromosomes, but arranged by homologues that are shared by all
four species. (C) The two most likely phylograms indicating the first (most distant) divergence of the species based on the degree of similarity
among the chromosomal maps of the homologues. (D) The two most likely complete phylograms indicating the ancestry of the species based
on the chromosomal maps. (E) A cladogram showing the ancestry expressed in 3D. (F) The arrangement of chromosomes showing how
species #4 has one unique chromosome with two long arms, each of which shares substantial similarity with other chromosomes from the
other species. This is evidence that this long chromosome in species #4 is actually the result of a chromosomal fusion of two smaller ancestral
chromosomes.

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similarity in their chromosome heat maps: #1 with #4 or #2 excellent discussion with the students to connect this exer-
with #3. Such patterns of similarity can provide one line of cise to other material covered in introductory biology.
evidence regarding the relative relatedness of the species in
terms of evolutionary time (Nachman and Crowell, 2000;
Murphy et al., 2005). The Postactivity Discussion
Importantly, each student group will attack this problem The discussion at the end of the activity is crucial for “driv-
with a slightly different approach and this diversity of meth- ing home” the main points of this pedagogical method.
odology is encouraged—there is no “right way” to solve the Several points should be explicitly stressed during this dis-
problem and no “answer key” that will verify the correct cussion (see Supplemental Material 2). First, the sequences
answer. This reflects how science really works: We speak in shown in Figure 1, A and B were selected for this exercise
“weight of the evidence” and theories that are supported by essentially at random. There is no reason to think that these
“multiple lines of reasoning,” not in the absolutes of “correct genes are somehow exceptional and that selecting other
answers” and foregone conclusions. Additionally, the genes would paint a significantly different picture. In fact, if
challenge of deducing relative age of the branch points an Internet connection is available, these sequences can
(Figure 3D) in this exercise provides a nice opportunity to actually be used to break the code of which species is
connect with another common way of representing evo- which, using the BLAST bioinformatics search tool at the
lutionary relationships: the cladogram. Although cla- National Library of Medicine’s website (http://blast.ncbi.
dograms are usually constructed based on shared and nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi). This means that the hypothetical
derived characteristics, they share with phylograms the phylograms built in activity one can now be redrawn with
fundamental basis of evolution and shared ancestry. the species names shown in Figure 4A.
Thus, students gain important understanding by learning The second activity involves five species, and once again
how to interpret both. Figure 3E shows a cladogram that the protein sequences shown in Figure 2 are real, and the
expresses the conclusion that the divergence between spe- identity of these can be revealed through a protein BLAST
cies #2 and #3 occurred earlier than the divergence be- search. At this point in the discussion, we point out that the
tween species #1 and #4. SCML1 protein sequences and the GULO pseudogene se-
Following the construction of the phylograms, but before quences both led students to conclude that humans and
we move to the final discussion, we “resurrect” the outlier chimpanzees are more related to each other than to macaque
chromosomes previously set aside because they did not and orangutan and vice versa. This reinforces the concept of
form part of a homologue set shared by all species. It is “multiple lines of evidence.” However, because gorilla was
obvious that the real outlier is the very long chromosome not included, the activity one phylograms cannot help re-
from species #4. We ask students to set this chromosome in
front of them and compare to the other outlier chromo-
somes, especially those from the species that is most related,
which they now know is species #1. The realization being
sought is that the lone outlier chromosome from species #4,
which has no homologue in the other species, has regions of
very substantial similarity with two of the other outlier chro-
mosomes from the other species, as shown in Figure 3F.
Ayala and Coluzzi (2005) inferred that an ancestor of species
#4 possibly suffered a mitotic catastrophe that was repaired
erroneously through the fusion of two different chromo-
somes together. This opens a discussion of chromosomal
breakage and repair phenomena such as fusions, transloca-
tions, etc.
Because the activities are now finished and the session is
about to proceed to the postlab discussion, this is a perfect
opportunity to “break the code” and tell the students that
“species #4” in activity three is actually Homo sapiens. Hu-
mans indeed have one fewer pair of chromosomes (23) than
all other living primates (Zhu et al., 2007). From these anal-
yses, scientists have concluded that the second longest hu-
man chromosome is actually the result of a fusion between
two smaller chromosomes (#12 and #13 in chimps and great
apes), which occurred in a primate ancestor of humans
within the last 3 million years (Ijdo et al., 1991). This conclu-
sion is strongly supported by extensive DNA evidence, such
as the presence of two telomere-like stretches arranged end-
to-end within chromosome #2 and the remnants of an addi- Figure 4. (A) The phylograms derived from the three exercises
tional centromere (Wienberg et al., 1994; Navarro and Bar- with the species identities revealed. (B) A representative cladogram
ton, 2003; Zhang et al., 2004). All of these concepts, especially expressing the current scientific consensus regarding the shared
if they have previously been covered in lecture, provide an ancestry of the five genera examined in this exercise.

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solve the unanswered question of how gorilla best fits into A second form of assessment that we analyzed was the
the evolutionary scheme. For evidence on this question, we performance on lecture exam questions related to this topic.
move on to activity three. For this comparison, we arranged a case-control experimen-
For activity three, one cannot easily do a bioinformatics tal design and two different sections of Bio104 were selected.
search with the chromosome maps. However, an Internet Both groups had 28 students and the same instructor for the
search with the terms “chromosome map [species name]” lecture part of the course, in which all course topics are
will show similar examples of these maps so that students taught. The control group completed a traditional laboratory
can see that these are indeed real maps from these four exercise on evolution, phylogeny, and classification: chap-
species. Further, with the addition of the third phylogram, ters 20 and 21 of Biology in the Laboratory (Helms et al., 1998),
students can now address the question left unresolved from while the experimental group completed the exercise de-
activity two—where gorillas fit into the evolutionary scheme scribed here. Then, we compared performance on the course
of the apes. The annotated phylogram shown in Figure 4A exam, which is common among all sections and is relatively
argues that gorilla and orangutan share a more recent com- unchanged year to year.
mon ancestor than gorilla does with humans and chimps. As Figure 5A shows, the two groups’ general exam scores
Thus, the students can return to the sequence data from indicate that the control group was composed of measurably
activity two and observe that, although there were three higher-performing students than the experimental group.
incidents of gorilla sequence matching humans and chimps However, because this difference is ⬍10% and within the
and only two where the gorilla sequenced matched with the 95% confidence interval for each group, we considered the
orangutan and macaque sequence, the chromosome density groups comparable for the purposes of this assessment. We
maps argue that the gorilla is more closely related to oran- identified three questions on exam one that specifically ad-
gutans than to humans or chimps. This demonstrates the dress the issue of phylogenetics and the deduction of evo-
need for more and longer sequences for comparisons and lutionary relationships (described in Experimental Methods).
how evolutionary relationships are explored through many Importantly, both groups were taught this material by the
overlapping methods in order to reach a more solidly same instructor, and both groups worked from the same
founded conclusion. textbook, from which these three questions derived (Biology,
At this point in the discussion, it is often powerful to 7th ed. (Campbell and Reece, 2005). Figure 5A shows that,
demonstrate how the phylograms constructed by the stu- despite scoring lower on the exam overall, the experimental
dents compare with phylograms drawn by experts in the section slightly outperformed the control group on all three
evolutionary biology of apes and humans (Zhu et al., 2007). of these select exam questions. Although these differences
If an Internet connection is present, simple Internet searches are not dramatic, they are consistent, especially when con-
for “phylogram [species names]” will produce hits that link sidering that phylogeny was just one concept on an exam
to different phylograms. Importantly, many different phy- covering four weeks’ worth of material.
lograms will be found, with different groupings based on Finally, we performed a third mode of assessment aimed at
which species and taxonomic groups are included. This inferring student perceptions regarding evolution. As part of
helps to underscore the concept that phylograms are drawn an ongoing assessment project regarding teaching the process
to express relationships between species of interest: they are and nature of science, we utilized pre- and postsurveys to
not meant to be all-inclusive. Figure 4B shows the current scrutinize student perceptions regarding the scientific theory of
scientific consensus regarding the evolutionary history of evolution by natural selection, how those perceptions are af-
the five genera involved in this activity. fected by learning more about the theory in a formal biology
course, and what role, if any, this activity plays in the alteration
of those perceptions. For this inquiry, we used the same control
ASSESSMENT OF THE ACTIVITY and experimental groups described above. At the beginning of
the semester, both groups were given a survey instrument
As this activity was designed, implemented, and refined, we previously validated to reveal student perceptions regarding
took efforts to assess the degree to which it accomplishes the evolution and natural selection. Then, both groups were
original goal of gains in student learning through explicitly surveyed again 2 wk after the first examination, which
engaging the scientific process. Toward that end, we moni- was thus 1 mo after the execution of this experimental
tored several aspects of the student experience. First, each laboratory activity. More detail regarding the composition
term we collected student work and assessed how successful and scoring of the survey instrument is included in the
they were at completing each activity as expected. This Experimental Methods section. Briefly, all survey responses
resulted in substantial revisions of the activity worksheets were scaled 1–5 and calculations were performed to yield
and refinement of the activity itself. These revisions to the a “percent change” value for each question, with a posi-
exercise improved the students’ ability to understand and tive value indicating an increase in acceptance of the
complete the challenges such that, in the present form, the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection.
success rate is ⬎80%, ⬎70%, and ⬎60%, respectively, for the As seen in Figure 5B, a noticeable difference between the
three activities (data not shown). The lower rate of success two groups was observed. In the control group, depending
indicates progressively challenging activities, but we ob- on the particular question, group responses sometimes re-
serve that even students who are unable to reach the ex- flected slightly increased acceptance of evolution and some-
pected conclusions on their own are able to comprehend the times indicated slightly decreased acceptance of evolution.
methodologies during the postactivity discussions. We have The experimental group, however, responded to instruction
wondered whether guided inquiry or a problem-based re- about evolution in a dramatically more consistent manner.
search approach assist the students with these challenges. Regardless of the question, the average scores on all ques-

520 CBE—Life Sciences Education

 Teaching Molecular Phylogeny

Figure 5. (A) Performance of the control and experi-

mental sections of students on all course exams, the first
exam, both with error bars indicating the 95% confi-
dence interval, together with three specific exam ques-
tions that explicitly test comprehension of phylogeny
and natural selection. (B) Percent change of average
student responses to eight questions on a pre- and
posttest survey measuring acceptance of the modern
theory of evolution by natural selection. Positive values
indicate an overall group change toward more accep-
tance of modern evolutionary theory, while negative
values indicate change toward less acceptance. The text
of the survey questions and a description of the calcu-
lations are found in the Experimental Methods.

tions concerning the acceptance of evolution showed an evolutionary theory. In fact, these exercises are designed to
upward deflection, indicating that, as a whole, the group help enlighten these very concepts to students.
more consistently came to accept the scientific validity of Educators who use educational innovations involving stu-
modern evolutionary theory. This provides support for a dent-centered learning modalities have often encountered
breakthrough study (Lombrozo et al., 2008) that found that student resistance (Giroux, 2001). This has been specifically
student perceptions and acceptance of the theory of evolu- noted in various inquiry-based methods in science educa-
tion are directly impacted by their understanding of the tion (Anderson, 2002; Hofstein and Lunetta, 2004) and in
nature and process of science and research. efforts to explicitly teach the process and nature of science
(McComas et al., 2006). Indeed, in our implementation of
these activities, we encountered some initial resistance
CONCLUSIONS among our students. This is not surprising, given that intro-
ductory science students are often accustomed to being
The inquiry-based student activity described herein is a
given precise experimental protocols and being told exactly
novel approach toward the instruction of the practice of
molecular phylogeny and systematics. Such approaches are how to proceed in their laboratory courses. Thus, the resis-
strongly mandated, both because of recent threats to proper tance and confusion we observed was generally limited to
biology education in our country due to poor understanding the first initiation of the activity as students are instructed to
of evolutionary theory (Miller et al., 2006; Ayala, 2008) and examine the DNA sequences in activity one. During this
because this approach has been shown to be more effective period, we consider it crucial that the instructor not give in
than traditional approaches to teaching (O’Hara, 1997; Rob- and simply walk them through the activity. One of they key
bins and Roy, 2007; Lombrozo et al., 2008). Although the features of our educational approach is that students must
skills that are required and reinforced by this group exercise actively consider the data, contrive different possible meth-
are part and parcel of most any introductory biology curric- ods of analysis, and decide on the strategy they think is best.
ulum, these activities may also be applicable to students in That there may be a multitude of approaches used by a
biology courses at the nonmajor and even secondary educa- given class of students is a strength of inquiry-based learn-
tion levels. No advanced quantitative skills are necessary, ing, helping students learn to think for themselves regarding
nor is a high-level understanding of molecular biology or the interpretation of data (Hanauer et al., 2006).

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N. H. Lents et al.

By completing these exercises, students will mimic the Alles, D. L. (2001). Using evolution as the framework for teaching
scientific process engaged by contemporary biologists. First biology. Am Biol. Teach. 63, 20 –23.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS relationship. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 36, 916 –929.

For this work, N.H.L. was supported by the CCRAA-HSI program Lombrozo, T., Thanukos, A., and Weisberg, M. (2008). The impor-
of the U.S. Department of Education (grant P031C080210) and A.C. tance of understanding the nature of science for accepting evolution.
was supported by the FIPSE program of the U.S. Department of Evol. Educ. Outreach 1, 290 –298.
Education (grant P116B060183). Matthews, M. R. (1994). Science Teaching: The Role of History and
The authors thank Daniel Cocris and Ron Pilette for their crucial Philosophy of Science, New York: Routledge.
help in launching, assessing, and refining these activities.
McComas, W. F., Clough, M. P., and Almazroa, H. (2006). The role
and character of the nature of science in science education. Sci.
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