This PubPub site collects learning portfolios from students taking Dr. Sayali Kukday’s course, BIOL 313: Principles of Genetics, at Iowa State University. As part of this course, students engaged in various Quests which helped them develop a deeper understanding of gene expression and genetics of variation in skin pigmentation in the human population, and how these genetic concepts connect to socioscientific issues.
The open pedagogy project that students engaged in was divided into 5 “Quests” which built on one another, inviting the students to:
reflect on their prior knowledge and perceptions about the genetics of skin color;
learn more about the genetics of skin color;
read and summarize research related to the genetics of skin color;
connect the research and scientific topics they have learned to sociological realities that humans face; and finally,
bring the aspects of the prior projects that the students found most engaging or interesting into a final learning portfolio which they could elect to share more widely.
This website showcases a collection of these student learning portfolios categorized based on the themes in their content. Thank you to all the students that were willing to apply an open license and share their work more widely!