Technology applications can offer an accessible way for teachers to bring the real world into science classes. Using MapBox Studio, a free mapping software program, our cross-disciplinary student teams were able to visually conceptualize large datasets and see emerging trends for themselves, facilitating the research process while making student learning more active and engaged.

Student engagement during the development of a three-dimensional visual aid or teaching model can vary for a number of reasons. Some students report that they are not “creative” or “good at art,” often as an excuse to justify less professional outcomes. Student engagement can be low when using traditional methods to produce a model, but 3D printing gives both the teacher and the student new ways of experiencing classroom activities. The simple (and free) software offers students valuable skills, “professional” modeling results, a stronger understanding of the topic at hand, and new confidence.

Collaboration between two biologists and a physicist resulted in the example of tattooing being used as a motivator to support discussion across several scientific fields (cell biology, microbiology, human health, and physics). Although often viewed as self-destructive and rebellious in the Western world, tattooing has a deep and rich history full of meaning, for example as a rite of passage. Our main objective was to use a culturally relevant topic as a way to increase student engagement and learning while linking biological phenomena and physics. We describe this experience and provide a brief background on how the art and history of tattooing can aid in teaching young biologists.

The video game SPORE was found to hold characteristics that stimulate higher-order thinking even though it rated poorly for accurate science. Interested in evaluating whether a scientifically inaccurate video game could be used effectively, we exposed students to SPORE during an evolution course. Students that played the game reported that they spent an average of 3 hours more a week with class material; these same students also scored about 5% higher on examinations and in the course. Methods to use SPORE to teach evolution are included; to create a teaching community that uses this game might make this edutainment product an even more effective tool.

Teaching the scientific method can be a challenge for any teacher, and finding a way to engage students can become more difficult as culture changes. Sex has always been an interesting and popular topic for students, so I used mini-lessons in safer sex, STIs, and condoms as tools to teach the scientific method. Student engagement and effort were higher than usual.

Engaging students in ethnobotanical concepts can be a challenge if you present the topic as a straight lecture. I used the art of brewing tea, accompanied by numerous herbals (books), to impress upon my students how people have learned what plants are helpful or harmful to humanity