JONATHAN LECUREUX, PHD
Professor of Biology
COURSES AND ACTIVE LEARNING
Below you will find examples of active learning in each course I taught at Evangel University. Individual pages with more detail are in progress, and SVSU courses are coming soon!
Course is conducted in learning-teams of 4 peers. 1st half of semester covers major genetics topics including the central dogma, cell cycle control and mutation. All topics are divided between  collaboration teams and students present and build their own textbook. 2nd half of semester uses a modified version of the C.R.E.A.T.E. article analysis system. Each team concept maps a primary article’s introduction and presents on a method, experiment, and design a future experiment from the article.
Students cultured bacteria from somewhere local and performed various identifying assays.
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The class collected water samples from a nearby waterway and observed and identified protists. They also picked up any trash along the way.
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We travelled to the local Public Health department to tour their testing facilities.
Every student is required to analyze in-depth one method and one experiment from a primary article chosen by Dr. LeCureux that covers one or several major immunology topics and techniques.
Student’s mid-term is conducted in pairs and the students find a gap in the Wikipedia knowledge base, find and synthesize information from a review article on said gap area, and update Wikipedia properly.
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Students final project includes presenting a primary article in its entirety to the class, and their final exam is a primary research article with all but the methods and results removed. They must then write a new title and abstract.
VIROLOGY
Almost identical to Immunology course design.
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Every student is required to analyze in-depth one method and one experiment from a primary article chosen by Dr. LeCureux that covers one or several major Virology topics and techniques.
Student’s mid-term is conducted in pairs and the students find a gap in the Wikipedia knowledge base, find and synthesize information from a review article on said gap area, and update Wikipedia properly.
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Students final project includes presenting a primary article in its entirety to the class, and their final exam is a primary research article with all but the methods and results removed. They must then write a new title and abstract.
Students worked in teams to present on common microbiology assays used in primary articles they identified. Examinations included building new abstracts from only the methods and results of a primary article, as well as in-office oral exams.
Course is conducted in learning-teams of 4 peers. Select collaborative team projects include: cell/organelle group research and drawings; presentations on plant-derived drugs, invasive species and narcotics; calculating campus carbon sequestration; ethics of marijuana and GMOs.
Course is scaffolded around scientific research methods. Students selected a major crop and major herbicide and designed and implemented a hypothesis-based research project based on their choices. Students performed all experiments and recorded and analyzed their data, presented their results in a formal setting.
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We also travelled to a local park to destroy invasive species.
Students presented on key infectious diseases they will likely encounter in their work, as well as creating skits to act out biochemical processes. Examinations included comprehensive one-on-one oral exams.
