Abstracts (first author)
Data Access and Scientific Societies
As part of the changing landscape of science, data archiving is becoming a widespread practice. This has in turn created an opportunity to more directly integrate archived data resources into teaching at all levels. For example, it is possible to develop student exercises that reconstruct the underlying analysis presented in published work, and perhaps to explore other dimensions of such work in creative ways. In order to facilitate such exploration-based learning, there is a need for developing scientific data as a teaching tool. An approach to doing so being led by the Ecological Society of America, in collaboration with the Society for the Study of Evolution and other scientific societies, has been to establish an online resource library of peer-reviewed data-based educational modules, EcoED (). In the very near future, this online resource is planned to grow to include various modules, including one geared to the evolution community, EvoED (). Integration of the vast online resource into educational modules that encourage exploration and analytical approaches to science is an important step change in science teaching that will promote better understanding among students of science as a process as well as a product.