yEvo is an authentic research experience for high school students.
Students learn about evolution by performing experiments in yeast in order to:
The origins of yEvo
I planned to develop an ongoing original research project and integrate it into the curriculum of AP Biology. The AP Biology curriculum had been revised so that the labs the students perform need not follow the procedures described in the manual. If the students met the learning objectives for those labs, they would fulfill the requirement set forth by the College Board. This flexibility, along with the emphasis on science practice and inquiry, allowed for adherence to the required curriculum through a continuous, long-term research project with a series of experiments, rather than at least eight unrelated laboratory exercises. I chose to develop a project using yeast as an experimental system to study eukaryotic genetics and evolution. This project could continue long-term across several school years and could help our students prepare for future study in the natural sciences.
- Ryan Skophammer, yEvo co-founder
Support for yEvo
yEvo is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences under grant R25GM154336 and National Science Foundation under grant 1817816. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. DBI-0939454.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.