What good is modeling? Introducing ecology and evolution students to theory

Abstract

Theory and empirical science should be in constant dialogue, but often find it hard to understand one another. Here we describe a graduate-level university course we developed to improve matters. The course was designed to help empirically focused biology graduate students read and understand theory papers, despite little prior mathematical training. It uses several evidence-based principles of modern teaching: backwards design, active learning, and just-in-time teaching. This curricular content, emphasizing the nature of evidence and the role of theory in science, aims to improve critical thinking as a means of accelerating scientific progress.