For educators

These pages explain what each tool is good for in class, how to run an activity with it, how to check what students have learned, and where students usually go wrong.

Genome browsers, structure viewers, Galaxy and notebooks were built for research. Students can use the same tools on real data from their first year. In our experience, they get most from them when the activity is built around a clear question. These pages help with that design: which tool suits which learning outcome, how to structure the session so students know what to look for, how to assess the result, and which misunderstandings to expect.

Topics

Each topic page has the same parts: what the tool teaches well, activities with a level, a timing and a grouping, ideas for assessment, common misconceptions, practical tips, the evidence, and references. Each one links to its partner page for developers, where you can try the examples live and download them.

• Teaching with genome browsersShow students where a gene or variant sits, what lies around it, and how the evidence for it builds up track by track.
• Teaching with sequences and alignmentsHelp students read sequences, compare them across species, and see why some positions never change.
• Teaching with 3D structuresFind a variant in the folded protein, and learn how far an AlphaFold model can be trusted.
• Teaching with networksExplore interactions and pathways, without reading too much into where each molecule happens to be drawn.
• Teaching with GalaxyRun real analyses in class with nothing to install, and keep a record of every step.
• Teaching with R and Python in the browserLet students write and run code from the first minute, on any computer.
• Teaching with phylogenetic treesTeach students to read a tree by its branching, not by the order of its tips.
• Teaching with charts of genomic dataHelp students read Manhattan plots, volcano plots and heatmaps, and understand the thresholds drawn on them.

Before you plan

Planning a session

How to use active learning and worked examples, and how to line up outcomes, activities and assessment.

Genomic data and ethics

Which data you can use in class, why public servers are no place for patient data, and where to find good open datasets.

Accessibility

How to make interactive activities work for students who use screen readers, keyboards or magnification, or who see colour differently.

About the evidence

Where a page says that an approach works, it cites a study. We have checked that each reference exists, and that its abstract, or the full text where we could read it, supports the sentence that cites it. The evidence is uneven: there is good research on active learning in general and on how students read evolutionary trees, but few classroom studies of genome browsers, network viewers or code in the browser. Where the evidence is thin, the pages say so, and their advice comes from teaching experience.