Thomas Henry Huxley Award

Chalkboard with an apple and school supplies. Text: 2024 Society for the Study of Evolution. T.H. Huxley Award. Applications due February 1.

 

ABOUT | ELIGIBILITY | HOW TO APPLY | EVALUATION CRITERIA | AWARD | PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS

About

The SSE Education and Outreach Committee is pleased to announce the T. H. Huxley award, named in honor of Darwin's very public supporter T.H. Huxley, which recognizes and promotes the development of high quality evolution education resources. If you have an interesting project or educational activity to share, consider applying for this award. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows are encouraged to apply. This award provides funding for an SSE member to present evolution education resources at an education-focused session or conference approved by the Huxley Committee (e.g., education session at the annual Evolution meeting or the annual National Association of Biology Teachers conference).

Examples of possible resources include classroom/museum activities, in-class or lab resources, podcasts, publications, websites, and videos. Competitive applications will be resources that include materials for student or audience engagement and assessment, not simply the presentation of information. All applications should include appropriate copyright and research permissions.

Eligibility

Applicants must be members of SSE. To join, visit https://payments.evolutionsociety.org/joinsse/

How to Apply

To apply, please complete this form.

Apply now button.

Deadline: February 1, 2024

Questions? Contact the Huxley Award Committee at huxleyaward@evolutionsociety.org.

Evaluation Criteria

The proposed project or resource must:

  • Communicate concepts in evolutionary biology to a broad audience
  • Provide guidelines for transferability and adoptability
  • Provide an interactive and accessible experience
  • Be age-appropriate for the intended audience
  • Have been previously assessed for educational effectiveness, such as pre and post evaluations of students or general audience; incorporation of feedback from instructors, students or other audience; post instructional surveys; etc

The following types of projects will not be considered:

  • Lectures
  • Collections of resources without supporting curriculum or educational effectiveness assessment

Priority will be given to materials that have been tested in multiple settings.

Award

The recipient will receive funding to present evolution education resources at an education-focused session or conference approved by the Huxley Committee (e.g., education session at the annual Evolution meeting or the annual National Association of Biology Teachers conference). Graduate student and postdoc awardees will receive a one-year membership as part of the award. A winner will be announced in early March. 
 

Previous Recipients


2023

Sarah Bordenstein
Discover the Microbes Within! The Wolbachia Project

Learn more about the project. 
 

2022

Not awarded.

2021

Dr. John Jungck and Dr. Sam Donovan
Beagle Investigations Return with Darwinian Data (BIRDD) project

Learn more about the project. 


2020

Erin L. McCullough, Lauren Verdeflor and colleagues Alaina Weinsztok, Jason R. Wiles, and Steve Dorus
Syracuse University & KIPP NYC College Prep High School
Exploratory activities for understanding evolutionary relationships depicted by phylogenetic trees: united but diverse

Read the paper describing the activity. 


2019

Brinda Govindan
San Francisco University
Bacterial Survivor 

Read the paper describing the activity here: https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-017-0074-2


2018

Katie Grogan and colleagues Teresa W. Lee and Justine Liepkalns
Emory University
Making evolution stick: using sticky notes to teach the mechanisms of evolutionary change


Read the paper describing the activity here: https://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12052-017-0074-2


2017

Laura Bankers with Kyle McElroy, Joseph Jalinsky, James Woodell, Claire Adrian-Tucci, Katelyn Larkin, Robert Todd, Jorge Moreno, Dr. Emily Schoerning, and Dr. Maurine Neiman
National Center for Science Education Booster Clubs
Project website


2016

Amanda Gibson and Ariel Marcy 

Amanda Gibson, Evolution, Ecology and Behavior Department of Biology, Indiana University
Designed a hands-on game that requires students to collaborate to generate data and test predictions of the Red Queen Hypothesis.

Ariel Marcy - University of Queensland
Created Go Extinct! Players become zoologists competing to collect color –coded sets of closely related animal cards.


2015

Dr. Phil Gibson 
University of Oklahoma
How To Use Tree Thinking To Teach Plant Diversity and Evolution


2014

Dr. Jonathan Atwell,
Indiana University
Say Hello to the Junco! Teaching Evolution, Behavior, Genetics, and the Scientific Process with a Common Backyard Bird!


2013

Dr. William Ratcliff 
Georgia Tech
Yeast Experiment Hints at a Faster Evolution From Single Cells
Information on the awarded work: [1] [2] [3]



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