Evaluation of an evidence-based peer teaching assessment program.

Objective: To determine faculty perceptions about an evidence-based peer teaching assessment system.

Methods: Faculty members who served as instructors and assessors completed questionnaires after year 1 (2002-2003) and year 4 (2005-2006) of the peer assessment program. Factors were evaluated using a Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 5 = strongly agree) and included logistics, time, fostering quality teaching, diversifying teaching portfolios, faculty mentoring, and value of structured discussion of teaching among faculty members.

QUANTITATIVE GENETICS OF THE WING COLOR PATTERN IN THE BUCKEYE BUTTERFLY (PRECIS COENIA AND PRECIS EVARETE): EVIDENCE AGAINST THE CONSTANCY OF G.

Models for the evolution of continuously varying traits use heritabilities, genetic correlations, and the G-matrix to quantify the genetic variation upon which selection acts. Given estimates of these parameters, it is possible to predict the long-term effects of selection, infer past selective forces responsible for observed differences between populations or species, and distinguish the effects of drift from selection. Application of these methods, however, requires the unproven assumption that the G-matrix remains constant from one generation to the next.

PHENOTYPIC CORRELATION STRUCTURE AMONG ELEMENTS OF THE COLOR PATTERN IN PRECIS COENIA (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE).

The component parts of butterfly wing patterns are arranged in sets of serially homologous pattern elements, repeated from wing cell to wing cell. Measurements were made on the sizes and positions of these elements on two successive, independent, sets of specimens in order to elucidate the phenotypic correlation structure among pattern elements. That portion of the correlation between measures due to overall size variation was accounted for through two alternate methods: multiple regression on two vein length measures, which represent wing size, and a Wright-style factor analysis.