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The bean beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), has become a widely used insect species in undergraduate laboratory education. This species is particularly suitable for course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) due to its short generation time, ease of handling and culturing in the laboratory, and sexual dimorphism in its sedentary phase. Bean beetles complete their growth and development inside a host seed (bean) with at least eight different host species. However, conducting manipulative experiments with bean beetles would be enhanced if it were possible to readily prepare artificial beans on which the beetles could complete their lifecycle. Here, we report on the use of a mechanical pill press (LFA Machines Model TDP-0) to make artificial beans. We prepared artificial beans by making whole blackeye pea flour (Vigna unguiculata) using a coffee grinder. That flour was used in the pill press to make 8mm diameter x 5-9mm thick disk-shaped pills with and without additives. Adult female bean beetles readily laid fertilized eggs on the surface of these artificial beans. Offspring emerged 4-5 weeks later at 25°C, the same development time that would have occurred in natural intact blackeye pea seeds. No special treatments of the artificial beans were required to induce females to lay eggs on them nor for the pills to remain intact during the period of larval and pupal development. This mechanical pill press can produce 30-50 pills per minute, so artificial beans can be produced rapidly in sufficient numbers to conduct meaningful experiments. This simple and effective method for making artificial beans creates the opportunity to conduct studies that have been difficult or impossible in the past.For example, future studies may evaluate treatments such as plant secondary compound concentrations, nutrient content, and antibiotic exposure on bean beetle life history and microbiome communities. 

Recent calls for increased inclusion in & access to authentic course-based research have been building on the momentum of support for Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). However, these courses can be very challenging to implement at scale or with low resources. To equitably provide these critical science process skills to the largest possible cohort of students, we have developed a new student research project within our first-year biology lab. Our student team research project is integrated throughout the semester, building authentic science process skills from start to finish. Students start from a research idea, develop a multi-site experimental design, do hands-on data collection at home, analyze quantitative data, and present their findings in a conference-style format. We have also embedded structured time for building collaborative skills. This novel change to our lab curriculum runs online, hybrid or face-to-face; it has no lab budget costs; and it has been well-received in multiple offerings of our course of ~200-600 students. It also has allowed us to improve our assessments: we evaluate writing (graphical abstracts) and/or oral presentation skills. Further, our lab exam can now be more cognitively challenging because our new curriculum better prepares students to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize. This article demonstrates that we can reduce barriers to doing authentic research, at scale in introductory courses; and we include here all materials needed to adapt this project to your own context. 

Over the past decade, laboratory courses have made a fundamental shift to inquiry-based modules and authentic research experiences. In many cases, these research experiences emphasize addressing novel research questions. Insects are ideal for inquiry-based undergraduate laboratory courses because research on insects is not limited by regulatory, economic, and logistical constraints to the same degree as research on vertebrates. While novel research questions could be pursued with model insect species (e.g., Drosophila, Tribolium), the opportunities presented by non-model insects are much greater, as less is known about non-model species. We review the literature on the use of non-model insect species in laboratory education to provide a resource for faculty interested in developing new authentic inquiry-based laboratory modules using insects. Broader use of insects in undergraduate laboratory education will support the pedagogical goals of increased inquiry and resesarch experiences while at the same time fostering increased interest and research in entomology.