Genie

Genie simulates real-time population-genetic processes to illustrate neutral evolution, genetic drift, population isolation, gene flow, and genetic mutation for teaching and exploration of evolutionary dynamics.

Key Features:

• Interactive simulations: Provides real-time simulations that demonstrate genetic drift, population isolation, gene flow, and genetic mutation within populations.
• Variable manipulation: Enables manipulation of population-genetic variables to observe outcomes in simulated populations.
• Educational integration: Has been integrated into instructional settings to support teaching of evolutionary biology and to address misconceptions about non-adaptive evolutionary processes.
• Assessment and validation: Effectiveness was evaluated using the Genetic Drift Inventory (Price et al., CBE Life Sci Educ 13(1):65-75, 2014) and showed comparable performance to traditional static methods.

Scientific Applications:

• Instruction in evolutionary biology: Supports classroom and laboratory instruction focused on neutral evolution and genetic drift.
• Exploration of evolutionary forces: Allows investigation of how population isolation, gene flow, and mutation affect allele frequencies in simulated populations.
• Educational assessment: Can be used alongside standardized instruments such as the Genetic Drift Inventory to evaluate student understanding of genetic drift.

Methodology:

Real-time, interactive simulations permit manipulation of variables and observation of outcomes within simulated populations.