Biology lab course goals

Biology Department 300-400-level Laboratory Courses

Learning Objectives

Each 300-400-level Biology lab course provides research experiences in the lab or field, supported by lectures and discussions. These experiences will accomplish the following learning objectives:

Overarching goals for student development:

• Build student skills in critical thinking, problem solving, advancing knowledge, and communication
• Generate curiosity about questions within the field
• Provide students with practical/technical skills that can be applied directly to a career in the biological sciences
• Develop student identity as empowered scientific practitioners

 

Students will: Evaluate existing knowledge:

Learn the context and history of the field
Identify important questions within the field, both current and historical
Understand methods used and approaches to data analysis/interpretation
Read, assess, and interpret existing literature, including data
Search primary literature to identify relevant papers in the field
Apply knowledge learned to solve problems
Understand the interdisciplinary nature of biology

 

Students will: Generate new knowledge:

Gain hands-on experience with method/s used within the field - see, do, experience
Understand the limit of existing knowledge regarding some topic/question in the field
Participate in a mentored, independent research project:

• Pursue a project that builds on existing knowledge and may generate new knowledge
• Develop a question and hypothesis on biological phenomena
• Design a study/experiment with specific goals for data collection and controls
• Collect and analyze data
• Use comparative, quantitative and/or statistical methods as appropriate to the field
• Draw interpretations and conclusions from data
• Generate data visualization, such as a figure, graph or table, to communicate work

 

Students will: Communicate knowledge:

Collaboration with peers with opportunities for reflection on group work
Opportunities for peer review
Present in oral and written format