Biology 1131: Principles of Biological Science
Jay T. Hatch
What's the Course All About?
This is an introductory level course that guides you toward developing your own understanding
of the preeminent principles of biology, including the areas of Genetics, Evolution, Ecology, Life
Cycles and Reproduction, Cell Theory and the Molecular Basis of Life. Its overall theme is that
life on Earth is simultaneously incredibly diverse and yet very much the same. All organisms on
this planet are made from the same basic building blocks. What are the building blocks that unite
all of life as we know it? If all life is built from the same building blocks, how is it that we have
10-60 million different species living today and even more that are extinct? What processes
assure that sunflowers beget sunflowers and blue whales beget blue whales and yet allow new
species to arise from old ones? In what ways does the existence of one species depend on the
existence of all others? Your participation in this course will provide you an opportunity to
develop answers to these questions and to many others that may occur to you.
You should realize, however, that learning about the process of science is as important as
learning the knowledge uncovered by the process. So, we strive to have you learn biological
principles in the context of the historical development of "science as a way of knowing." In both
the classroom and the laboratory, you will learn how observation and description have led to
questions, hypotheses and predictions; how these hypotheses were tested; how the results of the
tests were interpreted; and how the current knowledge base of biological science was and is
being constructed and modified. You will actively engage in the process, itself, in the laboratory.
The Biology Faculty and Staff of the General College have designed the course to provide you
not only with the processes, facts, and theoretical foundations of modern biology but also with a
variety of information and skills that you can apply to your daily lives. For instance, knowledge
about how plants reproduce can help you with your gardening problems. Knowledge of
Mendelian genetics helps you to work out questions about what your children might be like.
Knowledge about the causes of environmental impacts may help you decide what lifestyles are
right for you. And, wouldn't it be useful if you could correctly read and interpret the graphs that
appear daily in our newspapers and magazines?
As you begin to understand the significance of the foundation principles of biology and learn to
use basic scientific skills in analysis, you should be better prepared to make informed decisions
about many kinds of questions that affect your daily living. For example, do you want gene
therapy to be legal? Under what circumstances? Should we be genetically engineering
organisms? Should they be released into the environment? Should you use pesticides in your
urban garden or on your farm to increase your crop yield? How much of our Gross National
Product should be spent on scientific research and how much of that should be spent on basic
research as opposed to applied research? Should we try to prevent species extinctions? Up to
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what point? You will come to recognize that these are not scientific questions; they are questions
of ethics, politics, economics, philosophy and religion. Still, you can use scientific information
and analysis as two components of your decision-making process. For example, wouldn't it be
useful if you truly understood what a gene is and how it functions in a living organism before
you decided whether changing an organism's genes seemed "right" or "wrong" to you? There are
no "right" answers to questions raised above, but there are well-uninformed and poorly-informed
opinions about them. What would you want your opinions to be like?
Student Outcome Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, you should be able to:
1. write a descriptive paragraph using at least one real biological example about how
scientific inquiry has led and continues to lead to knowledge development;
2. defend or refute the thesis, "Even 'objective' science is influenced by culture, ethnic
heritage and nonscientific belief systems;"
3. write a paragraph about each of the major principles or concepts introduced in the course
that describes the significance of the principle to the development of biological thought
and to daily living;
4. select, from a series of choices, the most scientifically sound interpretation of empirical
data presented in graphic, tabular and/or narrative form;
5. defend or refute the thesis, "Life on Earth is simultaneously incredibly diverse and yet
very much the same;"
6. write a laboratory report using scientific format acceptable for a 1-xxx level college
course.
Instructional Methods Employed in the Course
Both lecture and laboratory use conceptual change and discovery learning approaches that are
carried out as whole-class, small-group, paired and individual activities.
Lecture: Less than 50% of the lecture time involves actual lecture-style delivery; the remainder
of the time is spent carrying out activities that include pair- and group-interactive problemsolving, comparisons of individual and group responses to assignments, short writing
assignments, and assessments and challenges of preconceptions. The lectures and activities that
will take place each day are outlined in a series of Daily Road Maps that you purchase ahead of
time. These "road maps" list one to several Principles or Concepts that will be the learning
objectives for the day. Following this list are the Readings and Web Sites that provide
information for answering several Guiding Questions that follow from or are applications of the
principles and concepts. Your main focus in this course is to answer these questions as richly
and fully as you can.
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It is always best to answer these questions as best you can before coming to class using your text
and other resources that are listed in the Road Maps. Then use the class lecture, discussion, and
active-learning activities to modify and improve your answers.
Laboratory: In the laboratory you will work in pairs to make observations, collect data from
experiments, organize and interpret the data with the help of computers, draw conclusions, and
discuss their limitations. Undergraduate teaching assistants will help guide you to probe data and
discover answers to questions.
You also will be guided through the stages of writing laboratory reports. Writing is a process and
the focus of the writing in this course is on the process.
Instructional Materials & Resources
The materials/resources you'll need include:
1. Textbook: Audesirk and Audesirk, 2002. Biology - Life on Earth. 6th Edition.
2. The CD that is included with the textbook.
3. Laboratory Manual: Hatch et al., 2002. A Laboratory Manual for Collaborative Learning
in Introductory Biology.
4. Laboratory Manual Supplement.
5. "HATCH Road Maps for GC 1131, Principles of Biological Science"--look for HATCH
at the top of the packet
6. Two 1.4 MB floppy disks or a ZIP disk and one other form of electronic backup.
7. Access to the World Wide Web.
Instructional Assistance
Instructional assistance for this course is available through several means, which include:
One-on-one and small-group assistance in course-specific concepts
Hatch, Jay T. Biology 1131: Principles of Biological Science. 6 Dec. 2002. General College,
University of Minnesota. 11 Dec. 2002.
center for writing | UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
This material is intended to give ideas for teaching and learning activities.
Posted with permission. Copyright belongs to the creator.
© 2002 Jay T. Hatch
page 3