Principles of Biology 101

An introduction to critical thinking in the biological sciencesBryan M. Dewsbury

Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of Rhode Island

http://seasprogram.net

13,000 undergraduate students56% RI, 44% out-of-state20% minority

~300 studentsMultiple majors

6 teaching assistants3 graduate students3 undergraduate leaders (SI leaders)

Home assignmentsPop quizzesInterrupted lectureProblem-solving Fridays

Support structures for studentsClass as a community

Goals

• To understand the structure of the building blocks of life (building blocks)• To understand the basic processes that allow these structures to

interact with each other in a functional way (basic processes)• To understand the flow of information and matter (info flow)• To learn HOW to learn biology (metacognition)• To contextualize biology in everyday life (context)• To understand the value of a community of learners (community)

Assessment Explanation PercentageGroup participation COMMUNITY 5

Survey assessments COMMUNITY, BASIC PROCESSES, METACOGNITION 4In-class assignments COMMUNITY, METACOGNITION, CONTEXT 6

Summative Exams BUILDING BLOCKS, INFORMATION FLOW, BASIC PROCESSES, CONTEXTMix of higher order questions on exams

60

Quizzes BUIILDING BLOCKS, INFORMATION FLOW, COMMUNITY 10

Homework assignments COMMUNITY, BUILDING BLOCKS, INFORMATION FLOW, BASIC PROCESSES, METACOGNITION, CONTEXTCreative design projectStar Genetics problem set (http://star.mit.edu/genetics/)Article review (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/07/sixty-nine-days)

15

TOTAL 100

Learning Outcomes Taxonomy Level/Category Learning Activities Formative Assessments Summative Assessment

To apply the laws of thermodynamics to tonicity

Application

1. IL in biophysics2. Problem

analysis3. Soccer ball

demo

1. Quiz question2. SI problem set3. Practice Exam

1. Exam question (A plant cell placed in a hypotonic soln gets turgid but does not explode (unlike an animal cell) explain….

To be a dependable team member

Caring

1. Group assignment

2. In-class activities

3. Economics activity

1. Group evaluation w/ feedback and counseling

2. Group quizzes

1. Final group evaluation

2. CCS (research)

In-ClassActivities:

Econ activity

Intros

  Syllabus quiz

What is life,

Nat sec (IL)

  PSF 1(Each one

teach one) 

   Red Bull

gives you

wings! (IL)

   POP quiz

Bond, chem bond (IL)

  PSF (Kahoot!)

Out-of-ClassActivities:

Syllabus rev

Chap 1.1-3

Video lec 

  Chap 2

Video lec

   Chap 3Video

lecAdap

learning

assign

 SI session

 SI sessionChap

4.1-4.4Video

lec

SI session

 

SI session

 Exam ques

writing ex

SI session

M MW F W F

PRE CLASS ACTIVITIES• Survey• Mindset and study skills write up• Video on active learning

community building blocks metacognition

group assessments, group assignments, (CCS)

Formative and summative exams

Long answers, predicting scores