BSCI 207 Principles of Biology III: Organismal Biology

1) To help BSCI students master the fundamental principles of organismal biology focusing on the function, structure, and diversity of all organisms.2) To help BSCI students develop student-centered and group-enabled skills for greater success in UM courses and future careers.

Bacterium Archaean Protist Plant Fungus Animalfig.cox.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/scimeth/c1x11-domains.jpg

Academic activities vs. job skills

First discussion: Identify the activities to which you devoted the most time in previous biology classes.

A well-known Vatican scholar’s interpretation of university education

Academic experiences vs. job skills

First discussion: Identify the activities to which you devoted the most time in previous biology classes.

Second discussion: Identify the job skills that will be most important for professional biologists in 21st century.

Academic experiences vs. job skills

First discussion: Identify the activities to which you devoted the most time in previous biology classes.

Second discussion: Identify the job skills that will be most important for professional biologists in 21st century

How do you feel about these differences?

BSCI Program Is Transforming Itself• Focus on BSCI 207 as the gateway course into BSCI major• Switch the emphasis from acquiring isolated facts toward

developing conceptual models for organizing knowledge• Utilize active-engagement approaches to encourage student-

directed and group-enabled learning and problem solving (Friday AM @ 9 (section 0101) or 10 (section 0102) in PLS 1140)• Do diagnostic assessments of student learning and attitudes• Use education specialists to study the teaching of BSCI faculty,

and how students learn from those faculty

Bacterium Archaean Protist Plant Fungus Animalfig.cox.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/scimeth/c1x11-domains.jpg

Grading scheme – Total points - 450Diagnostic assessmentsDiagnostic exam (30 pts) – BSCI 105/106 or AP Biology background. In-class exam: Wednesday 1/26. If necessary, remedial work for full credit.Attitude surveys (20 pts) – pre-class and post-class online surveys (10 pts each) available on ELMS class website. Take pre-class survey now! Deadline: Friday 1/28

Outside-Class Group Work – groups will form in Friday 1/28 discussionHomework assignments (120 pts) – 9 assignments @ 15 pts each, drop lowest assignment. Format: group discussion, but individual writing.

In-Class Exams3 Midterm exams (150 pts) – 75 pts each, drop lowest score, no makeups.Final exam (130 pts)

BSCI 207 Team

• Professors – Jeff Jensen and Todd Cooke• ELMS class website (https://elms.umd.edu) – syllabus, lecture pdfs,

homework assignments, discussion board, etc. • Teaching assistants – Juannan Zhou and Hafsa Mustafa• Guided study sessions – Turna Mukherjee• And the stars of the show – the organisms

Bacterium Archaean Protist Plant Fungus Animalfig.cox.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/scimeth/c1x11-domains.jpg

I did not get past this slide

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Clicker Test – Your BSCI 105 credit comes from

1. BSCI 105 at UM2. Comparable course at

other college/university3. Comparable course at

community college4. AP waiver5. Other

BSCI 207: Organismal Biology

Universal physical and chemical lawsCommon genomic heritageDiverse structure-functional relationships

Charles Darwin’s concluding sentence“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

On the Origin of Species, 1st Edition, 1859F. Fig. 23.1

Is there a major difference between how students and professional biologists (doctors, teachers, researchers, etc.) approach biology learning?

Clicker question: Professional biologists have trained themselves to have better memories for storing biological facts

1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly agree

Bottom-up organization starting with isolated facts

Top-down organization starting with major concepts/broad principles/big ideas/large systems/etc.

How do doctors work?

How do researchers work?

vs.

Content Reform in Biology Classes

New pedagogy - focus on mastering concepts/principles/big ideas, and using facts to define, explain, evaluate, and apply

those conceptsOne 207 goal – to help you learn how to build conceptual models

SFFP pic

Clicker question: I believe that I will get better grades by studying on my own, as opposed to working in small groups. 1. Strongly disagree

2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly agree

Pedagogical reform

Overwhelming evidence in favor of small groups(for everyody else?!)

Treisman (1992) College Mathematics Journal 23:362-372Observations: at-risk students tend to study alone excellent students tend to study in groupsResults: the differences disappear if at-risk students study in groups. Why?

Wood (2007) Life Sciences Education 7:263-264Procedure – 1) Ask a clicker question, and sort out the students with the

right answer from those with the wrong answers; and2) Pair the wrong students to discuss the subject, and then ask a similar

question. Over 75% of the students in the wrong pairs got the second question right. Why?

Overwhelming evidence in favor of small groupsTreisman (1992) College Mathematics Journal 23:362-372

Observations: at-risk students tend to study alone excellent students tend to study in groupsResults: the differences disappear if at-risk students study in groups. Why?

Wood (2007) Life Sciences Education 7:263-264Procedure – 1) Ask a clicker question, and sort out the students with the

right answer from those with the wrong answers; and2) Pair the wrong students to discuss the subject, and then ask a similar

question. Over 75% of the wrong pairs got the second question right. Why?

New pedagogy – to encourage active group-enabled learning, as opposed to passive individual learningAnother 207 goal - to improve your group learning skills

Basic structure of 207 GAE(Group Active Engagement)

Conceptual models in subsequent weeks – e.g., phylogenetic trees, endosymbiosis, random walk simulations, transport models, etc.

Homework – outside-class group discussion (Monday-Thursday), and individual writing (after that discussion and due Friday 2/4)

Developing skills

Conceptual models for major principles

In-class group activities

Outside – class group activities

Group dynamics

Biological energy flow; thermodynamic laws

Flow diagramming;brainstorming

Apply model to solve problems

For example, this Friday 1/28 GAE

Grading schemeDiagnostic exam (30 pts) – BSCI 105/106 background. In-class exam: Wednesday, 8/31. If necessary, remedial work for full credit.3 Midterm exams (120 pts) – 60 pts each, drop lowest score, no makeups.General attitude surveys (20 pts) – pre-class and post-class online surveys (10 pts each) available on ELMS class website. Take pre-class survey now. Deadline: Monday, 2/1/2010.Group Homework assignments (120 pts) – 9 assignments @ 15 pts each, drop lowest assignment. Format: group discussions, but individual writing.

Final exam (90 pts) Total points - 470

New pedagogy #3– perform formative (on-going) assessments of the effectiveness of the teachers and class activities207 response - Bio education specialists (Kristi Hall and Jessica Watkins) – use class surveys and student interviews to evaluate class

Is there a major difference between how students and professional biologists (doctors, teachers, researchers, etc.) approach biology learning?

Clicker question: Professional biologists have trained themselves to have better memories for storing isolated biological facts

1 2 3 4 5Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly disagree agree

Top-down organization starting with major concepts/broad principles/big ideas/large systems/etc.

vs. Bottom-up organization starting with isolated facts.

How do doctors work?

How do researchers work?

I do not announce to my colleagues that I have memorized allthe facts in a particular chapter of Freeman. We don’t practice memorizing facts.

We do something different, and so do you. Just not yet in biology.

I want you to spend the next minute or so writing the first sentence of an essay describing the University of Maryland

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Clickers: Do this …If your clicker looks like …

For clicker assistance, go to: www.clickers.umd.edu

Clicker Test – Your BSCI 105 credit comes from

1. BSCI 105 at UM2. Comparable course at

other college/university3. Comparable course at

community college4. AP waiver5. Other