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The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course

Many introductory biology courses amount to superficial surveys of disconnected topics. Often, foundational observations and the concepts derived from them and students’ ability to use these ideas appropriately are overlooked, leading to unrealistic expectations and unrecognized learning obstacles....

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Autores principales: Klymkowsky, Michael W., Rentsch, Jeremy D., Begovic, Emina, Cooper, Melanie M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Society for Cell Biology 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5132367/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27909020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-03-0142
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author Klymkowsky, Michael W.
Rentsch, Jeremy D.
Begovic, Emina
Cooper, Melanie M.
author_facet Klymkowsky, Michael W.
Rentsch, Jeremy D.
Begovic, Emina
Cooper, Melanie M.
author_sort Klymkowsky, Michael W.
collection PubMed
description Many introductory biology courses amount to superficial surveys of disconnected topics. Often, foundational observations and the concepts derived from them and students’ ability to use these ideas appropriately are overlooked, leading to unrealistic expectations and unrecognized learning obstacles. The result can be a focus on memorization at the expense of the development of a meaningful framework within which to consider biological phenomena. About a decade ago, we began a reconsideration of what an introductory course should present to students and the skills they need to master. The original Web-based course’s design presaged many of the recommendations of the Vision and Change report; in particular, a focus on social evolutionary mechanisms, stochastic (evolutionary and molecular) processes, and core ideas (cellular continuity, evolutionary homology, molecular interactions, coupled chemical reactions, and molecular machines). Inspired by insights from the Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything general chemistry project, we transformed the original Web version into a (freely available) book with a more unified narrative flow and a set of formative assessments delivered through the beSocratic system. We outline how student responses to course materials are guiding future course modifications, in particular a more concerted effort at helping students to construct logical, empirically based arguments, explanations, and models.
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spelling pubmed-51323672016-12-06 The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course Klymkowsky, Michael W. Rentsch, Jeremy D. Begovic, Emina Cooper, Melanie M. CBE Life Sci Educ Article Many introductory biology courses amount to superficial surveys of disconnected topics. Often, foundational observations and the concepts derived from them and students’ ability to use these ideas appropriately are overlooked, leading to unrealistic expectations and unrecognized learning obstacles. The result can be a focus on memorization at the expense of the development of a meaningful framework within which to consider biological phenomena. About a decade ago, we began a reconsideration of what an introductory course should present to students and the skills they need to master. The original Web-based course’s design presaged many of the recommendations of the Vision and Change report; in particular, a focus on social evolutionary mechanisms, stochastic (evolutionary and molecular) processes, and core ideas (cellular continuity, evolutionary homology, molecular interactions, coupled chemical reactions, and molecular machines). Inspired by insights from the Chemistry, Life, the Universe & Everything general chemistry project, we transformed the original Web version into a (freely available) book with a more unified narrative flow and a set of formative assessments delivered through the beSocratic system. We outline how student responses to course materials are guiding future course modifications, in particular a more concerted effort at helping students to construct logical, empirically based arguments, explanations, and models. American Society for Cell Biology 2016 /pmc/articles/PMC5132367/ /pubmed/27909020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-03-0142 Text en © 2016 M. W. Klymkowsky et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0). “ASCB®” and “The American Society for Cell Biology®” are registered trademarks of The American Society for Cell Biology.
spellingShingle Article
Klymkowsky, Michael W.
Rentsch, Jeremy D.
Begovic, Emina
Cooper, Melanie M.
The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course
title The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course
title_full The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course
title_fullStr The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course
title_full_unstemmed The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course
title_short The Design and Transformation of Biofundamentals: A Nonsurvey Introductory Evolutionary and Molecular Biology Course
title_sort design and transformation of biofundamentals: a nonsurvey introductory evolutionary and molecular biology course
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5132367/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27909020
http://dx.doi.org/10.1187/cbe.16-03-0142
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