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  • Newspapers for a rainy day, filled with reports of the ways that science and society are interwoven. ©Eleanor Vandegrift

    Building student literacy and metacognition through reading science in the news

    Learning Objectives
    For each specific topic (stem cells and cloning, genetically modified organisms, and the human genome and human genetic diseases), students will be able to:
    • describe the underlying biology and explore how scientific reasoning and methods develop this understanding,
    • discuss the types of policy decisions that regulate studies related to biology or its application to human or environmental health,
    • evaluate scientific information to distinguish reliable information from propaganda,
    • explain how scientific controversies can arise when the same scientific questions are approached in different ways,
    • explore why some types of biological issues trigger regulatory decisions that can affect both research that would deepen our understanding of the issue and application of the results to policy decisions,
    • write about scientists who are researching topics related to our course, and
    • read science writing published in popular media sources.
  • Science press release cartoon. Cartoon of a newspaper with the headline “Extra Extra! Cell Biology Makes Headlines!”

    Teaching students to read, interpret, and write about scientific research: A press release assignment in a large, lower...

    Learning Objectives
    Students will:
    • interpret the main conclusions and their supporting evidence in a primary research article.
    • concisely communicate the significance of scientific findings to an educated nonspecialist audience.
    • identify the components of a primary research article and the components of the "inverted pyramid" press release structure.
    • identify the central figure in a primary research paper and describe its key finding.
    • demonstrate an understanding of intellectual property by giving appropriate credit to other people's original work.
  • Hydrozoan polyps on a hermit-crab shell (photo by Tiffany Galush)

    A new approach to course-based research using a hermit crab-hydrozoan symbiosis

    Learning Objectives
    Students will be able to:
    • define different types of symbiotic interactions, with specific examples.
    • summarize and critically evaluate contemporary primary literature relevant to ecological symbioses, in particular that between hermit crabs and Hydractinia spp.
    • articulate a question, based on observations of a natural phenomenon (in this example, the hermit crab-Hydractinia interaction).
    • articulate a testable hypothesis, based on their own observations and read of the literature.
    • design appropriate experimental or observational studies to address their hypotheses.
    • collect and interpret data in light of their hypotheses.
    • problem-solve and troubleshoot issues that arise during their experiment.
    • communicate scientific results, both orally and in written form.