INSTRUCTOR
Bianca Flores
bianca.r.flores@vanderbilt.edu
WEB General Biology Syllabus
The overall goals of this class are for you to begin developing a scientific curiosity and learn about the scientific method. At the end of this course you will be able to:
- Develop hypotheses and questions regarding a scientific topic
- Develop written and verbal communication skills to discuss scientific experiments (and science in general)
- Learn and apply the scientific method
- Begin interpreting various data in science (charts, graphs, etc)
Necessary materials
- Science notebook
- Towards High School Biology
Semester projects
There will be two large semester projects that will involve group collaboration, group learning, and a class presentation. You will be given a clear rubric to know what information and analysis is expected from these group projects, but creative thinking is always rewarded! ☺
Group project 1: Design a cell
The purpose of this project is for you to work in a group of 2-3 students to create a life size animal cell, and a second life size cell of your choice (either bacterial or plant). This is meant to help you understand and visualize all of the important parts that exist in a cell, and differences that occur in between these cell types. A thorough rubric for you to follow will be given at the assignment of this project.
Group project 2: How does a virus infect a cell?
This project is meant to build upon the project you have previously completed (The cell). The purpose of this project is to help you visualize and understand how viral infections can infect the cell and ultimately disrupt a multicellular organism. For this second project, you will have the creative freedom to pick any virus you wish. You will then build one life-size aspect of this virus that helps it to infect a cell. This will be a 5-7 minute presentation that must include:
- Why you picked this virus with discussion about the prevalence and relevance of the virus
- What is unique about this virus (if anything)
- A thorough explanation of how this disrupts normal cell processes.
A more thorough rubric will be given at the time of the project.
Lab writing
Learning logs
Upon completion of a lab, we will complete a learning log. The purpose of this activity is to a) ensure you learned the concepts taught, b) help you to gain writing skills in science c) help you to learn how to interpret and present scientific results in written form. For the first half of the semester, we will complete these as a class. The second semester you will complete these in your assigned groups, and next semester you will gain enough independence to complete these on your won.
Lab notebooks
You will be given lab notebooks where you will write down all of your observations while you complete experiments. These are meant to help you detail and learn how to make both qualitative and quantitative observations during experiments. Additionally, you will record hypotheses and specific science questions that you have to help you learn the scientific method.
Class assessments
You will be evaluated in class on the following:
- Class participation (during lecture and learning log participation)
- Completion of Science notebook
- Completion of in class and at home lesson worksheets
Detailed Course Syllabus