Case Studies in
Biology
Fall 2006
Dr. Kari Benson
Office: 218
Office Hours: TR
Email: mailto:benson@lynchburg.edu
Scheduled Class
Time: The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays
from
General
Information: This course is a capstone course. It is designed to allow students to study
specific topics in biology in depth using case studies and emphasizing critical
thinking and problem solving.
Syllabus: This is the best source for an overview of the
course.
Major
Assignments:
Weekly:
Collect one biology news (popular media) articles weekly. You will need to read the articles to
complete the assignment. The articles
must be kept in a binder. Attach a short
(paragraph) critique of the article appending the article. I will conduct periodic spot checks, to
ensure that all students are current on this assignment. Points will be given based on thoroughness
and timeliness of articles. Each student
will give a presentation on several of the critiques, and will summarize “What
I learned from reading the articles I saved” report (orally and written).
Monthly
(four articles total): Using appropriate search engines (Pub/Med or something
similar) locate and acquire a piece of scientific primary literature relating
to one of the news articles you have collected during your weekly
assignment. As a writing assignment,
prepare a type written analysis (compare and contrast) of the news article and
the primary literature. This should be
brief and to the point, no more than 1-2 pages double spaced. This should also be included in your binder.
History
of Biology: The team of students will generate a
“top-ten” list of biology achievements from the Rennaissance
to current, including a justification for the achievements that they have
included. This will be extended to address
how advances in technology have impacted biological achievements. This presentation will be graded on both the
aesthetics of the presentation and on the
justification of the chosen achievements. The team must make their criteria
for inclusion explicit and clarify how they ranked their offerings. The team will be asked to submit both a copy
of the presentation (powerpoint
format is acceptable) and a document summarizing the justification for their
entries.
Hot
Topics in Biology: Students will focus on the previous
decade and enumerate the greatest achievements during this time period. Then, the students will focus on one area of
inquiry and summarize how this area has grown and changed during the previous
decade. This area of inquiry must be one
that it important and influential (as justified by the students). This
presentation will be graded on both the aesthetics of the presentation and on
the justification of the chosen achievements. Again, the justification for
inclusion and rank in this list will be a key component of evaluating this
list. The team will be asked to submit both a copy of the presentation (powerpoint format is acceptable)
and a document summarizing the justification for their entries.
Case
Studies:
We will gain experience with case studies throughout the semester. After the last “formal” case study, students
will be given a novel case study to solve.
The resolution of this case study will occur in mid-November.
Information
Validity: Students will select a current area of
dispute in biology. The student will
research different viewpoints on this topic in the current media (news),
primary literature, and on three different types of websites: authoritative
(such as a governmental site), informative (such as a non-proprietary
information site), and an opinion based site (such as a personal website). The student must then discuss the validity of
the information, particularly with respect to the biases inherent in each type
of information. Then, the student must
generate a reasoned opinion on the matter from all of the information.
Tentative Schedule:
Week: Topic:
1 Introduction,
Scientific Inquiry, Start Collecting Articles
2 Inquiry/
Graphing
3 Inquiry, Information
Literacy (Self-directed case)
4 Start History of
Biology Research
5 Scientific Reasoning
6 Six-step Program,
Information Literacy Presentations
7 Exam I, History
Presentations, Discussion
8
9 Case Studies
10 Case Studies, Hot
Topics
11 Technology, Journal
Articles
12 Exam II, Journal Articles
13 Articles, Holiday
14 Presentations/Review
12 December,