Discovery-Based Learning in the Life Sciences

For nearly a decade, scientists, educators and policy makers have issued a call to college biology professors to transform undergraduate life sciences education. As a gateway science for many undergraduate students, biology courses are crucial to addressing many of the challenges we face, such as climate change, sustainable food supply and fresh water and emerging public health issues. While canned laboratories and cook-book approaches to college science education do teach students to operate equipment, make accurate measurements and work well with numbers, they do not teach students how to take a scientific approach to an area of interest about the natural world. Science is more than just techniques, measurements and facts; science is critical thinking and interpretation, which are essential to scientific research. Discovery-Based Learning in the Life Sciences presents a different way of organizing and developing biology teaching laboratories, to promote both deep learning and understanding of core concepts, while still teaching the creative process of science. In eight chapters, the text guides undergraduate instructors in creating their own discovery-based experiments. The first chapter introduces the text, delving into the necessity of science education reform. The chapters that follow address pedagogical goals and desired outcomes, incorporating discovery-based laboratory experiences, realistic constraints on such lab experiments, model scenarios, and alternate ways to enhance student understanding. The book concludes with a reflection on four imperatives in life science research-- climate, food, energy and health-- and how we can use these laboratory experiments to address them. Discovery-Based Learning in the Life Sciences is an invaluable guide for undergraduate instructors in the life sciences aiming to revamp their curriculum, inspire their students and prepare them for  careers as educated global citizens.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xiii 1 The New Life Sciences 1 The Challenges We Face in Teaching the New Biology 2 Visions of Change 5 Need for Structural Change 6 Conceptual Organization of Introductory Biology 8 Learning and Mastering 10 Further Reading 13 2 Changing Goals and Outcomes in Introductory Life Science Course Laboratories 15 The Introductory Science Course Experience That We Have 15 How Science is Actually Done 15 Challenges to Successful Science Teaching 18 Pre-College Preparation Disparities 18 Avoiding the Textbook as the Organizer of Your Course 18 Weaning Away from Content-Heavy Lectures 20 The Elements of Successful Science Learning 21 Student Autonomy 21 Relevance 21 Student Investment 21 Sustained Engagement 22 Understanding Through Teaching 23 Two Re-organizational Schemes for an Introductory Biology Course 23 Re-organizational Scheme 1: Putting the Classroom First 23 Re-organizational Scheme 2: Putting the Laboratory First 26 Example Topic: Biological Arms Races (Conceptual Areas: Structure and Function, Information Storage and Transfer, Evolution, Systems) 27 What Do These Scenarios have in Common? What is Going on? 28 Classroom Support for the Laboratory Work 29 Summary 30 Further Reading 31 3 Incorporating Discovery-Based Laboratory Experiences at the Introductory Level 33 The Reality of Introductory Biology Laboratories 37 Converting the Survey Approach to Biology Techniques into Discovery-Based Experiences that Emphasize Concepts 38 Module I: What are the Effects of Different Aspects of Climate Change or Other Anthropogenic Changes on Plant Primary Productivity? 41 Weeks 1 and 2: Observing Plant Cells and Measuring Plant Primary Productivity –Two Laboratory Weeks 42 Simple Assays of Photosynthesis/Primary Productivity 44 Week 3: Designing Independent Experiments to Explore the Effects of Climate Change on Primary Productivity in Green Plants 46 Week 4 and 5: Student-designed Discovery-based Experiments and Data Analysis 46 Week 6: Field Observations of Plant Communities in Areas Exposed to Fertilizer Run-off or Other Human Activity such as Road Salt Application in the Winter 47 Assessments 47 Module 2: How Does Antibiotic Resistance Develop? 48 Week 1: Observing cell division; Measuring bacterial Growth and Introduction to Sterile Techniques 49 Week 2: Plate Assay or Turbidity Measurements to Examine Antibiotic Resistance, Design of Selection Experiments 50 Weeks 3–5: Independent Experiments Examining Antibiotic Resistance 52 Week 6–7: Continued Experiments if Time Permits 54 Assessments 54 Module 3: Self-Discovery Explorations of Human Diseases Caused by Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms 54 Week 1: Student Investigation Specific Aims and Goals –Use of Bioinformatics to Explore Genetic Diseases Associated with SNPs 56 Weeks 2 and 3: SNP Analysis for TASR 38 or cdk3 Using Polymerase Chain Reaction 58 Assessment Ideas 58 Summary 60 Further Reading 60 4 The Constraints and Realities of Discovery-Based Laboratories 63 Instructor Expertise 63 Time 65 Preparation Time 66 Student Time In and Out of the Laboratory 66 Time for Class and Laboratory –the Schedule of Classes 68 Time of Academic Year 69 The Physical Arrangement of the Teaching Laboratory 70 Class Size 71 Number of Laboratory Sections 72 Resources for Discovery-Based Laboratories 72 Organisms 73 Equipment 76 Safety Considerations for Independent Projects 76 Transportation for Field-Based Studies 76 Preparatory Staff 77 Student Interns/TAs 78 Summary 78 Further Reading 78 5 A Model Introductory Biology Course 81 Instructor Group Meetings 81 Shared Course Materials 82 Flexible Design Allows for the Introduction of New Modules 82 Overall Conceptual Organization 83 Laboratory Modules for the First Edition of “Introduction to Biological Investigation” 84 Module 1: Caenorhabditis elegans: From Genes to Behavior 84 Module 2: Cyanogenic Clover: Genetic Variation and Natural Selection 89 Module 3: Biodiversity and Soil Microbial Ecology 93 Additional Laboratory Modules 95 Module 4: Personal Genomics: Understanding Individual Genetic Variation 96 Module 5: Behavioral Variations Within a Species 97 Assessment of Learning of Core Concepts and Skills 99 Student Evaluation of the Course 99 Faculty Concerns and Discomforts 100 Further Reading 101 6 Two Model Scenarios for an Intermediate-Level Life Science Course 103 Model 1: Exploration of Gerontogenes and Behavior 105 Assessment of Skills and Student Learning 107 Model 2: How do Common Lawn Chemicals Affect the Behavior and the Nervous System of C. elegans? 107 Summary of the Format 110 Assessment of Student Learning 110 Goal 1: Achieve a Solid Foundation in the Experimental Approaches to a Variety of Current Research Questions in Neuroscience and Behavior 111 Goal 2: Achieve a Sophisticated Ability to Read and Interpret the Primary Experimental Literature 111 Goal 3: Formulate a Hypothesis, Design and Conduct a Multilevel Experimental Project Over SeveralWeeks to Discover New Information About the Relationship Between Genes and Behavior 111 Goal 4: Perform and Understand Appropriate Statistical Analysis of Behavioral Data, Gain Confidence in the Use and Limitations of Model Organisms, Computational and Bioinformatics Approaches to Examining Complex Relationships Between Genes and Behavior 112 Goal 5: Become Facile in the “Language” of Neuroscience and Behavior, with a Thorough Mastery of our Chosen Subtopics, asWell as a Keen Ability to Speak and Write on the Discipline 112 Further Reading 113 7 Assessments and Why They Are Important 115 What is Assessment? 115 Student Learning Assessments 116 Course-Based Assessments 120 Example 1: Assessment of Discovery-Based Introductory Biology Course 122 Example 2: Assessment of a Redesigned Introductory Cell Biology Course Using Pretesting and Post-Testing 124 Instructor Quality Assessments 126 Interpreting the Data 127 What to do with the Data? 128 Further Reading 129 8 Fully Incorporating Vision and Change 131 The Anthropocene and the Importance of Biology Literacy 131 Limited Resources Constrain the Discovery Laboratory for All 132 Alternative Approaches 133 Envisioning Introductory Biology for the Science-Literate Citizen 134 Introductory Life Sciences: The Discovery-Based Classroom 135 Organizing the Discovery-Based Classroom: An Introductory Life Science Course for All Students 137 Unit One: Food and Energy 137 Unit Two: Climate Change and Other Human Impacts 140 Unit Three: Health and Disease 142 Summary of This Chapter 143 Combining Science Literacy Training with Science Career Training 144 Concluding Thoughts 145 Further Reading 146 Appendix A: Laboratory Instructions for Behavioral Experiments Using Caenorhabditis elegans 149 Learning Goals and Expectations 150 Part 1: Initial Behavioral Observations ofWild-Type and MutantWorms 150 Workshop 1A: Mechanosensory Behavior Experiments and Statistical Analysis 150 Workshop 1B: Chemosensory Behavioral Experiment and Statistical Analysis 153 Appendix B: Instructions for Microscopy Workshop 157 Assignment forWorkshop 2 158 Procedure for Preparing Wet Mounts of C. elegans 158 Index 161

About the Author :
Kathleen Raley-Susman is Professor of Biology on the Jacob P. Giraud Jr. Endowed Chair of Natural History at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, where she teaches introductory biology courses as well as courses in biopsychology and neuroscience and behavior. She earned her PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Susman also serves as a manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Neurochemistry, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Brain Research, and Neuroscience. While she has not published a book on her own, she has contributited chapters to edited volumes and has published extensively in a wide array of journals, including the Journal of Visualized Experiments, Neurotoxicology, and Cell Biology Education: Life Sciences Education (the latter of which appeared on the cover of the journal issue).