Developing an Integrated Curriculum in Ecology

生物科学（61）这个项目是整合生态学的经验在生物学系，它有生态学在其课程和教师的强烈代表性，以解决目前的课程两个不足之处：目前的课程被视为单独的单位，和实验室的经验集中在观察研究。该项目正在修改目前的课程，以增加学生经验的连贯性和连续性，并对生态问题采用一种更机械的实验方法。 这是通过在所有生态学课程中介绍重要主题（如实验设计和统计分析），通过分享从共同实地收集的生态数据，以及通过更多强调生物体对其环境的生理反应的实验室实验来实现的。这个项目的想法来自两个来源。 首先，劳埃德作为助教参与了改善亚利桑那大学全球变化课程的工作。 与丽莎Graumlich博士一起，她帮助修改了一个学期，在全球环境变化的高年级课程，整合主动学习方法和学生驱动的调查机会。 其次，劳埃德作为研究人员参与了NSF资助的LTER计划（在Bonanza Creek LTER），这导致了一个想法，由劳埃德和米德尔伯里的Steve Trombulak博士共同开发，围绕一组共享的实地站点组织生态学课程的实验室课程，就像LTER站点的研究围绕一组共享的研究站点进行整合一样。 通过对生态学原理和方法的渐进式教育，并通过在所有生态学课程的实验室众多的研究经验，学生获得生态学作为一个广泛的跨学科科学的赞赏。 目标是在这些课程中提供更连贯和全面的生态学覆盖面，将生态学作为一门更加机械和实验的科学，增加选择做基于生态学的独立研究和高级论文的学生数量，并鼓励学生继续从事生态学相关的研究生课程和职业。

Biological Sciences (61) This project is integrating experiences in ecology in the Biology department, which has a strong representation of ecology in its course offerings and faculty, to address two deficiencies in the present curriculum: the current course offerings are treated as separate units, and the laboratory experiences are focused on observational studies. The project is modifying the current curriculum to increase the cohesiveness and continuity of experiences for students and to introduce a more mechanistic, experimental approach to ecological issues. This is done through the presentation of important topics (such as experimental design and statistical analysis) in all ecology courses, through the sharing of ecological data collected from common field sites, and through more laboratory experiments emphasizing physiological responses of organisms to their environments. The ideas for this project have been adapted from two sources. First, Lloyd was involved as a teaching assistant in an effort to improve the global change curriculum at the University of Arizona. In conjunction with Dr. Lisa Graumlich, she helped revise a one-semester, upper-division course in global environmental change that integrated active learning pedagogies and opportunities for student-driven investigations. Second, Lloyd's involvement as a researcher in the NSF-funded LTER program (at the Bonanza Creek LTER) led to an idea, developed jointly by Lloyd and Dr. Steve Trombulak of Middlebury to organize the lab curricula of ecology courses around a set of shared field sites, much as research at an LTER site is integrated around a set of shared research sites. Through progressive education about ecological principles and methods and through numerous research experiences in the laboratories of all ecology courses, students are gaining an appreciation of ecology as a broad and interdisciplinary science. The goals are to provide a more coherent and comprehensive coverage of ecology in these courses, to present ecology as a more mechanistic and experimental science, to increase the number of students choosing to do ecologically-based independent research and senior theses, and to encourage students to continue on in ecology-related graduate programs and careers.