Plant Biology Laboratories and Curriculum that Integrate the Biological Levels of Organization

生物科学（61）华盛顿和李大学生物系正在扩大和更新其植物科学课程。目前，该系提供三门与植物科学相关的课程，材料主要限于分类学和系统学。在普通生物学和高等植物学课程中介绍了光合作用的一般综述。该项目的主要目标是修改普通生物学实验室课程的植物部分，该部分使用功能齐全但过时的设备，并引入两门植物生物学新课程。另一个目标是整合课程中的概念，跨生物组织水平，并建立理解这种整合的学生的重要性。利用植物作为“模型系统”，分子生物学，生物化学，细胞生物学，生理学和有机体生物学之间的差距将被弥合。这些目标正在通过适应先前实施的模型从格林内尔学院（ILI #9850544）和康涅狄格大学（ILI #9796271）到一系列课程：普通生物学，一个新的植物生物学课程和一个新的上层实验植物生物学课程。从生物组织的各个层次的标准方法正在使用，提供接触到各种技术（从分子到有机体），丰富了植物生物学的理解生物学学生的人口与不同的职业规划。正在收购的设备（6个植物生理工作站，两个生长室，迷你SDS-PAGE/Western转移设备，便携式光合作用系统和便携式叶绿素荧光系统）使学生能够在实验室中获得有机体，生理和生化数据，以及在现场，并将成功地整合组织的生物水平。

Biological Sciences (61)The Department of Biology at Washington and Lee University is expanding and updating its course curriculum in the plant sciences. Currently, the department offers three courses related to the plant sciences and the material is limited primarily to taxonomy and systematics. A general review of photosynthesis is presented in General Biology as well as in an upper division botany course. The primary goal of this project is to modify the plant portion of the General Biology laboratory course, which uses functional but outdated equipment, and to introduce two new courses in plant biology. An additional goal is to integrate concepts within courses across biological levels of organization and to establish the importance to students of understanding that integration. Utilizing plants as the "model system," gaps between molecular biology, biochemistry, cellular biology, physiology, and organismal biology will be bridged. These goals are being met by adapting previously implemented models from Grinnell College (ILI # 9850544) and the University of Connecticut (ILI #9796271) into a series of courses: general biology, a new plant biology course and into and a new upper level experimental plant biology course. Standard methods from all levels of biological organization are being utilized, providing exposure to a variety of techniques (from molecular to organismal) that enrich the understanding of plant biology for a population of biology students with diverse career plans. The equipment being acquired (6 plant physiology workstations, two growth chambers, mini SDS-PAGE/Western transfer equipment, a portable photosynthesis system, and a portable chlorophyll fluorescence system) enable students to obtain organismal, physiological and biochemical data in the lab, as well as in the field, and will successfully integrate biological levels of organization.