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

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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goal of this project is to modify the plant portion of the General Biology laboratory course, which uses functional but outdated equipment, and to introduce two new courses in plant biology.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.