Flying with IBIS: Integrated Biology and Inquiry Skills

该项目正在建立一门创新的生物学入门课程，对生物专业和其他专业的学生开放。在使用的教学方法和涵盖的主题方面，讲座和实验室都是一体化的。两者都使用基于探究的教学方法。所使用的特定教学方法已经在该机构进行了试点，并发现在留住专业、获得对该学科的兴趣和知识方面优于其他方法，而不是生物专业的学生。课堂时间用于小组讨论学生提出的问题，并在教员和经验丰富的高年级学生的指导下对彼此的工作进行同行评议。这一经历为高年级学生提供了丰富研究技能的机会。智力优势：基于网络的背景材料被用来为学生的调查做准备，而场景和讨论问题是高质量的，并将生命科学的基本概念(如呼吸的本质)与从分子生物学到动物行为等学科的现实世界问题联系起来。广泛的影响：整个系参与教师发展活动，为高年级学生和教师准备这种以学生讨论为中心的教学和研究为中心的教学和研究方法的学生实验室的模式，因此影响将超出本机构。此外，为学生准备的网上背景材料正在免费提供，以便于其他机构改编。该项目由生物科学局和本科教育司教育和人力资源局联合资助，作为他们支持本科生物学教育愿景和变革的努力的一部分

This project is establishing an innovative introductory biology course open to both biology majors and those majoring in other fields. Both lecture and laboratory are integrated as regards teaching approaches used and subject matter covered. Both use an inquiry-based approach to teaching. The particular teaching approach used has been piloted at the institution and found to be superior to other approaches in retaining majors and gaining an interest in and knowledge of the discipline by those students not biology majors. Class time is devoted to group discussions of student-generated questions and peer review of each other's work under the guidance of faculty and experienced upper division students. This experience provides an opportunity for upper division students to enrich their research skills. Intellectual Merit: Web-based background materials are used to prepare students for investigations, while scenarios and discussion questions are of high quality and connect basic concepts in the life sciences (such as the nature of respiration) to real world problems in subjects ranging from molecular biology to animal behavior.Broader Impact: The entire department is engaged in faculty development activities to prepare both the upper division students and the faculty for this student discussion-centered mode of teaching and research-centered approach to a student laboratory so the impact will go beyond this institution. In addition the web-based background material prepared for students is being made freely available to facilitate easy adaptation by other institutions.This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts toward support of Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education