Analytical and Quantitative Understanding of Integrative Plant Biology through Coursework and Independent Student Research

在生物组织的各个层次上建立联系，并让学生认识到这些联系的重要性，是当今生物学中最困难的两个目标，也是最令人兴奋的两个目标。 为了弥合生物学各分支学科之间的差距，学生必须能够理解各学科的基本词汇，并进一步认识到所提出的问题的种类和用于回答这些问题的定量方法。 为了引导学生从多个层次的生物学组织的多个班级的信息相结合，提出了一个实验计划，连接四个植物生物学课程。 每个班级都是一个单元，但将每个班级与其他班级联系在一起的线索是为了培养定量技能和技术能力。 这种结构应该吸引学生进入发现过程，因为他们认识到植物生物学水平之间的联系，同时使用熟悉的设备和数学模型自信地探索自己的生物学问题。 更具体地说，这里提出的课程创新的目标包括：生物学水平的整合，在植物科学作为一个主题的定量技能在实验室和现场的发展建立现场和实验室实验作为合作伙伴，探索生物学问题。 内衬类内容的战略，并为发展更强的定量技能，围绕学生掌握光合作用和呼吸的测量使用LiCor 6400便携式光合作用系统，无论是在实验室在鲍登学院和在逃离在附近的海岸研究中心（CSC）的独特的植物群落。 当学生收集植物生理数据时，他们将被引入生物过程的机械模型和经验模型之间的价值和差异，使用两种广泛接受的光合作用模型作为例子。 使用CSC的数据记录器和各种传感器，学生还将收集这些模型中使用的一些环境输入的真实值。 在四个班级中的每一个班级中，将使用相同的设备和相同模型的部分，但重点不同，从细胞到生态生理学水平建立丰富的信息基础，理想情况下将促进综合思维并激发独立探究。 *

Establishing links across levels of biological organization, and impressing upon students the importance of those links, are two of the most difficult goals in biology today, and two of the most exciting. In order to bridge gaps between subdisciplines of biology, students must be able to understand the basic vocabulary of the various disciplines, and, further, to recognize the kinds of questions that are asked and quantitative approaches used to answer those questions. In order to lead students toward combining information from multiple classes taught at several levels of biological organization, an experimental plan linking four plant biology courses is proposed. each class is a unit within itself, but the threads tying each to the others are designed to build quantitative skills and technical competence. This structure should draw students into the process of discovery as they recognize links between levels of plant biology, while confidently exploring their own biological questions using familiar equipment and mathematical models. More specifically, the goals of the curricular innovations proposed here include: Integration of levels of biology, within plant sciences as a theme Development of quantitative skills both in the lab and in the field Establishment of field and lab experiments as partners in exploring biological questions. The strategy for lining class content, and for developing stronger quantitative skills, revolves around student mastery of the measurement of photosynthesis and respiration using a LiCor 6400 portable photosynthesis system, both in the laboratory at Bowdoin College and in the distinctive vegetative communities in the fled at the nearby Coastal Studies Center (CSC). As students gather plant physiological data, they will be introduced to the value of and differences between mechanistic and empirical models of biological processes, using two widely accepted models of photosynthesis as examples. Using dataloggers and various sensors at CSC, students will also gather realistic values for some of the environmental inputs used in these models. In each of the four classes, these same pieces of equipment and portions of the same models will be used, but with a different focus, building a rich base of information from cellular to ecophysiological levels which ideally will foster integrative thinking and spur independently inquiry. *