Flying with IBIS: Integrated Biology and Inquiry Skills

本项目拟开设一门创新性的生物学导论课程，对生物专业和其他专业的学生开放。讲座和实验室在使用的教学方法和涵盖的主题方面是相结合的。两者都采用探究式教学方法。所采用的特殊教学方法已在该机构进行了试点，并发现在保留专业和获得非生物专业学生对该学科的兴趣和知识方面优于其他方法。课堂时间专门用于学生提出的问题的小组讨论，并在教师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审。这种经历为高年级学生提供了一个丰富他们研究技能的机会。智力优势：基于网络的背景材料用于学生为调查做准备，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。更广泛的影响：整个系都在从事教师发展活动，为高年级学生和教师准备这种以学生讨论为中心的教学模式和以研究为中心的学生实验室方法，因此影响将超出本机构。此外，为学生编写的基于网络的背景材料正在免费提供，以方便其他机构进行改编。该项目由生物科学理事会和本科教育司教育与人力资源理事会共同资助，作为支持本科生物学教育的愿景与变革的一部分

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