Upon successful completion of Biology 1110, students will demonstrate the ability to:
Apply core concepts in biology through the study of specific subject areas:
Structure and Function
- Identify properties of life
- Identify macromolecules of biological systems and the role diet plays in their acquisition.
- Identify structural differences in prokaryotes, eukaryotes, viruses, retroviruses, and prions and how they relate to treatment of disease.
- Explain processes of cell growth, reproduction, and apoptosis.
- Explain variation in processes of cellular division between various cell types.
- Analyze how instances of loss of control in cellular regulation processes result in various medical conditions.
- Describe processes of osmosis and diffusion and apply concepts to human health.
Pathways and Transformations of Energy and Matter
- Explain the biochemical pathways of energy flow through biological systems and how they are governed by the laws of thermodynamics.
- Explain the interaction between the processes of photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and fermentation and the variations that exist between taxa.
- Apply effects of diet and exercise on cellular respiration.
- Apply the effects of fermentation on energy production.
- Explain the role of enzymes in biological systems.
Information flow, Exchange and Storage
- Explain Gene Theory and its origins.
- Identify the role of DNA and RNA in biological systems.
- Describe applications of recombinant DNA technology and evaluate social implications that continue to arise as a result of technological developments.
- Explain principles of Mendelian genetics and Heredity Theory.
- Apply Mendelian genetics to explain inheritance of disease.
Evolution
- Explain basic assumptions and conclusions of natural selection.
- Explain the role of genetic drift in evolution of populations.
- Explain how two populations can diverge genetically over generational time.
- Apply concepts of evolution to the dynamic problem of antibiotic resistance and vaccine production.
Systems
- Identify biodiversity of taxonomic kingdoms and select animal phyla.
- Identify the nature of pathogenic organisms.
- Apply ecological and evolutionary principles to interactions between taxa as related to energy flow.
- Identify various human impacts on the environment and evaluate potential solutions.
Synthesize core biological concepts to explain observations of current events in the natural world.
Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of science, including:
- Explain the role of hypotheses and theories in the scientific method.
- Apply knowledge of the scientific method to derive hypotheses and design experiments to test those hypotheses.
- Interpret data presented through tables or graphs and apply quantitative reasoning when reading and writing scientific papers.
- Communicate conclusions drawn from own experimental data and evaluate those of others.
- Explain the nature of science as a human endeavor with its assumptions and limitations.
- Explain the self-correcting nature of science.