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Biology 4210 Course Goals and Outcomes

Successful students in Biology 4210 will achieve the following goals and objectives:

Goal 1: Improve students’ information literacy.

  1. Find and evaluate the credibility of a variety of sources of scientific information.
  2. Interpret and summarize evidence in primary literature.
  3. Evaluate claims in scientific papers, popular science articles, and other sources using evidence-based reasoning.

Goal 2: Develop students’ abilities to formulate research questions.

  1. Recognize gaps in our current understanding of a topic and identify what specific information is missing.
  2. Develop research questions based on observations.
  3. Formulate testable hypotheses.

Goal 3: Develop students’ abilities to design a scientific study.

  1. Compare strengths and limitations of various study designs
  2. Design controlled experiments
  3. Execute protocols and accurately record measurements and observations.
  4. Identify methodological problems and suggest how to troubleshoot them.

Goal 4: Enhance students’ abilities to interpret, evaluate, and draw conclusions from data.

  1. Analyze data, summarize resulting patterns and draw appropriate conclusions.
  2. Describe sources of error and uncertainty in data.
  3. Make evidence-based arguments using your own and others’ findings.
  4. Relate conclusions to original hypothesis, consider alternative hypothesis, and suggest future research directions based on findings.

Goal 5: Students will develop quantitative and computational data analytic skills.

  1. Record, organize and annotate simple data sets.
  2. Create and interpret informative graphs and other data visualizations.
  3. Select, carry out, and interpret, statistical analyses.
  4. develop an awareness of the careers and professions that rely on knowledge of biological sciences.

Goal 6: Practice sharing ideas data and findings with others clearly and accurately.

  1. Use appropriate language style, and various modes to communicate science effectively to targeted audiences.

Goal 7: Practice sharing ideas data and findings with others clearly and accurately.

  1. Work productively in teams with people who have diverse backgrounds, skillsets, and perspectives.
  2. Work effectively with teammates to complete projects.

Goal 8: Provide and respond to constructive feedback to improve individual and teamwork.

  1. Evaluate feedback from others and revise work or behavior appropriately
  2. Critique others’ work and ideas constructively and respectfully.