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Breaking the Mold in Learning Biology: A new experiment in undergraduate education in biology
By: | Sunday, June 8th, 2008Breaking the Mold in Learning Biology: A new experiment in undergraduate education in biology (PDF) (Fall 2003) by Diane Tseng
Breaking the Mold in Learning Biology: A new experiment in undergraduate education in science
by Diane Tseng
A young woman briskly walks up to the second-floor of the Bio-X Clark Center building, swings open the door and takes off her sunglasses. She heads for the incubator, sorts through a stack of petri dishes and pulls one out containing a culture of yeast cells. Yet this undergraduate is not working in a professor’s research lab. Nor is she secretly planning to release a new strain of mutant yeast into Stanford’s sewer system. In fact, she is taking a lab course in the Biology department–one that is actually part of a larger experiment in undergraduate education.
The Mission
This experiment in life science education, officially entitled the “Pre-Grad Program,” is being conducted by Stanford Biology professor Tim Stearns. Prof. Stearns’s goal is ‘to identify a group of students who have a strong interest in research as well as an interest in going on to careers in research. [Central to] this program are excitement-generating classes that show students what doing research is like and where the leading-edge is in biology.” In addition to providing engaging classes, this program also provides faculty advising and graduate student mentoring for undergraduate students. The entire program package allows students to conduct independent cutting-edge research and to take relevant coursework in preparation for a career in biological and biomedical research.
The Pre-Grad Program
The main component of the pre-grad program is a two quarter joint seminar and lab course (Biology 54 and 55) entitled “Genes, Genomes and Proteins: Introduction to Advanced Independent Research Laboratory.” Taught collaboratively by Professor Stearns and Biology professor Martha Cyert, these two classes provide alternative lab courses to the core Biology laboratory course sequence 
(Biology 44X and 44Y) taken by pre-meds and biology majors. More specifically, Prof. StearnsÕs and CyertÕs courses examine the impact of genomic information on experimental biology through scientific literature and experimentation. Students first explore recent genomic techniques at a conceptual level and then discuss specific applications to the biology of a simple eukaryotic model, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Finally, students design and execute experiments as part of their original research projects to examine how the genome functions in a eukaryotic cell. Prof. Cyert states, ÒTo me, one of the most important things about Bio54/55 is that the students get to decide not only how to do their experiments, but also to decide what experiments they want to do.Ó Both professors emphasize creativity and independent thinking in the lab. Prof. Cyert continues, ÒOne of the things that makes some scientists exceptional is their ability to come up with different questions than other people do.Ó
Although Biology 54 and 55 specifically focus on the nuts and bolts of yeast genetics, the science is not esoteric. First of all, genetics is not simply a narrow field of biology, but rather a tool for understanding the information that makes life possible. In addition, understanding genetics employs skills from other disciplines of science, including statistics, computer science, and biochemistry. Although the pre-grad program is offered through the Biology department and attracts many Biology majors, it also recruits students from other fields of science including chemistry, biomedical computation and math, reflecting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of scientific research itself.
Breaking the Mold: Exploring the Unknown
In an academic curriculum that mirrors the very nature of scientific investigation, students are encouraged to probe unknown questions rather than try to regenerate expected results. As he was quoted in an article for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Òthe feeling of being on the edge of the unknown; that is what research is all about. In most undergraduate labs, particularly at large universities, students areÉ repeating experiments someone else already did many years ago.Ó
In fact, repeating experiments to witness and reinforce the concepts of Biology in the laboratory setting defines the way science is traditionally taught. The usual procedure is a process of learning through lectures followed by hands-on experimentation in the lab. The pre-grad program challenges the traditional framework of scientific education by taking the laboratory experience straight to the cutting-edge. Empowered by the tools to design, conduct and interpret these results, students have the opportunity to personally make new contributions to the field of Biology, a challenge both in itself and to tradition.
Topics: Biology and Chemistry, Spotlights, Volume 2, Issue 2 |
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