Biology 150 Biological Inquiry

Course Overview

Welcome to Grinnell's first course in biology, Bio 150 Introduction to Biological Inquiry! As a consequence of our growing understanding of how people best learn scientific principles, we have designed this course to be distinct from most college introductory biology courses. You have probably noticed that each section focuses on a different biological problem; instead of expecting all students taking Bio 150 to learn exactly the same list of biological facts, we expect all students to practice the same skills while investigating interesting biological questions. It’s not that facts are unimportant; they are fundamental to investigating and understanding life. Research on learning shows, however, that people are more likely to remember facts, understand concepts, and apply them to new situations when they use them. For this reason, all sections of Bio 150 feature the following common elements.

Questions

From the title and description of your section, you probably have some idea of the questions your section will focus upon. Each instructor chose a topic near to her/his own research interests, so s/he will be expert in helping you define interesting and answerable questions.

Design

Throughout the course, your instructors will ask you to design investigations that address your specific questions. Through this process, we hope you will learn both the power and the limitations of scientific methods in biological explanation, so you’ll be able to evaluate the results of other scientific investigations in the future.

Observations

Answering questions in science involves comparing predictions with observations. You will learn to use a large array of tools (both fancy and simple) that allow us to observe in new ways or with more precision than our own senses allow. In most cases you will be asked to quantify your observations, since this is the most convincing way to test predictions.

Analysis

What do your observations say about your question? Analysis involves comparing predictions with observations to make a conclusion. With quantitative observations, this involves evaluation of your confidence in your conclusion, using the tools of statistical reasoning.

Communication

A critical part of doing science well is communicating effectively with other scientists. You will spend a lot of time working on ways to represent your observations graphically and to communicate your results. At the end of the course, we will have a joint poster session, at which you will get a chance to see what students in other sections have been doing.

Ethics

Good science, and good policy informed by science, depends on both the reliability of the scientific process and the scientist’s awareness of other areas of human concern affected by the results. In this course, you’ll become familiar with standards regarding the ethics of practicing and communicating science, and many of you will discuss how scientific results may be relevant to social issues.

The philosophy behind this course is that you will learn more effectively by practicing. This goes for biology as much as for playing a musical instrument or a sport. By grounding your learning in authentic research questions, we also hope you will be motivated to practice very hard so that you will be confident in your abilities when the semester is long past. That is how we, as teachers and scholars, keep up with the incredible change and growth in biological knowledge over our own lifetimes. If you go on to the 200-level biology courses, you’ll find that your practice in Bio 150 has prepared you for the task of understanding organisms by integrating ideas from across the spectrum of biological sub-disciplines. And, if you don’t intend to major in biology, we are certain that Bio 150 will provide you with critical analytical tools needed to interpret the results of biological research in your daily life. We hope all of you will be prepared to learn what you need to know to evaluate the biology of your future.

Section Titles and Descriptions

Typically, four different sections of Bio-150 are offered each semester.

Animal Locomotion (Professor Queathem)

As a way to explore how biologists ask questions and develop answers to them, this class will focus on the biological problems associated with animal locomotion. Students will begin learning how to use the scientific literature to study the physical, physiological, and biomechanical principles that underlie the ways animals move. Students might make videos of moving creatures, design paper airplanes, or shoot rubber bands to better understand locomotor mechanics. The emphasis of the course will be on asking questions, designing experiments to answer those questions, and communicating the results of the experiments in a variety of formats.

Biological Responses to Stress (Professor Gregg-Jolly)

In this course, we will investigate ways that biologists seek to understand how organisms can interact with their environment and change in response to varying environmental conditions. Since microbes are excellent model systems for biological inquiry, their response to stressful environments will be emphasized. Students will formulate hypotheses regarding stress responses, design and conduct experiments to test their hypotheses, and communicate the results of their experiments.

Cell Fate: Calvin or Hobbes? (Professor Praitis)

During the development of an embryo, how is the fate of a cell determined? How does a cell “know” it is supposed to become a nerve cell? Or part of the gut? How does it know its location within the embryo? To address these questions, we will examine the fate of cells during embryonic development, focusing primarily on the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. We will critically evaluate the primary literature, formulate hypotheses, carry out independent research projects using a variety of analytical tools, and report experimental results in scientific papers, posters, and oral presentations.

The Effects of Climate Change on Organisms (Professor Jacobson)

We will examine the effects of predicted changes in temperature, moisture and carbon dioxide levels on organismal and ecosystem function through experimental investigation. We will focus on the effects of such changes on the physiology and metabolic functioning of soil and aquatic organisms, as well as on biogeochemical processes of ecosystems, including respiration, decomposition, and nutrient cycling. Class time will be devoted primarily to discussions and lab work examining theoretical aspects of organismal and ecosystem functioning, design and implementation of lab-based experiments, and the interpretation of our results in the context of extensive ongoing climate change research.

Genes and Toxins (Professor Bailey)

During cell division, mistakes are often made during DNA replication. If the cell is allowed to continue cell division this can lead to genomic instability and uncontrolled cell division which can lead to cancer. Therefore, the cell must have a way of correcting errors made during this process, thereby eliminating potential cancer cells from forming. One of the proteins that “protect” us from getting cancer by maintaining genome integrity is p53. p53 is a transcriptional activator protein that “turns on” genes that initiate processes such as apoptosis, cell proliferation, and the DNA damage repair response during cell division. In a mammalian cell, p53 works by binding to short stretches of DNA called response elements that are located in front of a target gene that p53 turns on. In response to DNA damage, p53 is activated and binds to various response elements that turn on genes like p21 that pause the cell cycle. If the DNA damage is irreparable, p53 will “turn on” genes like BAX that can induce apoptosis. If the damage is reparable, p53 “turns on” genes that activates proteins that repair the DNA. In this way, p53 eliminates potential cancer cells.

Because of this feature, p53 is known as a tumor suppressor and the “guardian of the genome.” Therefore, if p53 is mutated, the cell is able to evade death because of an impaired DNA damage response. This action results in cells with damaged DNA continuing through the cell cycle and can eventually lead to cancer. Furthermore, p53 is mutated in ~50-80% of all cancers. Therefore studying the function of p53 mutants are of great importance to the cancer community and is the focus of this course.

To study the action of p53 mutants, we are using Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) as a model system. In addition to this, this strain of yeast does not contain its own p53. Therefore, this system is ideal for studying the function of p53 and its mutants. The experimental system uses two reporter genes that qualitatively and quantitatively measure p53’s ability to bind to the p21 response elements in yeast.

The Language of Neurons (Professor Lindgren)

In this course, students will actively learn how biologists study the nervous system. Specifically, students will work as neuroscientists for a semester and will attempt to learn something novel about how nerve cells communicate with one another at chemical synapses. Students will present their findings at the end of the semester via both oral and written presentations. Papers resulting from a substantial independent project will be published in the class journal, Pioneering Neuroscience: The Grinnell Journal of Neurophysiology. Students with a strong background in high school physics will benefit most from this section of Introduction to Biological Inquiry.

Plant Genetics and the Environment (Professor DeRidder)

The physical and behavioral characteristics of living organisms are largely determined by their genetic makeup and their environment. This course is designed to allow us to ask questions about the relationship between genetics and the environment and to explore the mechanisms plants use to acclimate and adapt to changes in their environment. Using the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, we will examine the influence of different environmental factors on the growth and development of “wild-type” and mutant individuals. Students will design and perform experiments to address questions about the effect of genetic mutation on plant responses to the environment. After careful analysis of experimental results, students will communicate their findings in various scientific forms.

The Sex Life of Plants (Professor Eckhart)

This course will explore the evolution and ecology of reproduction in flowering plants to develop your understanding of how and why plants reproduce as they do. You’ll experience biology as it is practiced as you learn principles of adaptation, practice the scientific method, and communicate your research findings in the style of professional biologists. Activities will include reading and discussing classic and contemporary scientific literature, completing exercises on the structure and function of plant reproductive features, and conducting and reporting on research projects done in the lab, the greenhouse, and the field.

Survivor (Professor Hinsa-Leasure)

In this course, we will investigate strategies organisms use for survival in different environments. We will focus on microorganisms and humans as model systems. Topics addressed will include the biology of bacteria, factors important for biofilm formation, how microorganisms become resistant to antibiotics, and how we protect ourselves from microorganisms. Students will isolate and characterize microorganisms attached to vegetables by using standard microbial and basic molecular biology techniques. Based on critical reading of the literature, students will design and carry out independent projects, and analyze and report the results in scientific papers, posters, and oral presentations.

Growin’ a Metazoan (Professor Sandquist)

The process by which a multi-cellular organism morphs from a fairly symmetrical single-celled egg into a highly structured, stereotypical adult form is at once amazing and mystifying. In this course, we are going to use the frog model system (Xenopus laevis) in order to explore some of the internal and external factors contributing to embryonic development in vertebrates. By fertilizing eggs in vitro and controlling environment conditions, we will see what it takes to make a proper tadpole, or why some may form two heads or others as all belly. Additionally, we will discuss the exciting and sometimes peculiar history of embryology, as well as some of the potential medical and societal implications of manipulating and engineering embryos. Like in all Bio 150s, students will perform novel research related to the course topic, which will involve developing a specific hypothesis about how a condition of your choosing may affect tadpole development, designing and performing experiments to test your hypothesis, analyzing your data, and sharing your results through writing and oral presentation.

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