From Cookbook to Collaborative: Transforming a University Biology Laboratory Course

Abstract

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As described in How People Learn (NRC, 2000), Developing Biological Literacy (BSCS, 1993), and much earlier by the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences during the 1960s and early 1970s (Sundberg et al., 1992), laboratories should promote guided-inquiries or investigations, and not simply consist of or verification activities. However, the only word that could describe the curriculum followed in the laboratory course that I was soon scheduled to teach was cookbook. This article describes the transformation of this biology laboratory course at an urban university from one based on a traditional style curriculum to one incorporating inquiry-based methodologies. In the words of Uno (1990), Inquiry (is) a pedagogical method that combines hands-on activities with student-centered discussion and discovery of concepts.... The teacher acts as a catalyst, directing student interaction, activities, and discussion rather than bearing all (p. 841). Biology majors enroll in this particular general biology laboratory course during the second semester of their sophomore year, after having completed two semesters of general chemistry and one semester of organic chemistry. A prerequisite for pre-professional schools, many post-baccalaureate students also enroll in the course. The university has a reputation for high admittance rates to medical and dental schools. The average percentage from 2002 through 2007 was 62% CI. Scott Wright, personal communication, July 21, 2008). From the inception of the course, the curriculum consisted of a collection of kits purchased from a well-known university-based supplier. Each kit, designed to verify a biological concept, consisted of a pre-packaged experiment, content information, and cookbook instructions for the student. The former instructor provided a hard copy of the content information from the kit to students during a Friday afternoon one-hour lecture session. This instructor administered a fill-in-the-blank quiz (taken directly from the content information) at the beginning of each three-hour laboratory session the following Monday or Tuesday. were allowed to bring an 8x10 inch cheat sheet with them to take their multiple-choice midterm and final exams. Thus, students memorized the reading material and spent hours handwriting terms and definitions in extremely tiny print or typing and printing them in the tiniest font size visible. Grading was strictly norm-referenced, thus contributing to a highly competitive, decidedly unfriendly atmosphere. * Methods With a background in high school and college teaching, and having experienced inquiry-based teaching and learning for many years, I sought to revise the curriculum to move the focus of the course from strict memorization to a framework that supported more conceptual understanding. According to How People Learn (NRC, 2000) Students must: a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application in order to develop competence in an area of inquiry (p 16). I set out to organize a course and present investigations that facilitated the scaffolding of skills and understanding in a collaborative laboratory environment. The basic laboratory schedule and biological concepts covered could not be changed. Oversight was intense as departmental faculty members demanded a high-caliber course. Even though cost-cutting was not a concern (and the number of sections offered more than doubled), changes resulted in a cost-savings approaching $20,000.00 per semester. General transformations to the course curriculum included the addition of several investigative open-ended laboratories. Often, skills learned in one laboratory were used for a more open investigation during the next lab. …