Learning Goals in the Biological Sciences Major

The Department of Biology faculty wish to instill in students the thrill of discovery and the nurturing of curiosity. Toward these goals we aim to provide students with opportunities to make their own discoveries through independent research conducted at all levels of our curriculum. Through this work we expect our students to become proficient in experimental design, hypothesis development, data analysis and critical reading of primary and secondary literature. Our overall objective for our students is to have them come to know biology as a way of understanding, rather than a particular body of information. As we help students to learn current knowledge, we strive for that knowledge to persist beyond the course in which it was acquired.

The Learning Goals of the Faculty of the Biology Department are:

• Instill in students the excitement of discovery and nurture creativity.
• Produce and critique logical arguments through generation and testing of hypotheses, analysis of data and evaluation of results.
• Acquire a fundamental knowledge of biological principles at all levels of biological organization from cells to ecosystems.
• Develop the ability to find and synthesize current scientific knowledge.
• Communicate ideas and arguments in both oral and written form.
• Work effectively as individuals and in groups.
• Understand the ethical responsibilities of scientists and assist in the understanding of science by society at large.

Skill Building and Applications

Our department thinks that educating students in the Biological Sciences requires a number of skills including the ability to identify and understand pertinent published research, design and perform appropriate methodologies, critically analyze results, and present information clearly to a community of peers. We think it is important that our students are able to apply their knowledge to the world they inhabit as citizens in a global society.