BIO 114 is an introduction to biological concepts and principles at and above the level of the organism. It is half of a year-long introduction to biology. Broad concept areas include evolution, information transmission, the cell as the fundamental unit of life, homeostasis, and emergent properties, and they will be explored from the organismal to ecological system levels. Biology is an exciting field and is in the news almost daily. However, the field of biology has become too massive to memorize factoids the way you may have had to do in previous courses. Biologists are motivated by a search for answers to fundamental questions – examples of some that we will delve into are: What is the evolutionary history of life? How do organisms work? What do species do in ecosystems? The approach taken in BIO 114 is to teach introductory biology based on the first principles of learning: you learn best when you construct your own knowledge, when your learning builds upon previous knowledge, and when knowledge is relevant to your life. In addition, we will focus on the process of science.
- Teacher: Chris Paradise