SUBJECT: Thesis teaching in biology
DATE: 3/97
 
 
Hi Labbers.
 
I just got finished reading an article by Jan Charles Haluska in
the Feb 97 issue of the The Teaching Professor. It is called "The Thesis
Driven Classroom". If I can loosely interpret what he was saying, it is
that teaching should be organized around a central thesis and that the
parts should all support or develop that thesis. He explains that this
should not be restrictive. The thesis should serve as the basis for
starting an exploration of the subject.
 
Two of his examples are "'Art is for the joy of beauty, not just
for memorizing'" (art history course) and "human affairs are governed more
by a subtle web of mundane relationships... than by the official
cause-and-effect principles found in standard textbooks" (history).
 
As I was reading the article, the idea of teaching around an
organizing thesis starting appealing to me. My as yet unfocussed thoughts
seem to be revolving more around themes like cancer and disease than a true
thesis. I thought I would throw this on the table and see what sort of
theses you could come up with for an intro bio course. I'm looking forward
to hearing your replies. --cmw
 
Charlene M. Waggoner, Ph.D. "Great art is eternal;
Department of Biological Sciences great science tends to be
Bowling Green, State University replaced by greater science."
Bowling Green, OH 43403
-- John A. Moore
cwaggon@bgnet.bgsu.edu
 
 
I thought we already did teach that way in biology. The "thesis" is
that all life forms share an evolutionary heritage and show adaptation
to environment. I can't think of anything taught in the general biology
course, from molecules to the biosphere that doesn't make the most sense
in the context of that thesis.
 
Dave McNeely, Biology, University of Texas at Brownsville, 80 Fort
Brown, Brownsville, TX 78520; mcneely@utb1.utb.edu
 
 
Dave-
 
I agree that this thesis binds it all together clearly if you are PhD or
at least a well educated biologist at any level, but I would argue that
from a first biology class student you'll get a dumb stare in response to
it because they won't grasp it until they have enough information to see
it and understand it. I believe Charlene and others are referring to
"topical" approach to a course as a means of focusing the discussion at
any level of organization.
 
I think this is a good approach and its one we're about to explore as a
means to provide our non-majors with biology options that will interest
them more than our regular majors sequence.
 
Greg Anderson
Bates College
 
 
I wonder if central themes like (1) cystic fibrosis (as a means of
integrating meiosis, genetics, respiratory system, etc), (2)
cardiovascular disease (for integrating the cardiovascular system
with the endocrine and nutrition), (3) diabetes mellitus (for
integrating the endocrine, cardiovascular, etc. systems) would be a
good idea.
 
From: JERRY JOHNSON <JJOHNSON@wbc.edu>
 
 
I much prefer a thesis approach in the sense this thread seems to be
developing. I organized my botany course around such theses, with topics
such as how pollution affects plants (that covers a huge territory), food
plants (dealing with plant reproduction, genetic engineering, what parts
of plants we eat and why that part is good to eat). In organismal
biology, one of my favorite themes is preparation for winter and winter
survival. We have already discussed transport in plants and preparation
in frogs and turtles (that freeze 65% of the body) and then I ask students
to develop hypotheses and/or theories of how plants, especially trees,
survive the cold of winter. (This coincides with the onset of a long
Houghton, Michigan, winter.) Students, working in small groups in a large
(100) lecture section, do very well at applying the knowledge from the
previous two units to figuring out how plants do things. So what took the
biologists unitl the last few decades to figure this out?
Janice
***********************************
Janice M. Glime, Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
jmglime@mtu.edu
906-487-2546
FAX 906-487-3167
 
 
Dear Charlene,
 
For each of my classes, I develop a list (less than a dozen) Big Ideas.
These are the themes that I feel underlie and connect the content of that
class. These are the ideas that I hope a student will remember say seven
years after the end of a course. The following list is from about 5 years
ago (the last time I taught the general course). I would probably change
it some now, but didn't take the time (it takes quite a bit of reflection
to do so).
 
The Big Ideas of Biology (Intro. General Bio/ majors and nonmajors)
 
1. Biological knowledge grows through observation and experimentation
within the philosophical framework which defines scientific knowing (info
about this is on my website under links to information/ misc.- writings).
 
2. The processes and actions of life are products of its basis in the
physical nature of matter and energy.
 
3. Life exists through the controlled transduction and exchange of energy
and living order is increased as a result of the selective filtering of
large quantities of energy over time (development, succession, evolution).
 
4. Structure and function are complexly and predictably correlated.
 
5. Life is controlled through the structural isolation of processes
(organelles, cells, systems) and the specific nature of molecular
activity (enzymes).
 
6. Unifying characters such as the genetic code suggest a common ancestry
for all living things.
 
7. Life demonstrates continuity by the controlled passage of information
molecules (DNA) from generation to generation.
 
8. Life adjusts to short term change through negative feedback and
homeostatic regulation which expend energy to mainain internal conditions
within survivable limits.
 
9. Life adjusts to long term change through evolution by natural
selection which results in each species having a set of tolerance limits
and requirements within which it can exist and reproduce successfully
(niche).
 
10. Living systems can heal minor or brief damage or injury.
 
Best wishes,
Bill
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
William A. Hayes, II, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
P.O.Box 3234
Delta State University
Cleveland, MS 38733
ph: 601-846-4247
fax: 601-846-4016
email: bhayes@dsu.deltast.edu
 
 
I agree with Dave McNeely - the evolutionary thesis makes sense of it
all. When I teach intro, I start with the definition of science, then
the definition of life, which leads me directly to what we know and
hypothesize about life's origins. From there we go into basic cell
structure and the simplest and first cells - bacteria - and keep
adding on as we go. The course ends up as a kind of narrative, which
I continually go back to to set a context for introducing new groups
and their defining characteristics. The students seem to respond to
this well, and it's basic outlines are familiar enough (although we
do have to weed out a lot of misconceptions!) that I don't get a lot
of "dumb stares". They seem to enjoy the notion of continuity over
time when I say "this group first appears in the fossil record X
million years ago . . ." and also are impressed by how the earth's
history has been so completely dominated by bacteria.
 
As for other themes like diseases or pollution, those are great
themes for individual lectures or groups of lectures. I think each
lecture should have a thesis too, as well as a well-defined
beginning, middle, and end. I hate it when people run a course as if
they are just marching through the book and after 50 minutes they end
abruptly saying "well that's all we have time for, I'll pick up there
on Wednesday..." Once they realize you have a definite end to your
talk, I find the students are much more willing to listen attentively
to the entire lecture instead of packing up as the period draws to a
close.
 
John Dickerman
Northern Illinois University
T80JWD1@WPO.CSO.NIU.EDU
 

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