Introduction to Biology Syllabus
Synthesis Project
BIOL 1: Introduction to Biology - Open For Antiracism (OFAR)
Overview
The Open for Antiracism (OFAR) Program – co-led by CCCOER and College of the Canyons – emerged as a response to the growing awareness of structural racism in our educational systems and the realization that adoption of open educational resources (OER) and open pedagogy could be transformative at institutions seeking to improve. The program is designed to give participants a workshop experience where they can better understand anti-racist teaching and how the use of OER and open pedagogy can empower them to involve students in the co-creation of an anti-racist classroom. The capstone project involves developing an action plan for incorporating OER and open pedagogy into a course.
I share 3 resources here from my Introduction to Biology course: our syllabus with specifications grading (complete/incomplete grading with unlimited revisions) and no late penalties, our Biologist Biographies project, and our content curation project. Please adapt these resources to make your own course more antiracist!
Action Plan
OER and open pedagogy have helped me make my class more antiracist because it allows for the inclusion of more voices and allows students to choose applications of our course material that are relevant to themselves and their communities.
Open pedagogy projects have allowed me to collaborate with my students to build curriculum. With open pedagogy, students are not just consumers of knowledge, but also producers and co-owners of the knowledge they acquire.
I share 3 resources here from my Introduction to Biology course: our syllabus with specifications grading (complete/incomplete grading with unlimited revisions) and no late penalties, our Biologist Biographies project, and our content curation project. Please adapt these resources to make your own course more antiracist!
Syllabus
In Introduction to Biology you will build a foundation of biology that you can use to understand personal experiences and issues at the intersection of biology and society. You will be able to use your understanding of biological principles to make decisions that affect your health, and the health of your family, community, and planet. I am looking forward to exploring and learning about the natural world with you this semester!
Course Description
4 Units. This course is an introduction to the basic principles of biology, focusing on the flow of genetic information through cells and generations and the flow of energy through cells and ecosystems. Topics include processes of science, cell structure and function, genetics, molecular biology, evolution, ecology, and a survey of the diversity of life. An emphasis is placed on the critical analysis of current biological issues, including threats to biodiversity and applications of biotechnology in agriculture and medicine.
Prerequisites: None. Transfer Status: CSU/UC
Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Investigate the biographies and contributions of biologists, design a controlled experiment, and communicate experimental results to demonstrate an understanding of the process of science.
- Describe the flow of information in cells and between generations.
- Explain the evolutionary and genetic mechanisms that account for both the unity and the diversity of life.
- Interpret biogeochemical cycles and explain the flow of energy through cells, communities, and ecosystems.
- Compare and contrast the major groups of organisms on our planet and relate their structures to their functions.
- Apply biological principles, critically analyze evidence, and summarize scientific conclusions to explain personal experiences and issues at the intersection of biology and society.
Specifications Grading
Our course grading system is designed around the principles of how we learn - how our brain works! Your course grade will not be determined by how quickly, or how many attempts it takes to complete an activity. We are here to learn, and the best way to learn is to explore, get confused, review feedback, and then revise!
- Everyone can learn biology
- Believe in yourself
- Struggle and mistakes are really important
- Speed is not important
Grading only your first attempt at a new skill does not capture your full capacity to learn and discourages creativity. If you are able to successfully explain a new concept on the first try, then maybe the concept was too easy or you already knew it. Deeper learning occurs when you are given opportunities to take risks, extend beyond what you already know, get frustrated, receive feedback, and then put the feedback into action. Growth and learning happen when we are challenged and have opportunities to practice a skill or concept, with support in the learning process.
This course uses a specifications grading system. Submissions will be recorded in the Canvas Gradebook as complete (✔️) or incomplete (✖️). The specifications used to determine whether a submission is complete can be found highlighted in yellow at the bottom of each activity's instructions. Review these specifications before you submit, but you can still submit incomplete work if you are stuck and would like some feedback. You can think of incomplete as "in progress". Review the feedback provided in submission comments and then revise and resubmit to complete the activity. You can revise and resubmit each activity as many times as you need to complete the activity. I will share feedback on every submission to guide you during the learning process. When the submission is complete, the ✖️ will be updated to a ✔️ to record the activity as complete.
The only letter grade in this course will be your final course grade submitted to the college, and it will be determined by the number of activities you complete over the course of the semester. This final letter grade is not an evaluation of you, but just a description of the number of activities completed during the semester. There are more activities available than you need to complete to give you choice in which activities you complete to secure your grade goal.
Biologist Biographies
Biology students investigate diverse biologists and contribute Biologist Biographies to an openly licensed website that will be shared with future students and other faculty looking for examples of diverse biologists to incorporate into their curriculum. The goal is to continue to add biologists to the website each semester that are contributing to current issues at the intersection of biology and society that represent the diverse, intersectional identities of our students.
This project is designed to allow students to complete the first part of SLO 1: Investigate the biographies and contributions of biologists, design a controlled experiment, and communicate experimental results to demonstrate an understanding of the process of science.
Content Curation Project
In biology, synthesis means to bring smaller components together to build something bigger and more complex. In photosynthesis, plants use light energy to build sugar from carbon dioxide and water. The goal of our project is to curate content on a topic at the intersection of biology and society. You will use your developing foundation of biology to evaluate, sort, interpret, present, and share trustworthy information on your topic in a format of your choice that is understandable and engaging for friends, family, community, and future BIOL 1 students. You will use the understanding of biology you build during our course to make these complex topics accessible and relevant.
This project is designed to allow students to demonstrate SLO 6: Apply biological principles, critically analyze evidence, and summarize scientific conclusions to explain personal experiences and issues at the intersection of biology and society.