Teaching Introductory Biology

Task Force Members
Ronald Harris-Warrick (Chair); Neurobiology and Behavior
Kathryn Boor; Food Science
Daniel Buckley; Crop and Soil Sciences
Brian Crane; Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Laura Harrington; Entomology
George Hudler; Plant Pathology
Bruce Lewenstein; Communication; Science and Technology Studies
Dan Luo; Biological and Environmental Engineering
Lois Pollack; Applied and Engineering Physics
Jocelyn Rose; Plant Biology
Adam Siepel; Biological Statistics and Computational Biology
Jed Sparks; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Barbara Strupp; Nutritional Sciences, Psychology
Francisco Valero-Cuevas; Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (left the University, Fall 2007)
Mariana Wolfner; Molecular Biology and Genetics
Stephen Zinder; Microbiology

Executive Summary

The Undergraduate Biology Curriculum Task Force was instituted by Deans Susan Henry (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences [CALS]) and Peter Lepage (College of Arts and Sciences [CAS]) in Fall 2006.  This report addresses the first of our four charges, to investigate the current teaching of introductory biology, and to propose changes that would enhance the quality of our introductory courses.  After consultation with members of the Cornell community and comparison with other universities, the Task Force proposes the development of separate course tracks for training in Biology for majors in the Biological Sciences, other science students, and non-scientists.  We make the following major recommendations:

 1.  An independent one-year laboratory course, “Introduction to Investigative Biology” will be required of all Biological Sciences majors, and will be available to other non-Biological Sciences majors if deemed appropriate for the requirements of those majors.  This course will emphasize a thorough introduction to the scientific method, as well as introducing specific techniques in biological research.

2.  Students majoring in Biological Sciences will no longer take a one-year introductory biology course.  Instead, they will be expected to take a set of five introductory courses in core areas of biology.  Three of these areas (Genetics and Genomics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Evolution and Diversity) will be required of all Biological Sciences majors, while the remaining two will be chosen from the three areas of Physiology, Cell and/or Developmental Biology, and Ecology and Sustainability.  These core courses will provide in-depth coverage of the full spectrum of biology.  While the core courses can be taken in any order, we recommend a suggested ordering of the different core classes by developing them at freshman, sophomore, and junior levels of sophistication.

3.   Students who are not Biological Sciences majors but are majoring in other scientific disciplines (e.g., Human Ecology, CALS applied science departments, physical sciences, and pre-clinical students pursuing other majors) will continue to have available an improved version of a one-year introductory biology course sequence designed to emphasize a smaller number of core concepts and analyze them in greater detail than in the present course. These courses should also have discussion sections that engage in active learning exercises.  These students will also have the opportunity to take the new core courses described in Point 2, if that better suits their academic needs.

4.   The Introductory Biology course provides an alternative entry into the major for Cornell students who are unsure of their major in their first year.  Specifically, students who have already completed the two-semester Introductory Biology course and the first year biology laboratory course will be allowed to complete the Biological Sciences major by taking the three required core courses and one additional core course, to be chosen following consultation with the student’s academic advisor and subject to the requirements of their area of study (as well as the other normal requirements for the major).

5.   Students transferring into the Biological Sciences major (from another university or another major at Cornell) will also receive partial credit for a previous course in introductory biology and only have to complete four core courses for coverage of introductory biology.

6.   For non-scientists (including CALS non-science majors fulfilling a biology requirement), we recommend the development of additional courses that teach biology through a more targeted study of issues important to society.  This topic has been the focus of another task force, and we are in agreement with their conclusions.

7.  Pre-clinical (medical/veterinary/dental) students will have improved options over those they have had in the past.

Report of the Undergraduate Biology Curriculum Task Force (PDF)