Meeting Abstract
In 2012, members of the Biology Department at Holy Cross expanded the introductory curriculum from two to three courses. Our main motivation was to provide a thorough, principles-based introduction to biology at all levels of the biological size and complexity hierarchy. A major stimulus was an increasing concern that our students were not being exposed sufficiently to modern organismal biology. For many students, unfamiliarity began in high school and was not helped by an introductory curriculum that increasingly emphasized exciting, theoretically rich discoveries only at small and large scales; functional organismal biology was being squeezed out of our introductory curriculum. We now offer a three-semester sequence consisting of an introduction to cellular and molecular biology (CMB), an organismal-focused course entitled Mechanisms of Multicellular Life, and a final course dealing with biodiversity, ecology, and evolution. Mechanisms of Multicellular Life uses a comparative approach to examine structural and functional solutions to the problems faced by animals and plants related to size, movement, exposure to physical forces, mode of existence, habitat, and evolutionary history. We also introduce students to the importance of biophysical and mathematical approaches to biology in addition to the familiar role of biochemistry. The result has been a proportional increase in enrollment in upper-level organismal courses by students who are better prepared to tackle modern approaches to organismal form and function. Our poster will focus on the philosophy and details of the Mechanisms of Multicellular Life course and on the usefulness of a three-course curriculum, especially at liberal arts institutions.
