[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595416-105":59,"doc-detail-595416-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","teaching-outside-the-can-a-new-approach-to-introductory-biology","Teaching Outside the Can: A New Approach to Introductory Biology","","Teaching Outside the Can presents a redesigned way to teach introductory biology to undergraduates through a laboratory experience that is fully inquiry and discovery based. The curriculum organizes learning into three multi-week, open-ended laboratory modules built around current biological questions. Students review primary research, learn techniques and statistical methods, and carry out student-designed experiments. Assessments support the process-focused approach as an effective path to quantitative and experimental competence.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/teaching-outside-the-can-a-new-approach-to-introductory-biology/595416/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/teaching-outside-the-can-a-new-approach-to-introductory-biology/595416.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-08","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How is the introductory biology laboratory designed for students?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It is organized as a laboratory course that is entirely inquiry and discovery based, structured into three multi-week open-ended investigation modules.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What do students do during each laboratory module?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Students read primary literature about the research question, learn techniques and statistical approaches, and conduct student-designed experiments.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why does the curriculum emphasize process over content?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It aims to keep students focused on the practice of biological investigation—quantitative reasoning and critical thinking—while responding to the rapid pace of progress across biology fields.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595416,1792889670,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Teaching Outside the Can: A New Approach to Introductory  \nBiology  \nMargaret L. Ronsheim, A. Marshall Pregnall, Jodi Schwarz, Mark A.  \nSchlessman, Kathleen M. Raley-Susman*  \nDepartment of Biology, Box 731, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY 12604  \n[Email: kasusman@vassar.edu](Email: kasusman@vassar.edu)  \n*Corresponding author  \nAbstract: We describe a new approach to teaching introductory biology. Our introductory experience for undergraduates is a laboratory course that is entirely inquiry and discovery based. We introduce our students to fundamental concepts in biology in the framework of three multi-week laboratory modules, each of which is an open-ended investigation of a current area of biological study. Students read the primary literature about the research question, learn techniques and statistical approaches, and conduct student-designed experiments. We focus on the process of doing biology, rather than on acquiring a particular body offacts. Students are actively engaged in integrative thinking about biology, and they emerge from the laboratory experience with a strong grasp of quantitative and experimental approaches and skills. Our assessments indicate that this process-based approach is an effective way to approach introductory biology.  \nKeywords: introductory biology, process, inquiry-based learning, laboratory  \nIntroduction  \nThe pace of progress in biological research is accelerating at an unprecedented rate. Greatly improved information technology, along with the rapid development of public databases housing biological data, have dramatically enhanced access by faculty and students to current advances in all biological fields. College-level textbooks for introductory biology are veritable encyclopedias of information that rapidly become dated. College faculty, as well as teachers at all other levels of education, are faced with the dilemma of how to handle all this information, while at the sametime emphasizing the processes of biological investigation, quantitative reasoning and critical thinking.  \nWe recognized the need a number of years ago to fundamentally restructure our introductory curriculum to address these issues. In addition, we noted that, as more introductory students enter our curriculum having taken an Advanced Placement (AP) Biology course in high school, there was an increased need to focus on the process of doing biology, as well as a need to emphasize more explicitly how concepts are integrated across areas of biology. Our traditional introductory sequence did not allow a fully integrated approach to biology, and seemed to give students the impression that there were clear distinctions between the subdisciplines of biology, an impression that did not represent current practice in biology. In response to  \nthese varied challenges, we dramatically restructured our introductory sequence.  \nOur new introductory curriculum seeks to accomplish a number of objectives:  \n Coverage of the most fundamental concepts in biology using an integrative, crossdisciplinary, topic-centered approach, focusing on the relationship between genes and function and the evolution and inheritance of traits;  \n Construction of a tool kit for biology, consisting of skills and concepts essential for every biologist, including experimental design, hypothesis testing, data collection, statistical analysis, scientific communication and writing;  \n Infusion of an enthusiasm for biology by introducing students to current questions in biology from the start of the first course; and  \n An emphasis on process rather than content, in order to allow for and respond to the rapid pace of progress across biological disciplines.  \nTo accomplish these goals, we designed two courses, Biology 105: Introduction to Biological Processes, and Biology 106: Introduction to Biological  \nInvestigation. Biology 105, Processes, while not our focus here, is a course without a laboratory component that introduces students to major concepts in bi","cbCaidyHVfsPRK0L","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidyHVfsPRK0L","pdf",374760,11,"English","# Abstract\n## New inquiry-based laboratory approach\n## Motivation and curriculum challenges\n## Course objectives and structure\n## Biology 105 and Biology 106 overview\n## Evidence and learning rationale\n## Three multi-week laboratory modules","[{\"question\":\"How is the introductory biology laboratory designed for students?\",\"answer\":\"It is organized as a laboratory course that is entirely inquiry and discovery based, structured into three multi-week open-ended investigation modules.\"},{\"question\":\"What do students do during each laboratory module?\",\"answer\":\"Students read primary literature about the research question, learn techniques and statistical approaches, and conduct student-designed experiments.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the curriculum emphasize process over content?\",\"answer\":\"It aims to keep students focused on the practice of biological investigation—quantitative reasoning and critical thinking—while responding to the rapid pace of progress across biology fields.\"}]","Teaching Outside the Can: A New Approach to Introductory Biology | PDF",1792081100,28]