Biology Department

Objectives

• Establish and maintain courses that develop in our students a solid foundation of scientific information, as well as problem-solving and decision-making skills. These skills will enable our students to advance to health-related programs, transfer into baccalaureate programs, and become informed members of the community.
• Provide a classroom environment for student growth and maturity in the areas of oral and written scientific communication, independent and collaborative learning, and critical thinking.
• Provide opportunities for students to utilize current technologies in the classroom.
• Ensure students gain a deeper appreciation of careers that utilize biology as well as the global context of biology and its impact on people’s lives and the environment.
• Provide opportunities to explore and evaluate the ethical and societal impacts of biological knowledge and biotechnologies.

Outcomes

• Students will apply scientific knowledge to quantify observations, interpret and synthesize data in drawing inferences, explore and create ideas, and solve problems in an authentic context.
• Students will effectively communicate scientific knowledge through independent and collaborative learning activities and make appropriate reference to scientific literature to support their work and assertions.
• Students will utilize educational technologies to aid in scientific reasoning, communication, and research.
• Students will evaluate the diversity of careers in biology, the relevance of biology to global and social concerns, and the impact of their actions on the natural environment and community.
• Students will assess their own ethical values and the social context of problems in biology to practice ethical decision-making skills and analyze positions on issues in bioethics.