Biology course offers students original approach

"We provide an opportunity for students to create something - they define how far they go with it," said Elizabeth Willott, an associate professor at the UA Center for Insect Science and co-coordinator of the Molecular and Cellular Biology 181 honors course.

Offered during the fall, the Honors Introductory Biology course lets students focus on one area of biology while exposing them to a variety of other subjects outside their main area of interest.

At the start of the semester, the class is divided into groups of eight or nine students. The groups are then given a recently published biology research paper - usually one taken from Science magazine - to read, interpret and present to a general audience through a home page on the World Wide Web.

Willott said MCB 181 honor students are not given traditional grades - their team Web pages are judged at the end of the semester and the winners get a free dinner. The judging is based on visual appeal, quality of science, grammar, page layout and proper copyright citation.

Last semester's winning page was titled, "Those Wacky Evolving Antibodies," and used pop culture imagery to explain the function of antibodies in the human immune system.

To help students translate technical gibberish into terms easily understood by non-scientists, the groups are assigned faculty mentors who are familiar with the material in their respective articles.

"One of the things that's unique about this class is freshmen interacting with professors in a small group setting," Willott said.

Willott said the course encourages students to actively contribute to their group projects.

"Individuals have the chance to find out about themselves, group dynamics and science," she said.

"This is the best collection of student projects on the Web," said Denice Warren, a senior instructional specialist in the University of Arizona biology department. "It's a completely different process for students to create materials that other students can learn from."

Warren introduces students to the basics of Web page design and coordinates the Web site where the biology projects are posted.

She and the rest of the Biology Learning Center staff give students enough guidance for them to solve problems on their own.

"Students get to learn what they don't learn in textbooks - how to communicate science to other people," Warren said.

"The idea that there weren't any assignments (except a group assignment) really helped reduce the stress so that I could be more receptive to the lectures rather than just being there to make the grade," said Monroe Watson, a microbology junior. "It was this aspect of the course that I enjoyed the most."

In addition to the Web projects, the students attend lectures by various biology research scientists to expose them to other scientific areas.

"I thought it (the class) was really challenging," said Cliff Gross, a biochemistry and psychology sophomore. "We got to do more than read books, take tests and take finals."

MCB 181H is being offered for the fall semester. Each honors section combines a 50-minute section offered at various times Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and an 80-minute lecture section offered Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Students can contact the honors course secretary at 621-9267 for more details.