BIO 111
Concepts in Biology
4 Credits-Offered every fall and spring
This course is designed to meet the needs of students enrolled in a general biology course, and to provide a basis for understanding related problems that are of value to the major and non-major. The course focuses on concepts and communicates the scientific process in understanding the major themes of modern biology, including basic life characteristics, inheritance, and evolution.
We will apply observation, description, and experimentation to promote a better understanding of living things, and their association with the non-living world. As a science, an important aspect is the development of theories to explain observed biological phenomena. Thus we have theories relating to the origin of life, evolution of all living things, and the mechanisms of inheritance, among others. The goal is to introduce the student to what the scientist does by the practice of science itself-- to test the scientific method by devising experimental situations, asking questions that have not been answered, and to generate ideas and test them in various activities.
Course Objective-
General objectives relating to Finlandia University’s competencies:
• Read, write, and talk about biology concepts using the appropriate
language (I - Communication).
• Analyze and explain biology concepts that affect everyday activities
(II - Computation).
• Critically analyze problems (IV - Creative and Critical Thinking).
Course specific objectives Students who complete this course you should
be able to:
· Develop a concept of the nature of scientific inquiry and distinguish
it from non-scientific approaches.
· Describe the characteristics of typical living things.
· Know various intrinsic structures of atoms, chemical bonds associated
with molecules forming compounds.
· Explain what is meant by the term diversity and speculate what
causes the great diversity of life forms on earth.
· Describe the organelles associated with eukaryotic and prokaryotic
cells and locate each in electron micrographs in their texts and lab manuals.
· Compare and contrast the macromolecules, carbohydrates, liquids,
proteins, and nucleic acid by stating their biological importance, function,
and identifying subunits.
· Distinguish between forces that cause water and solutes to move
across membranes passively and against concentration gradients.
· Scrutinize the figures of mitosis and meiosis in the text and
manual and compare each as to what was achieved in the various phases.
· Successfully perform mono-hybrid and di-hybrid crosses, by constructing
a Punnet square to demonstrate various ratios.
· Name some ordinary and extraordinary chromosomal events that
create new phenotypes.
· List the particular contributions resulting from the Genome Project.