Lab Survey on Molecular, Cell, Biochemistry, & Genetics Courses

Anne Cordon

Dear Colleagues:

I am asking readers of Labstracts, to complete the following survey concerning the design, structure, content, and evaluation of the lab component of your course(s). For this survey I am limiting the study to courses in molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, or genetics. However, future surveys might look at general introductory biology, ecology, physiology, etc.

Anne Cordon, ABLE member since 1988, and past member of the Executive Board

I coordinate a large second year introductory molecular cell biology course and a large third year eukaryotic molecular biology course and am using my sabbatical to compile data on how cell biology and molecular biology are taught elsewhere. Do to the significant overlap in content with biochemistry and genetics, I am surveying those courses also. Little comparative information is available on what and how we teach undergraduate courses relative to other universities or how effective our approaches are. My study builds on work done by Tom Haffie (ABLE member from the University of Western Ontario) who surveyed introductory genetics courses in Canada (Genome 43, 2000) and the study by Sheley and Mertens (J. Hered 81,1990) surveying colleges and universities in the United States. However, neither study focused on the lab component.

Knowledge of comparative coverage and teaching strategies strengthens our case explaining what we do, or supporting our plans for change. I hope that my research benefits you and instructors at other institutions also. A summary report on laboratory teaching in cell, molecular, biochemistry and genetics courses compiled from this ABLE survey will appear in a future Labstracts. and discussed at a future ABLE Conference/Workshop. In addition, the data will be very helpful for the ABLE Major and Minor workshop committees planning future conferences.

You may be assured of confidentiality. I will preserve anonymity by giving participants a code number used in all circulated reports. The one exception will be to explicitly acknowledge an instructor, with their permission, who has done something particularly creative and deserves credit for their ideas.

I would be most happy to answer any questions. Please write or email. Thank you in advance for the time and effort necessary to complete the survey. I would appreciate you returning it as soon as possible. Print and complete a copy of the survey or copy and paste from the attached file and send me an electronic email attachment for any and all relevant courses at your institution. If you have difficulty accessing the survey, contact me and I will send one to you.

Go to HTML copy of Lab Survey

Sincerely yours,

Anne L. Cordon
Senior Lecturer, Departments of Botany and Zoology
University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
anne.cordon@utoronto.ca

BIO250Y http://www.cquest.utoronto.ca/botany/bio250y/
JLM349H http://www.cquest.utoronto.ca/botany/bio349s/

Anne talks about her teaching...

I have been involved in undergraduate biology teaching since 1976, first as coordinator of the first year comprehensive biology course (BIO110, predecessor of current BIO150) and then coordinator of BIO250Y Introduction to Molecular Cell Biology and JLM349S Euckaryotic Molecular Biology since they began in 1991and 1997 respectively. My particular areas of interest in addition to course development include TA training, scientific writing, and problem based learning.

In 2001 I received one of the Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Awards and over the years have received several Dean's Merit Awards for Excellence. Teaching has its own special rewards, but recognition by peers is also appreciated.

For a number of years, I ran workshops for high school biology teachers The focus of these workshops was small group activities, including labs and seminars, related to the advanced biology curriculum. Sadly, too much to do in too little time prevented me from continuing these sessions.