Year 11 Biology Resources

[Chieko Boteler]

BIOLOGYHELP ROOM (Purdue West Lafayette campus: LILY 1-407, across the hall from the Biology Advising Office): Tutors for first and second year biology coursework (tutors are NOT directly connected to the courses, they are upper class students who were successful when THEY took those courses)

The Biology Help Room serves the academic needs of all undergraduates with particular attention paid to first and second year students. The mission of the BRC is to improve the academic performance of all students by providing excellent tutoring services and resources directed toward the following goals:

The Biology Help Room is staffed by 8 to 10 selected Junior and Senior level Biology Students each semester. The Help Room is a great place for getting all kinds of help and just to hang out and study.

If you are a first- or second-year student who has signed up for the biology, botany or zoology majors, you should already have an assigned CAS advisor who specializes in biology. If you are interested in declaring any of those majors, or any of the biology-related minors or co-majors, contact the CAS Advising Office and ask to meet with one of the biology specialists.

The AP teacher prior to me basically taught a 90% lecture-based class and did all lecture orally and by creating drawings on the board while speaking, so I had nothing I could use from him. The College Board provided a ton of resources for test questions, but I had to read the exams over and over and organize the questions so I could have unit exams with only content related to a specific unit.

Finally, the textbook came with resources for teachers, but I have just NEVER been a fan of any textbook resources (hence why I started my TpT store) so I had to come up with entirely fresh content, and content that was college-level in depth.

Now of course, it may have just been an exceptionally awesome group of students I had this year. I also have the benefit of having taught each student for 2 years previously, so I knew them all really well and we just plain got along. I know this is unrealistic to be the case for me in years to come, or for you in your classroom.

Kim: Some students are thriving in college but others are struggling in diverse ways: mental health challenges such as depression, social anxiety, and climate anxiety; social injustice; financial insecurity and food insecurity; working long hours at jobs; navigating college as first-generation students and transfer students; neurodiversity challenges, and so on, some experiencing a high level of intersectionality of marginalized identities.

To address these challenges I employ many evidence-based inclusive practices in the structure and culture of my course to promote a sense of empathy and community. I try to center diversity (in its many dimensions) and equity in our educational mission to help students to feel a sense of belonging, support, agency, and clarity-of-mission in our learning space. I also try to get to know the students well enough (fortunate with small class sizes) to help connect them to appropriate supports.

One structural best practice that I recommend is a transparent and genuine focus on learning outcomes (focusing on both concepts and skills), transparent alignment of assessment to each outcome, and transparent alignment of homework and classwork to the outcomes.

This inclusive approach keeps instructors and classwork on task, removes guesswork from the course experience for students, and thus helps students genuinely focus on their learning, especially when multiple attempts and demonstrating achievement of outcomes are built into the learning system.

Kim: In terms of my classroom teaching, in the last four years I have had a leadership opportunity to rebuild the introductory biology curriculum for majors at Salisbury University from the ground up. This has been a career capstone opportunity/challenge where I could synthesize 20 years of personal experience and best practices from the science education and social justice communities.

Fortunately, there is abundant evidence of numerous effective inclusive practices that help not only historically marginalized students but others as well. The main challenge is effecting broad and rapid institutional transformation on a national level.

Kim: At this time of climate crisis, biodiversity crisis, social justice reckoning, and other social challenges, it is more appropriate than ever to help students connect their biology learning to societal solutions, to envision themselves as potential scientists, and to see a link between their biology learning and solutions in their communities and society at large. Thus, it was a joy in this edition to encourage inclusion, value, and self-efficacy.

For example, we updated the language and examples throughout the book to be more inclusive, narrowing the gap between the historical culture of Western science (heavily European/white/male) and the current culture of scientists and science students. The new Human Angle feature shows diverse scientist at work in a variety of contexts to help students imagine themselves in biology careers; the Insider Tip videos provide a relatable peer perspective and tips to help conquer challenging learning tasks; and revisions to text and questions help students see how their learning applies to solving current societal challenges.

When I taught introductory biology using Biological Science, the way I tried to overcome this challenge was to frequently point out to students in class how Biological Science tells an exciting story in each chapter, with an emphasis on the process of scientific discovery. I also made a point to highlight all the special student-focused, interactive features of the textbook that help them learn to think like biologists, provide opportunities for practice, and offer strategies for success.

As a scientist engaged in curiosity-driven, basic biomedical research that is far-removed from clinical application, I would have to say that I am fundamentally fascinated by all aspects of biology, whether they are directly relevant to my life or not.

I use PowerPoint lectures supplemented with videos, assigned readings in a textbook or from the primary literature, in-class group work on case study worksheets, short-answer exams that are based on a study guide made available before the exam, and a primary literature-based written assignment.

In both the classroom and my research lab, I am proud of my success in cultivating talent and providing encouragement and opportunities for all biologists in the making, without arbitrary filters such as skin color, ethnicity, gender identity, or neurodiversity, to name but a few.

The resources listed below offer guidance and support during your time as a biology student here at Saint Joseph's University. If you don't find the information you are looking for, please contact your academic advisor. If you'd like to recommend a resource for this page, please contact us.

The John J. Meehan, M.D., Pathways to Medical Professions program is designed to prepare biology majors for careers in health care. It is intended to supplement their undergraduate work each semester the students are involved with the program.

Bartholomew Tortella, '75, MD, MTS, FACS, is the chief of Trauma Services at MCP-Hahnemann Hospital. He has invited interested SJU undergraduate and graduate students to come to the hospital and spend a day with him in the Trauma Center.

Many biology majors and minors engage in internship experiences either for academic credit or simply to gain exposure to various life sciences careers before graduation. With prior approval of the department chair, they can receive credit for an internship as an upper-division biology elective. Some of the companies where students have engaged in internships include Covance Periapproval Services.

A variety of educational organizations routinely seek undergraduate students to work as science education interns. Some agencies currently looking for student interns include The Wagner Free Institute of Science and The Lower Merion Conservancy.

Many biology majors and minors plan to enter the workforce directly after graduation. The Philadelphia area has many job opportunities for people with BS degrees in science. Fields where SJU biology alumni have directly entered the workforce include:

The amount of biocapacity set aside to maintain representative ecosystem types and viable populations of species. How much needs to be set aside depends on biodiversity management practices and the desired outcome.

The land and water (both marine and inland waters) area that supports significant photosynthetic activity and the accumulation of biomass used by humans. Non-productive areas as well as marginal areas with patchy vegetation are not included. Biomass that is not of use to humans is also not included. The total biologically productive area on land and water in 2019 was approximately 12.2 billion hectares.

The carbon Footprint measures CO2 emissions associated with fossil fuel use. In Ecological Footprint accounts, these amounts are converted into biologically productive areas necessary for absorbing this CO2. The carbon Footprint is added to the Ecological Footprint because it is a competing use of bioproductive space, since increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is considered to represent a build-up of ecological debt. Some carbon Footprint assessments express results in tonnes released per year, without translating this amount into area needed to sequester it.

Use of goods or of services. The term consumption has two different meanings, depending on context. As commonly used in regard to the Footprint, it refers to the use of goods or services. A consumed good or service embodies all the resources, including energy, necessary to provide it to the consumer. In full life-cycle accounting, everything used along the production chain is taken into account, including any losses along the way. For example, consumed food includes not only the plant or animal matter people eat or waste in the household, but also that lost during processing or harvest, as well as all the energy used to grow, harvest, process and transport the food.

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