By Mark Nolte
Next week, the Wilkinson Student Center''s Garden Court will be a kaleidoscope of color and controversy as Biology 100 students display posters bearing charts and facts addressing current biological issues.
'Because of the inundation of biology (related issues), we felt it was time to help our students become better educated and assess the issues that are all around them,' said Rex Cates, a BYU professor of biology.
Cates, along with Integrative Biology Department Chair, Larry St. Clair, revamped the Biology 100 course in Fall Semester 2002 in an effort to expose students to societal issues dealing with biology.
Students now understand how to use the scientific method and how to use science as a way of thinking to solve daily problems, Cates said.
As of last fall, Cates and St. Clair ask Biology 100 students to write a four-page research paper and to prepare a poster displaying the results of the research paper.
This semester, students researched topics related to bioengineering: stem cell research, transgenic species, human cloning and bioengineering economics.
More than 150 posters will be on display Monday and Tuesday, April 7-8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Anyone with interest in biological issues is invited to come and learn, Cates said.
Cates and St. Clair encourage students to think carefully about poster design. Working in groups of five or six, students use charts, photos and graphics to make the posters aesthetically appealing.
Although the Biol. 100 poster project brings current biological issues to students'' attention, not all students like the new curriculum, said Kristen Fletcher, 24, a senior who has been a Biology 100 teaching assistant for five semesters.
'Some students think it is highschoolish,' said Fletcher, a music major from Portland, Ore. 'But the more they put into it, the more they get out of it.'
While some students don''t enjoy the poster project, most feedback is very positive in nature, Cates said.
'Last semester and this semester, we have seen our students effectively engage in these issues and consistently come away with greater appreciation of biology,' St. Clair said.
Cates said the change in curriculum was a result of self-evaluation.
In December 2001, Cates and St. Clair got together with Stephanie Burdett, the Biology 101 course manager and expressed concerns that they had lost effectiveness in teaching.
After the formation of an ad-hoc committee that discussed ways to improve the course, Cates and St. Clair developed the new curriculum.
The poster project is an essential part of the new course because students have the opportunity to research and assess biology''s impact on society.
'We definitely had a feeling that it (the new course) was spiritually driven,' Cates said.