Download Intro course LO evaluation

Evaluation of 1510/1511 Learning Objectives
The following Learning Objectives are used to design lectures for each module in Biology 1510. Please categorize these
Learning Objectives for their importance to your course as incoming student knowledge according to the following scale:
0 = Not important / Not relevant as incoming knowledge for my course
1 = Worth being familiar with / Nice for students to know as incoming knowledge for my course
2 = Important for students to know and/or be able to do as incoming knowledge for my course
3 = “Enduring” understanding / Essential as incoming knowledge for my course
Evolution Learning Objective ("Students will be able to:")
Define science (vs. engineering)
Define data
Define, recognize, and apply the scientific method
Define, know, and describe the properties of life
Define evolution (as distinct from evolution by natural
selection)
Explain and recognize why evolution is the appropriate
framework for exploring biology (and include examples
from each module illustrating evolution as the organizing
principle)
Appreciate the amount of time that has passed since the
origin of the Earth
Name and know the timing of the major events in the
history of life on Earth (extinctions, radiations,
oxygenation, continent movements)
Describe how life has evolved in within the physical and
chemical context of the Earth
Use information about conditions on Earth during different
eons to infer the characteristics of organisms present
during those eons
Recognize the role of extinctions and adaptive radiations in
the evolution of life
Understand and apply tools for radiometric and relative
dating
Know the requirements for the origin of life (carbon
source, energy, segregate molecules from environment,
hereditary mechanism)
Describe the steps which led to the origin of life (organic
molecules form, macromolecules polymerize, membraneenclosed protocells form, a hereditary mechanism
develops)
Apply the principles of evolution by natural selection to
pre-biotic scenarios
Define and recognize evolution by natural selection
Explain predictions of and evidence for evolution by
natural selection
Recognize misconceptions applied to evolution by natural
selection
Genetics
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Cell
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Identify, explain, and recognize the consequences of the
four mechanisms of evolution in terms of fitness,
adaptation, average phenotype, and genetic diversity
Know and recognize the five assumptions of the HardyWeinberg principle
Use the gene pool concept and the Hardy-Weinberg
principle to determine whether a population is evolving at
a locus of interest
Define and apply the biological, morphological, and
phylogenetic species concepts
Distinguish between sympatric and allopatric speciation
Define, recognize, and understand the significance of
reproductive isolating mechanisms in reducing gene flow
between populations
Distinguish between prezygotic and postzygotic barriers to
reproduction
Know and use the terminology required to describe and
interpret a phylogenetic tree
Know the different types of data incorporated into
phylogenetic trees and recognize how this data is used to
construct phylogenetic trees
Recognize how phylogenetic trees show relatedness of life
on earth
Interpret the relatedness of extant species based on
phylogenetic trees
Ecology Learning Objective ("Students will be able to:")
Define ecology and describe the major sub-disciplines:
behavior, population ecology, community ecology
Explain the physical features of Earth which cause patterns
in atmospheric and ocean circulation leading to discrete
regions of climate with associated plant and animal
communities (e.g. biomes)
Identify biogeographic provinces and biomes, and list the
features determining their distribution (biogeography)
Distinguish between proximal and ultimate causes of
behavioral and the role of natural selection in the evolution
of behavior
Define optimal foraging theory and identify costs
associated with different strategies
Interpret the effects of mate choice on fitness and
evolution of morphological traits
Identify the trade-offs in fitness for altruism and kin
selection behaviors
Identify key features of an organism’s life history and how
they respond to environment/natural selection regimes
Define reproductive value and how it is measured (life
history tables/survivorship curves)
Distinguish between geometric and logistic population
growth curves
Define and interpret carrying capacity and consequences
for population regulation
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Genetics SEM Ecology SEM Cell
Evolution SEM
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Distinguish between density-independent and density
dependent factors regulating population size
Predict population growth trajectories from life history
tables and population demographic structure
Describe ecological interactions between species pairs
(competition, predation, commensalism, mutualism,
amensalism)
Describe resource and resource utilization
Identify factors responsible for species occupy defined
niches; distinguish between fundamental and realized
niches
Describe the concept of keystone species and provide
examples of how a keystone species is responsible for
community species composition
Define roles of vicariance and dispersal in driving species
distributions
Describe the simple model of island biogeography, and
roles of island size and distance from a mainland source in
determining number of species at equilibrium
Describe the flow of energy and matter through an
ecosystem
List and identify the roles of each trophic level within an
ecosystem
Distinguish between gross and net primary productivity,
and how these vary among terrestrial, marine and aquatic
ecosystems
Describe the global pathways for cycling of nitrogen and
carbon between living organisms, atmosphere, oceans and
continental crust
Biomolecules Learning Objective ("Students will be able
to:")
Distinguish organic molecules from inorganic.
Identify the 4 major molecular components of biomass.
Match each biological macromolecule with the type of
subunit building block and the bond that links the subunits
into polymers.
Identify the main cellular functions for each type of
macromolecule.
Distinguish between DNA and RNA.
Identify the 4 levels of structure in proteins, and what
bonds, forces or interactions are responsible for each level
of structure (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary).
Relate how changes in subunits affect the structure and
function of macromolecules (particularly proteins).
Predict how variation in membrane composition affects the
properties of membranes
Identify the membrane lipids that are unique to each of the
3 domains of life
Distinguish cell structure differences between prokaryotic
and eukaryotic cells
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Genetics SEM Ecology SEM Cell Evolution SEM
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Articulate the role of endocytosis and endosymbiosis in
evolution of eukaryotic structures such as the
endomembrane system and independent organelles such
as mitochondria and chloroplasts
Trace the route of membranes and proteins through the
endomembrane system
Identify the functions of the various parts of the
endomembrane system
Locate the sites of synthesis for cytoplasmic and secreted
proteins, and proteins that function in independent
organelles
Distinguish the roles of microtubules and microfilaments
Explain how the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics applies to
living organisms
Predict the direction of reactions from Gibbs free energy
changes, and vice versa
Distinguish between steady state and chemical equilibrium
Use energy diagrams to explain how catalysts increase
rates of reaction
Plot enzyme kinetics: initial velocity as a function of
substrate concentration
Distinguish between competitive and noncompetitive
inhibition
Distinguish between binding of substrate and binding of
allosteric regulators to enzymes
Identify what molecule is oxidized, and what molecule is
reduced in a redox reaction
Explain the role of NAD+/NADH as an electron shuttle
Identify whether an organism is a heterotroph,
photoautotroph or chemoautotroph based on their sources
of energy and organic carbon
Explain the difference between substrate-level
phosphorylation and oxidative phosphorylation
Explain how proton gradients are generated across
membranes
Compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic respiration
Explain how cells exploit the proton motive force to make
ATP
Hypothesize about how the earliest cells could make ATP in
the absence of oxygen
Name and order the pathways for metabolism of glucose
to carbon dioxide during cellular respiration
Identify the major inputs and outputs of each pathway, in
terms of carbon compounds, electron carriers, and energy
captured by substrate-level phosphorylation of ADP to ATP
Identify which pathways are used to catabolism of proteins
and fats
Locate the pathways in the cell, for both prokaryotes and
eukaryotes
Identify what cellular metabolic pathways can operate in
the absence of respiration
Predict how cellular pathways respond to the absence of
terminal electron acceptors
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Compare and contrast how NAD+ is regenerated in
respiration and fermentation
Compare and contrast eukaryotic and prokaryotic
metabolic pathways
Cite evidence to support the endosymbiotic origin of
mitochondria
Describe the properties of light as energy
Distinguish phototrophism in some archaea versus
photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and chloroplasts
Distinguish the capabilities of two types of photosystems
Describe the innovation that led to oxygenic
photosynthesis in cyanobacteria
Compare photophosphorylation to oxidative
phosphorylation
Explain that plants and other photoautotrophs create
biomass mostly from carbon dioxide in the air.
Describe the interdependence of the light reactions and
carbon fixation reactions
Predict how disruptions in the Calvin cycle affect
concentrations of key compounds
Describe the activities and functions of Rubisco
Calculate the numbers of Calvin cycle turns, ATP molecules
and NADPH molecules required to generate a molecule of
glucose
Identify the conditions that increase oxygenase activity of
Rubisco
Describe how the oxygenase activity of Rubisco impairs
photosynthetic efficiency
Distinguish C3 and C4 schemes for carbon fixation
Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of C3 versus C4
Compare and contrast photosynthesis and respiration, and
their relationship in the global carbon and oxygen cycles.
Genetics Learning Objective ("Students will be able to:")
Describe the chromosomal makeup of a cell using the
terms chromosome, sister chromatid, homologous
chromosome, diploid, haploid, and tetrad
Compare and contrast the behavior of chromosomes in
mitosis and meiosis
Recall the phases of the cell cycle
Relate the cell cycle stages to changes in DNA content
Know and use the vocabulary needed to discuss genetic
inheritance including gene, allele, dominant, recessive,
gamete, genotype, phenotype, homozygote, heterozygote,
carrier
Explain how chromosomal separation at meiosis leads to
segregation of alleles in gametes
Explain how alignment at metaphase results in
independent assortment of (unlinked) genes
Construct and use a Punnett square for a single trait and
for two traits using appropriate terminology
Determine possible offspring types and phenotypic ratios
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Genetics SEM Ecology SEM Cell
Evolution SEM
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using probability rules
Know and use the terminology for different patterns of
inheritance including, incomplete dominance, codominance
Predict genotypes, phenotypes, and phenotypic ratios for
non-dominant/recessive modes of inheritance, including
incomplete dominance and co-dominance
Recognize that dominant/recessive and simple Mendelian
patterns of inheritance are rare, and that genes act in
concert with other genes and the environment to
determine traits
Define the chromosome theory of inheritance as “genes
are located on chromosomes”
Define linkage as a departure from independent
assortment
Predict possible offspring types and phenotypic ratios in
the case of sex linkage
Use phenotypic ratios to determine if genes are sex-linked
Apply pedigree analysis to distinguish between dominant,
recessive, and sex-linked traits
Know that DNA is the genetic material (Griffith; Avery,
McLeod, and McCarty; Hershey-Chase)
Describe key features from the Watson-Crick model of DNA
structure (backbone, base-pairing, anti-parallel)
Predict outcomes from different models of DNA replication
to recognize the semi-conservative nature of DNA
replication (Messelson-Stahl)
Describe the basic machinery and process of DNA
replication and predict outcomes resulting from missing
elements of that machinery
Know the functions of the three types of RNA
Describe the process and key components of transcription
Predict the RNA transcribed from a DNA sequence
identified as either the template strand or the coding
strand.
Describe the process and factors of translation
Use the genetic code to predict the protein amino acid
sequence translated from an mRNA sequence
Predict the likely effects of DNA mutations on protein
amino acid sequence, structure and function
Compare and contrast eukaryotic and prokaryotic gene
expression
Contrast the size and organization of prokaryotic versus
eukaryotic genomes
Explain why genome size does not predict organismal
complexity or phylogeny, and vice versa
Describe the content of the human and mammalian
genomes
Describe the current and potential applications of
massively parallel DNA sequencing technology
Describe the role of protein:DNA interactions in regulating
differential gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes
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Distinguish positive regulation from negative regulation
Compare and contrast modes of gene regulation in
prokaryotes and eukaryotes (including chromatin
structure, gene co-regulation, and post-transcriptional
regulation)
Use a gene regulatory system model to predict and infer
the effects of perturbations to various system components
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