What are Biology Interest Groups (BIGs)?
Biology Interest Groups consist of first-year, first-semester students interested in the biological sciences, enrolled in a topical biology seminar course. Two aspects of the BIGs seminar course make it a unique educational experience for first year science students. First, the topical seminar, which is organized around a broad interdisciplinary area of biology, is linked with two other courses, chemistry and mathematics (calculus). The group of freshmen biology students enrolled in each BIG also enrolls as a cohort in the same math and chemistry discussion sections (fig. 1). Second, the seminar course is built around the use of cases that promote problem-solving, critical thinking and cooperative learning. The emphasis in the course is learning the process of approaching complex problems not the acquisition of specific content knowledge. Each BIG seminar course is three credits and is lead by a faculty member and a graduate student. Through BIG instructor meetings, the faculty and graduate students leading each BIG seminar course are in contact with chemistry and math faculty and teaching assistants. In fact, the cases used in each BIG are developed by biology faculty in conjunction with math and chemistry faculty. In this way, the link between biology and chemistry/math is initially formed. Teaching assistants who lead the discussion sections in chemistry and math, and are in contact with BIGs students maintain this important link throughout the semester. In each BIG, students grouped in teams work on complex biological cases and explore ways that their math and chemistry can be applied to address problems.
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