Ways of Knowing Biology
What is Ways of Knowing Biology (WoK-Bio)?
Ways of Knowing Biology is a course that introduces first-year college students at UW-Madison to research in the biological sciences. It focuses on the research process, rather than the content, which is the focus in most traditional introductory biology courses. Students learn about current research in the biological sciences through attending research seminars, participating in group activities and discussions centered on emerging areas of biological research, going on research explorations to labs across campus, shadowing graduate students, and interviewing undergraduate researchers.
The course is graded on a credit/no-credit basis. Credit is awarded for completion of all assignments. Ways of Knowing Biology is listed in the Timetable as Biology 150.
What does "Ways of Knowing Biology" mean?
The title of the course was inspired by a series of essays written by biologist John Moore and other members of the American Society of Zoologists in the 1980s entitled, "Science as a Way of Knowing". We modified this phrase to Ways of Knowing Biology to reflect not only our focus on biology but also our goal of introducing you to the many sub-disciplines of biological research represented on this campus. Our focus is on research because it is the fundamental mechanism by which we have learned what we know and it is how we continue to acquire new understanding of the living world. As the semester progresses, we think students will be amazed not only by the diversity of research areas in biology, but also by the overlap between these seemingly separate fields in the types of questions asked and the research approaches taken.
Why is Ways of Knowing Biology offered?
Ways of Knowing Biology started at the UW-Madison in the early 1990s as part of a national movement on college campuses to help first year college students learn about the scope and methods of biology before plunging into the content that is the focus of most biology courses. Studies have shown that first year students are better equipped to understand and absorb the knowledge of a complex discipline like biology if they have spent some time thinking about that knowledge itself and how it is acquired. You can think of Ways of Knowing Biology as a chance to get a big picture of biology before zooming in on all the details! For example, in a later course, you may learn about the individual steps that occur in the mitochondrion during cell respiration. In Ways of Knowing Biology, by contrast, you might consider how cell respiration is studied and the role it may play in processes such as aging and exercise.
Contact
- Course Coordinator
- Brian Asen
- 118D Genetics Building
- beasen@wisc.edu
- (608) 262-5267