Re-envisioning Introductory Biology Labs with Inquiry-Based Learning

Re-envisioning Introductory Biology Labs with Inquiry-Based Learning
Alex Fairfield and Valerie Lantz

This workshop will explain our transition from “cookbook” biology labs where students were not intellectually engaged and knew the expected outcome before doing the experiment to Inquiry Based Labs (IBL) that require students to do more critical thinking and develop an understanding of the scientific process. We will discuss the evolution of our current Inquiry Based Labs in our introductory BIOL 150 laboratory (Principles of Biology I) and how many of these same approaches are now being applied in our department to the subsequent course BIOL 151 (Principles of Biology II) to reinforce and build on the skills learned in the BIOL 150 prerequisite course.