SJSU Biology Dept: Course Objectives for Information Competency Standards

Course Objectives for Info Comp Standards

.doc file | .pdf file | Biology Info Comp Project | Biological Sciences Dept.

ACRL standards as rephrased by the SJSU biologists at the September Retreat:

Define and refine a problem to be solved.
Find information effectively and efficiently (to solve a problem) - could be from any source.
Summarize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate the information obtained - could be literature or lab data.
Communicate the product (orally, as discussions or reports, or in writing).
Use information ethically.

Course Objectives

This collection of courses is taken by all biology majors who start their coursework at SJSU. Biology 1, 2, and 3 are required core courses, to be passed with a grade of "C" or better, before taking upper division biology courses. Students transferring from Community College, at the very least, will take all the upper division courses shown here (Biol. 100W, Biol. 160, and Micro. 101).

Biol. 1 (Plant Biology)
Lucy St. Omer (S' 02)
See also detailed sheet.

To develop skills for scientific investigation while exploring the biology of plants (Stds] 1-5).
To learn skills for doing science - hypothesize (Std 1), plan experiments (Std 2), make observations (Std 2), collect (Std 2), analyze (Std 3) and present data (Std 4), write scientific reports using the accepted format (Stds 4 & 5).

Biol. 2 (Animal Biology)
John Matson (S' 02)
(listed in the order they address the five standards)

Being able to define and refine a scientific problem (Planaria experiment)
Effectively and efficiently find information to solve alscientific problem (Library Assignment and Planaria experiment)
Summarize, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information (most lab activities)
Communicate the product (Planaria experiment and Library Assignment)
Use information ethically (all written assignments, data collection, and lab work)

Biol. 100W (Scientific Communication)
Sulekha Anand (S' 02)
See also detailed sheet.

Develop novel topics about which you wish to communicate (Std 1)
Use electronic databases to perform literature searches for information about these topics (Std 2)
Use this information to formulate clear, logical theses and arguments about your topics (Std 3)
Gather diverse supporting evidence from primary and secondary sources for your arguments (Std 2), to correctly represent the information presented by these sources (Stds 3, 4, & 5), and to appropriately cite these sources (Std 5)
Effectively and convincingly express your arguments using organized, clear, and concise wording in a variety of formats to different target audiences (Std 4)

Biol. 160 (Ecology)
Lucy St. Omer (S' 02)

To find primary sources for evaluating everyday problems as revealed in news articles (Std 2) after these problems have been defined (Std 1)
To analyze relationships between biotic and abiotic factors with course materials and primary sources (Std 3)
To construct and/or interpret graphical presentations for data for most topics covered (Std 3)
To communicate effectively (in writing and orally) the results of analysis of primary sources and lab data (Std 4)
To include in all written analyses the proper use of citations from primary sources (Std 5)

Micro. 101 (General Mirobiology)
John Boothby (S' 02)

To develop questions for applying flow cytometry to phagocytosis and design an experimental approach for generating data to answer the question (Std 1)
To find a primary article on the physiology/ecology of a microorganism (Std 2), summarize the article in a written report that includes methods, results, and discussion related to identifying the organism from an unknown sample, (Stds 3, 4) and properly cite references included (Std 5)

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Updated 17 April 2002 SJSU Library Webmaster