The Biology Degree

The general philosophy of the Hope college Department of Biology for its major/minor program is to provide each student with a broad background in the biological sciences, with the opportunity to study several areas of biological science in depth, with the knowledge and skills needed to be a biological scientist, and with an appreciation for the interrelationship between biology and other fields of study.

Students graduating from Hope College with a major or a minor in Biology, should:

a. Be life-long learners.
b. Be critical thinkers.
c. Be excellent communicators.
d. Be ethical decision makers.
e. Know the basics of biological knowledge.
f. Know and be able to practice the methods of scientific inquiry.
g. Know and be able to utilize techniques used in modern biology.

Our graduates must be prepared to:

a. Explain biological phenomena and issues to others, either as formal or informal     educators.
b. Make good decisions regarding issues facing society that involve science and     technology, particularly as they relate to biological questions.
c. Function as practicing biologists in the laboratory, field, classroom, or     business setting.
d. Continue to learn about biology, and to enter graduate and professional     programs related to biology.

The basic objectives of the Department's program are for students to:

a. Be active learners - that is to learn biology by doing biology.
b. Learn the basic set of principles and factual knowledge about each of the major areas of biology.
c. Learn to design, carry out, analyze, report and critique scientific studies.
d. Do in-depth study in at least one area of biology.
e. Recognize the role and limitations of biology in understanding and solving     some of the major problems facing humankind.
f. Make ethical decisions regarding biological concerns.
g. Correctly utilize the major instrumentation and techniques of modern biology.
h. Understand and utilize both mathematics and chemistry in biological work.
i. Place biology within the overall context of the natural sciences, the liberal    arts, and human endeavor.

Beginning in the fall of 1997, the Hope College Department of Biology began a new curriculum for biology majors and minors. Specific goals of this curriculum are to give all biology majors and minors a thorough grounding in the basic principles, facts, and techniques of biology, including the processes of scientific inquiry, during the first two years and then to allow students to choose which specific areas of biology they wish to focus on during the last two years of study at Hope. All of the courses offered by the Biology Department place a heavy emphasis on hands-on learning. In most cases the courses are made up of a lecture component and a laboratory component. The laboratory component of the courses involves opportunities for students to design and carry out independent studies, either as individuals or as teams. The lecture component of most courses consists of traditional lectures, demonstrations, multi-media, and "active-learning" modules such as peer teaching, small group discussions, role-playing, mini-experiments, student presentations, and the like. The Biology Department faculty are taking advantage of the revolution in computers, multimedia, and the Internet both in and out of class. In addition to the course work, the Biology Department offers weekly seminars presented by scientists from across the country. Students are encouraged to attend all of these seminars and are usually required to attend a specific number of seminars.

All biology majors or minors (except those receiving transfer or advanced placement credit) are required to begin their study of biology at Hope by taking Biology 240, Cells and Genetics. In the laboratory, students enrolled in Biology 240 are introduced to and given practice in some of the basic research techniques used by biologists and the skills needed by practicing scientists. Laboratory techniques introduced in this course include laboratory safety, microscope use, preparation of solutions, pipetting, staining of cells, spectrometry, and genetic analysis. Skills introduced include bioinformatics, formulation and testing of a hypothesis, design and execution of a group lab project, descriptive statistics, utilization of a computer for simple statistics and graphing, giving oral reports, preparing and defending a scientific poster, and writing for the public. In addition, the ethics of data gathering and reporting are discussed.

After completing Biology 240, biology minors and majors then take two standardized courses. These courses are Organismal Biology (Biology 260) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Biology 280). These courses must be taken in sequence and must be completed before the student is allowed to enroll in standard upper level biology courses. Each course includes coverage of a variety of organisms so that topics traditionally taught in botany and zoology courses are presented. Students who successfully complete these core courses will have a good background in all of the major fields of biology and should be prepared for standardized tests such as the Graduate Record Exam in Biology, the Biology portion of the Medical and Dental Schools Admission Tests, and the Michigan Certification Test in Biology.

Each core course builds on the previous course in terms of both factual material and techniques and skills used by biologists. The Cells and Genetics course presents the topics of the molecules of life, techniques to study cells, cell membrane and cell organelle structure and function, biosynthesis, enzyme activity, metabolic interconversions, energy production and utilization, cell reproduction, Mendelian genetics, molecular genetics, and biotechnology. The Organismal Biology course presents the relationship between structure and functions in organisms with particular attention to vascular plants and vertebrate animals. The problems of support, movement, growth, gas exchange, water balance, defense, waste excretion, metabolic regulation, internal transport, and reproduction are examined with a consideration of both common and unique solutions to these problems. The subject of animal behavior is also introduced in this course. The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology course includes the topics of population growth and regulation, competition, predator-prey interactions, succession, energy and nutrient flow in ecosystems, food webs, conservation, environmental impacts, population genetics, adaptation, speciation, and micro- and macro-evolution.

To develop skills used by biologists, students in Cells and Genetics utilize the techniques of spectrometry, molecular biology, and genetic analysis. In this course the students also further their utilization of library and World Wide Web resources, design and carry out a major group project to test a hypothesis, learn inferential statistics including the t-test and Chi Square, utilize computers extensively in statistical analysis, graphing, and word processing, and produce posters and group and individual lab reports. Students also confront the ethical issues involved in biotechnology in the Cells and Genetics course.

In the Organismal Biology course students again utilize microscopes as well as physiological recording apparatus (physiographs, spirometers, oxygen analyzers, etc.). Students gain additional experience using live animals and plants, including performing simple surgical procedures. Students also expand their anatomical and dissection skills in this course. Students continue to utilize library and other information resources in Organismal Biology and to utilize computers for data analysis and presentation. Students in Organismal Biology are introduced to Analysis of Variance and use this statistical technique in data analysis. Students also gain further experience in hypothesis testing as they participate in a long term experiment which they help design. Students write both group and individual lab reports and a formal paper reviewing some aspect of Organismal Biology. Students also again experience in giving oral reports and in taking practical laboratory exams in Organismal Biology. Finally, students explore the ethical issues involved in animal research and reproductive technologies as well as learn the importance of informed consent in experimentation with humans.

In the laboratory for the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology course, students further their skills in the identification of organisms, learn advanced field studies techniques, gain skills in population genetic analysis and utilize a mathematical approach including mathematical modeling of biological phenomena. As in the other tier two courses, students gain experience in using information resources and computers in biological phenomena. As in the other tier two courses, students gain experience in using information resources and computers in biological work. Students design both actual and thought experiments stressing hypothetico-deductive reasoning and practice a variety of inferential statistics techniques. Students write individual lab reports including highly formal reports such as those biologists submit to professional journals. Students discuss the ethical issues involved with conservation and environmental degradation in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology course.

Following successful completion of the core courses, biology majors and minors are free to choose among a wide variety of learning opportunities as they continue to explore biology. Advanced and special topics courses covering a wide range of biological specialties are offered to allow students to study various areas of biology in depth. The advanced and special topics courses, as with the tier one and tier two courses, stress active learning and laboratory-field experiences. Students in these courses are expected to further develop their abilities to be independent learners and investigators, as well as to communicate their knowledge and experiences with others. In addition to the topic courses, biology majors and minors have the opportunity to participate in independent research, which usually involves working one-on-one with a faculty member on some aspect of the faculty member's professional research. Other opportunities available to biology students are off-campus field courses, local, regional, national, and international internships, and participation in local, regional and national scientific meetings.