Biology 1B Section 105 Enhancement Exercise



Biology 1B Spring 2006

Section 105

April 24, 2006

Guidelines for Enhancement Exercise

|Due date |Tuesday, May 9, 2006 (the last day of the semester) |

| |Submit to your GSI’s mailbox in VLSB 2013 by 5:00 pm. |

|Weight |26 points |

|Type |Individual report, though trip can be done as a group |

|Length |750-1500 words (3-6 double-spaced pages) |

The enhancement exercise is a chance to use your Bio 1B knowledge in a setting outside of the classroom. Though it is not due until the end of the semester, we encourage you to start on it now because it will take a significant amount of work and planning! You have two options for this assignment, described below.

Option #1: Field Trip

Assignment: For this option, you will visit a park, museum, or other public place which has a focus on biology. Your goal is to apply Bio 1B concepts to the organisms and ecosystems you observe, and write a report describing your experiences. This will be easier if you choose a place which provides you with information in the form of signs, displays, brochures, etc. If you visit a park with few or no signs, you will have to do more research on your own.

Here are some suggestions for places to visit on your field trip. You are also welcome to choose a place not on the list, just check with your GSI first to make sure it is appropriate.

▪ UC Botanical Garden

▪ Tilden Park or other regional parks

▪ Oakland Museum – California Ecology

▪ Oakland Zoo or San Francisco Zoo or

▪ California Academy of Sciences

▪ Muir Woods National Monument

▪ Monterey Bay Aquarium

You may make the trip together with other students in your group or section, and are welcome to discuss your experiences together, but your write-up must be entirely your own work.

What to include: Because of the diversity of possible places to visit, there is no set format to follow for this report. However, in general, your report should include the following elements:

Introduction. Which park or museum did you visit? Briefly, what is its scope, history, and purpose?

Observations. What interesting things did you see? How are they examples of, or explained by, the ideas you learned in Bio 1B? Did you see anything you didn’t understand? What questions do you have about the things you observed?

You may wish to organize your observations by biological topic (e.g. examples of convergent evolution) or describe them sequentially (e.g. species found in redwood forests, species found in oak woodlands...)

Conclusions. What did you learn on your field trip and why is it important?

You are welcome to include pictures and/or diagrams, though these are not required. Please cite any information you get from a source other than the park or museum itself. You are encouraged to talk to park rangers, museum docents, zookeepers, etc. to get more information

Option #2: Biology in the News

Assignment: The mainstream media often reports on biological issues. Some of these directly affect our lives (human health, natural resource use, environmental conservation) and some are just cool (like the discovery of a new species). Your goal for this assignment is to find a news article and analyze it from the viewpoint of Bio 1B. Here are some recent examples of biology-related news stories:

Elboudwarej, Omeed. “Scientists re-examine salamander evolution.” Daily Californian, October 6, 2004. Available online at .

Malkin, Elisabeth. “Science vs. Culture in Mexico's Corn Staple.” New York Times, March 27, 2005. Available online at ? pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=4082f23c56214de5&hp&ex=1114142400.

Kay, Jane. “Exotic grass attacks marshes, mudflats; invasive plant eliminates natives, threatening wildlife.” San Francisco Chronicle, November 7, 2004. Available online at .

Choose an article that interests you from a newspaper, magazine or website devoted to general news (not specifically focused on science or the environment). You may use more than one article on the same topic. You may also use a TV or radio broadcast if you prefer.

What to include: First provide a brief summary of the news story (about 1 paragraph) and then address as many of the following issues as possible. (Feel free to change the order of these topics, and omit any question that doesn’t apply.)

▪ What themes of biology did you identify in the article?

Examples: cladistic analysis, plant pollination, competition between species...

▪ How would you explain the article in terms of these themes?

Example: “Since corn is wind-pollinated, it is easy for pollen from genetically modified corn to contaminate fields of traditional corn.”

▪ Were there any obvious mistakes, inaccuracies, or oversimplifications in the article? Can you think of any important facts or considerations that the article omitted?

Example: The article on corn above does not explain how genetically modified corn will reduce the genetic diversity of the native corn. They don’t use the term “gene flow,” even though that is what is happening.

▪ Were there any ideas that the article did not explain clearly? How would you explain them more clearly?

Example: the article on salamander evolution doesn’t explain that more closely related species will have more similarities in their mitochondrial DNA.

▪ If the article describes a problem, what solution would you suggest? If there is no clear solution, can you suggest additional research that might lead to a solution?

Example: “Scientists are not sure which herbicide will be more effective in eliminating the invasive saltmarsh grass. To answer this question, they could grow the grass in a controlled environment and apply varying amounts of each herbicide.”

▪ After reading the article, what questions do you have?

Example: “If plethodontid salamanders didn’t originate in the Appalachians, where did they originate?”

▪ Why is the topic of the article important, and why is it necessary to have a knowledge of biology in order to understand this topic?

Example: “Invasive Atlantic cordgrass is threatening the biodiversity of San Francisco Bay. We need to understand its patterns of growth and reproduction in order to eliminate it without damaging the ecosystem as a whole.”

Along with your finished report, please submit a copy of the article or articles. If you use a TV or radio broadcast, include a transcript. (If that’s not possible, specify the program, the station, and the time and date of broadcast.)

General guidelines for both options

Your Enhancement Exercise write-up will be graded based on the following considerations:

• Did you select a field trip location or news article which was relevant to Bio 1B?

• Did you make thoughtful observations about what you saw or read?

• Did you connect these observations to Bio 1B topics in a direct and logical way?

• Is your report well-organized, clearly written, and carefully proofread?

• Is your work entirely original? Are proper citations given where appropriate? (Remember that the report is strictly an individual assignment, not a group assignment.)

If you choose the news article option, the grading standards will be somewhat higher, because it is easier to download an article off the Internet than to visit a museum or a park.

Don’t hesitate to ask your GSI if you have any questions. You are welcome to e-mail a draft for feedback ahead of time; the deadline to do this is 12 pm on Saturday, May 6th. But of course sooner is better.

We hope the Enhancement Exercise is a chance to show what you have learned and pursue what you are interested in... have fun!

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