Our Synthesis Project is an opportunity to use your developing understanding of biology to explore an issue of your choice at the intersection of biology and society. The overwhelming amount of information available online can make it difficult to make decisions about our own health, the health of family members, and the health of our community and planet. This course is designed to provide you with a foundation of biology that you can use to evaluate information about issues at the intersection of biology and society.
You will choose the format of your project. Possibilities include an informative website, newsletter, video, graphic story, or children's book, that can be shared with friends, family, and current and future BIOL 1 students. Our Synthesis Project is designed to allow us to practice presenting information in a way that enriches understanding, fosters empathy, and inspires action.
You can choose to work on a team or individually. I encourage you to choose to work on a team. Teammates can collaborate online, asynchronously, so you do not need to meet in person or over Zoom unless you want to. Many students find it more fun, and that they learn more, when they work in collaboration with other students. I have also noticed that students working with a team are less likely to fall behind in our course since you have teammates helping to keep you on track. Teammates' contributions will only help you learn more about your topic, and keep you motivated, they can not negatively impact your grade on this project or in our course. Your grade in our course will be determined by how many activities you complete. Teams will be formed of 2-4 students interested in working on the same main topic.
This project is designed to help you make progress on the Butte College Institutional Learning Outcomes:
Think Critically: Locate relevant information resources and use them effectively and ethically.
Communicate Competently: Communicate clearly, appropriately, and ethically.
Engage Collaboratively: Understand the local and global impacts of individual and collective actions.
Work Effectively: Develop personal accountability and initiative, and pursue lifelong learning.
and the General Education Student Learning Outcomes:
Describe how knowledge is synthesized, revised, advanced, and shared.
Formulate responsible approaches to address contemporary individual and global challenges relating to culture, society, and the environment.
and demonstrate the BIOL 1 Student Learning Outcomes:
Investigate the biographies and contributions of biologists.
Apply biological principles, critically analyze evidence, and summarize scientific conclusions to explain personal experiences and issues at the intersection of biology and society.
What does it mean to curate? That is the first thing we will explore as we start this project. You will also complete weekly steps on evaluating online information, copyright, finding openly licensed images, creative commons licenses, accessibility, attributions, and citations so your completed project can be shared publicly. This is a semester-long project, divided into weekly steps with detailed instructions, examples, and support. It will be important to follow the recommended timeline to do your best work and not be stressed during Finals Week! After you complete each weekly step you will share your progress with your co-learners and instructor in Canvas. Feedback will be provided and you can revise, if needed, after reviewing feedback.
Week 1: What is Content Curation?
Week 2: Evaluating Online Information
Week 3: Choose a Topic
Week 4: Consume Content and Narrow Focus
Week 5: Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons
Week 6: Citations and Attributions
Week 7: Biologist Biography
Week 8: Student Privacy
Week 9: Accessibility
Weeks 10-12: Curate, Revise and Share (first draft)
Weeks 13-14: Peer Review and Revise Cycle 1
Weeks 15-16: Peer Review and Revise Cycle 2
Finals Week: Share Final Project
Informative introductions to the main topic and a sub-topic of your choice
Appropriate biological background information necessary to understand the main topic and your sub-topic
Inclusion of scientific/scholarly sources where appropriate (summarized and with citations)
A biologist biography highlighting the contributions of a current biologist to your topic
Accessible, openly licensed images / media (interpreted and with attributions)
Connections to society and/or community issues
Our goal is to produce a finished project, like an informative website, video, or a children's book, that can be shared with future BIOL 1 students or the larger Butte College community.
This project was inspired by, and adapted from, CORE 101 Open Pedagogy Project by Heather Miceli, CC-BY 4.0 license.