Bio 320 Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: have students gain a knowledge base for understanding vertebrate anatomy and evolution by teaching the basic structures and organization of anatomical systems, their development and function and their involvement in the major transitions in vertebrate evolution.
Goal 2: have students develop problem-solving and critical thinking skills by having them review the rationales, methodologies and conclusions of primary research papers, and weigh evidence for and against conflicting explanations of various functional, developmental, and evolutionary phenomena.
Goal 3: have students gain a foundation for pursuing further educational and career goals including taking more courses in evolution, vertebrate biology and comparative anatomy; teaching courses in general biology, evolution and comparative anatomy; pursuing veterinary and medical programs; and doing postgraduate research in vertebrate comparative anatomy and evolution.
Goal 4: have students appreciate comparative vertebrate morphology as a dynamic and integrative science by exposing them to current research by developmental anatomists, functional morphologists, paleontologists, and developmental geneticists, and demonstrating how this research impacts our understanding of vertebrate history and evolution.
Goal 5: have students appreciate the importance of comparative vertebrate biology in understanding our own biology by exploring the organization, function and adaptive strengths and weaknesses of our own bodies, and how the history of functional and developmental changes in vertebrate evolution has shaped the human body.
Goal 6: have students appreciate the importance of comparative vertebrate biology to society by illustrating how anatomical adaptations of vertebrate animals have informed engineers and architects in designing devices ranging from airplane wings and optics to submarines and countercurrent exchange systems.
Goal 7: have students develop research and communication skills by having them do their own dissections, prepare an outline and oral presentation of a library research paper and lead a brief informal class discussion on the topic afterwards. They are also required to answer most exam questions in essay form.
Goal 8: have students develop skills of integrative and synthetic thinking by demonstrating how to organize anatomical details into general explanations based on developmental, functional and evolutionary principles, and how to draw connections between anatomical changes and changes in habitat, lifestyle, and patterns of evolutionary diversification.