From Cookbook to Collaborative: Transforming a University Biology Laboratory Course

As described in "How People Learn," "Developing Biological Literacy," and by the Commission on Undergraduate Education in the Biological Sciences during the 1960s and early 1970s, laboratories should promote guided-inquiries or investigations, and not simply consist of cookbook or verification activities. However, the only word that could describe the curriculum followed in the laboratory course that the author was soon scheduled to teach was "cookbook." This article describes the transformation of this biology laboratory course at an urban university from one based on a traditional cookbook style curriculum to one incorporating inquiry-based methodologies. The author concluded that the transformed biology laboratory course provided rigorous content and also promoted students' critical thinking, scientific writing, experimental, and speaking skills. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)