Introduction

This lab manual is designed for students enrolled in the second lab course in the introductory biology sequence at Iowa State University. It is a semester-long lab course, required by most life-science-related majors at ISU, and includes activities on the scientific method, molecular and cellular biology, energetics, genetics, plant anatomy and physiology, and animal anatomy and physiology.

The lab manual is organized by week, with each chapter providing brief background information, instructions for the lab activity, questions for students to work through, and space to record collected data for a given week. Students are meant to work through all of the content of each chapter during lab time that week in groups. There are also some chapters that provide supplementary information for students on academic honesty, visualizing data in excel, and instructions on how to use various lab equipment.

Course Learning Goals

The course learning goals are organized into core concepts and competencies adapted from the “Vision and Change” report (American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  [AAAS],  2011). Upon completion of the lab course, students should be able to:

Core Concept 1: Information flow

• Describe where and how genetic information is stored, replicated, and expressed in bacterial and eukaryotic cells.
• Describe examples of signals that are relayed within cells, and of signals between cells.

Core Concept 2: Structure and function

• Describe the structural features of diverse cell types, tissues, and organs, and explain how these features enable function in plants and animals.

Core Concept 3: Transformations of energy and matter

• Describe how energy is harvested, transferred, and stored within plant and animal cells.
• Explain the role enzymes play in metabolic processes.

Core Concept 4: Systems

• Describe examples in which coordinated activities and functions of cells, tissues, and organ systems enable organismal function and responses to environmental stimuli.

Core Competencies / process of science skills

• Use the scientific process to investigate topics in introductory biology and be able to assess whether collected data does or does not support a hypothesis.
• Demonstrate proper use of common laboratory equipment while investigating introductory biology topics.
• Demonstrate the ability to create and interpret data figures and tables within the context of examples from introductory biology.