Introduction
This lab manual represents the collaboration of three colleagues who teach biology at a large, 2-year college in the US Midwest. With it, we aimed to produce an inquiry-based, no-cost laboratory guide appropriate for a college-level general education course in biology with the purpose of raising scientific literacy. Throughout the creation and development of the manual we strived to achieve a few key goals:
- to ensure consistency in the learning objectives for both in-person and online modalities of the same course. To that end, each of the laboratory exercises described in this manual has two sets of materials and/or procedures. One of these consists of steps that can be completed at home using a modest set of easily obtained supplies and another that can be followed in a basic biology laboratory with standard scientific equipment.
- to describe the relevancy of biology in society and enhance transferable skills across disciplines in the student. We sought to explain complex concepts using familiar examples to meet learners at their level of understanding. Through this, we aimed to strengthen the connection between everyday experiences and the science of biology.
- to provide a variety of lab exercises that stress observation, inquiry, and data analysis in order to bolster student understanding of the philosophy of science and its methods. Labs were written to emphasize investigations that can be completed in a variety of settings such as classrooms, at home, in lab spaces, and outdoor natural areas to represent the breadth of a general one-semester biology curriculum.
This open educational resource laboratory manual is zero cost to students to help relieve books and supplies fees. Additionally, it is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0 International License and modifiable by interested parties for implementation in their specific curriculum. We hope that this laboratory guide not only supports our institution and students, but possibly yours as well.
