Studio biology - what is it?

The studio format

Introduction

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.

Welcome to Principles of Biology, Kansas State University’s innovative introductory biology course. Because this course is almost certainly unlike any course you have taken before, we need to spend a little time to introduce it, and tell you why this course is a great way to learn about biology.

Unlike the traditional lecture&lab introductory biology courses at most universities, Biology 198 at K-State is a studio-format course, combining lecture and lab into the same class period. There are some unique things about studio courses, and especially this one. Our studio model involves 2 separate 2-hour sessions per week, with a maximum of 78 students in the studio; thus you will spend about 4 hours per week in the studio classroom. So it is important to understand that you are in a studio course, which is not a lecture, and not a lab, but is actually a hybrid of lecture and lab. Although it is an introductory course, it was developed with input from all the faculty members in the Division of Biology. There are usually two faculty members, two GTAs and one or more undergraduate practicum student instructors per 80 students in each section.

Why do we teach this course this way? Because we believe in education, and also in giving KSU students a lot of education for their tuition dollars. The studio format has been shown to be a very effective way for us to help you learn about biology. In fact, it is about twice as effective as the traditional lecture/lab course in terms of your learning and retention of the material. So that’s why we teach it this way.

It is also unique in that the faculty members teaching this course can include anyone in the department, including full professors. Introductory science courses, in particular, tend to be taught by graduate teaching assistants here, and at other institutions. If they are taught by a full professor in Biology 198, many freshman students will not have another course taught by a full professor until their junior or senior year. At many of our peer institutions, introductory biology courses are taught with a single instructor lecturing to 500-800 students, accompanied by a lab taught solely with graduate students. That’s a relatively inexpensive way to teach introductory science courses, but also a relatively ineffective way. If you take advantage of the significant resources (both personnel and material) that the Division of Biology devotes to this course, you will learn a lot of biology. Equally importantly, you will learn how to study and be successful in a university environment. That’s another advantage of the studio format!

Course materials

Two items are essential to your successful learning in this course, both of which are designed to maximize learning in the studio environment. The first is the free electronic textbook, which you are reading now. The second is the Principles of Biology Studio Manual, which must be purchased from the KSU Biology Graduate Student Association. It may look like a lab notebook, but is actually something quite different. The studio manual is analogous to your lecture notes in a standard lecture class; it is simply YOUR record of what you do in the studio. What you see, do and hear during your time in class will be recorded in your Principles of Biology Studio Manual. More importantly, it is not analogous to a lab notebook in a lab class. You do not need to turn it in to be graded (just like nobody grades your lecture notes in a lecture class!). So please treat that studio manual, which is a required text for this course, like you would your lecture notes in any other class. Read it over before the next class, mark down any questions you might have, and make sure you get a copy of the notes from another student if you have to miss a studio class.