Investigative Biology Laboratory

Catalog description

This course is designed to provide lab experience with an emphasis on the processes of scientific investigation and to promote collaboration, communication, and literacy in science. This lab course aims to teach skills, especially critical thinking and problem solving, that students can apply in research laboratories at Cornell and after graduation. These skills go far beyond learning how to use laboratory equipment. The course introduces students to a laboratory research environment, teamwork, hypothesis formation, experimental design, statistics, and research ethics. Students gain information and science literacy skills and practice many forms of science communication, from presentations to proposal writing and scientific poster preparation. Students first fill their scientific toolbox and then develop the capacity to solve increasingly challenging problems more independently.